Antonio Felix Da Costa has won an enthralling race in Berlin, which saw energy management play a huge factor in the outcome of the race.
The Techeetah driver had to coast over the line to ensure that he finished the race with enough usable energy which was also the same for the rest of the field which saw a huge amount of position changes on the final lap of the race.
Andre Lotterer managed to come home in second after passing Sam Bird on the final lap who was struggling with energy. Bird was able to secure the final step on the podium for Virgin Racing.
It was looking great for a one-two finish for Techeetah but in the final few laps of the race Vergne’s pace slowed as he tried to save energy to get to the end of the race, but he fell down to sixth place.
However, Vergne didn’t finish the race as he was then hit from behind by Lucas Di Grassi, and the reigning champion didn’t finish the race. Da Costa now has a 41 point lead in the championship.
The race was a slow burner at the beginning and in the middle, but at the end, it became a typical Formula E race with carnage in the final few laps. At the start, Techeetah looked like they would dominate the race as they pulled a five-second gap over Lotterer in third.
However, that gap was cut down to nothing when the safety car came out after Robin Frijns went into the wall and retired from the race.
On the restart, Mitch Evans was able to pass Felipe Massa for seventh, and Bird managed to get in front of Jerome D’Ambrosio to move into sixth place.
The race was incredibly steady at this point, but then Attack Mode started, and Sebastien Buemi and Lotterer missed the Attack Mode which forced them lower down the order.
Then Massa brought out the Full course Yellow after he crashed and that caused the drama. Vergne has taken Attack Mode just before the FCY was called.
But instead of attacking, Vergne went backwards and he dropped down to sixth place as Bird, Lotterer, De Vries and Vandoorne passed him. Then he was punted out by Di Grassi with one lap to go and the reigning champion failed to score.
Evans, Da costa main title rival had a horrible end of the race as he was trying to pass Buemi but was forced onto the dirty part of the track and had to back out of his move, but Max Gunther in the BMW did not anticipate Evans slowing down, and the German driver slammed into the back of the jaguar driver and Evans failed to score.
After the top three crossed the line, Nyck De Vries was able to come home in fourth place for Mercedes with Jerome D’Ambrosio finishing in fifth for Mahindra. Stoffel Vandoorne came from 15th to finish in sixth place in the second Mercedes.
Buemi came home in seventh in front of Gunther in eighth. Lucas Di Grassi came home in ninth for Audi with Alexander Sims getting the final points-scoring position.
