DS Techeetah’s Antonio Felix da Costa fought through to win Monaco Formula E race from Envision Virgin’s Robin Frijns and Jaguar’s Mitch Evans.
Pole-sitter Antonio Felix da Costa started Monaco Formula E race keeping his lead in his DS Tecteetah machine from Envision Virgin’s Robin Frijns and Jaguar’s Mitch Evans, as the other DS Tecteetah car of Jean-Eric Vergne was fourth.
As they started, BMW Andretti’s Maximilian Guenther was fifth from Nissan’s Oliver Rowland and Envision Virgin’s Nick Cassidy, but Mahindra’s Alexander Lynn gained a place to be ninth from Audi’s Rene Rast and Nissan’s Sebastien Buemi.
Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein dropped out and was under investigation for causing a collision but was cleared of it. There was an incident involving BMW Andretti’s Jake Dennis, which dropped to the back of the pack already on Lap 1 of Monaco Formula E race.
Damage to Mahindra’s Alexander Sims forced him to retire as Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries was handed a 10s stop and go penalty for parts changed. There was a drive-through penalty for Dennis for power overuse as the order remains the same until Attack Mode was used.
There was a lead change amid all of this with Frijns getting the better of da Costa, while Guenther moved up to third from Vergne after his hefty fight with Evans. Cassidy was sixth after passing Rowland midway in the race, with Lynn keeping eighth.
Jaguar’s Sam Bird found a way back into the Top 10 in ninth after passing Rast, with Buemi dropping out. A mistake on Attack Mode from Vergne allowed Evans to pass him as he charged his way through Guenther pretty quickly to get into the Top 3.
Da Costa retook the Monaco Formula E race lead from Frijns after deploying Fan Boost inside the tunnel, but his lead wasn’t for long as Evans not only cleared the Dutchman, but made a quick work of the Portuguese too in successive corners.
The race was neutralised soon with a safety car after Audi’s Rast stopped on track when he hit the barrier while fighting for track position against Cassidy. The ePrix was not over at the front, as the fight for the lead and also third was on at the same time.
It got tasty with a yellow flag due to Mercedes’ de Vries stopping but it didn’t deter da Costa as he pressed hard on Evans and eventually passed him exiting the tunnel on the final lap with more energy left to win the Formula E race in Monaco.
Evans lost second to Frijns, but kept the podium position from Vergne, who leapfrogged Guenther, while Rowland was sixth ahead of Bird, Cassidy, Porsche’s Andre Lotterer and Lynn, rounding the Top 10 – where the German fought his way into points.
Audi’s Luca di Grassi ran inside the Top 10 until the final few laps, to finish 11th, with Buemi 12th from Venturi pair of Edoardo Mortara and Norman Nato. NIO’s Tom Blomqvist was 15th from Dragon’s Sergio Sette Camara and Dennis.
Dragon’s Nico Mueller was 18th ahead of NIO’s Oliver Turvey – the last of the classified finishers. DNF: De Vries, Stoffel Vandoorne, Wehrlein, Rast, Sims.
