Oliver Rowland kept his cool in Race 1 of Formula E weekend to win Monaco EPrix, ahead of Nyck de Vries and Jake Dennis.
Barnard led Rowland and the rest of the field away two wide through Sainte Devote with de Vries jumping Ticktum for third. The early throes saw the pack bide their time with PIT BOOST to come. Barnard led Rowland, de Vries, Ticktum, Wehrlein, Dennis, Frijns, Evans, Mortara and Beckmann on Lap 5 as Cassidy and Maloney jumped for the first of their mandatory four-wheel drive, 50kW ATTACK MODE boosts.
On Lap 6, Ticktum skipped across the harbourfront chicane, with Race Control deeming him to have gained an advantage as he was squeezed on the outside of de Vries. The CUPRA KIRO driver had to give up fourth to Wehrlein as a result. Cassidy found himself in sixth once his first ATTACK MODE was spent. Good progress from 19th on the grid.
Meanwhile, Ticktum, on Lap 8 had dropped to eighth after that trip over the chicane a couple of laps prior. However, he bounced back with a muscular move up the inside of Frijns at Fairmont and on Evans for a net seventh at Rascasse – strong but fair racing. Lap 9 saw a Full Course Yellow with da Costa into the wall at Anthony Nogues as he misjudged a lunge up the inside of Mortara’s Mahindra.
We were green once again on Lap 12 with de Vries caught napping, giving up third to Dennis and fourth to Wehrlein before Rowland tried a dive up the inside of leader Barnard through the second half of the Swimming Pool – the NEOM McLaren youngster managing to hold on. A lap later, Rowland managed to make a move on the McLaren driver stick – outdoing him into the chicane for the lead with Barnard forced to give up the spot having jumped the kerbs.
The PIT BOOST stops began with Cassidy diving into the pit lane at the end of Lap 14 – the Jaguar driver out of sync having used his first ATTACK MODE already with none of the top eight having used either of theirs. A technical issue for Evans on Lap 15 brought Evans’ race to a premature end – with another Full Course Yellow required to clear his car from the track.
A lap later and we were back underway with Barnard heading Rowland and Dennis – with the man in second having taken ATTACK, which he used to hit the front over the start/finish as Lap 17 began. The Nissan driver then looked to open up a bit of a gap on the leaders. At the end of the same tour, Barnard and Dennis jumped into the pits for their PIT BOOST, with Rowland, de Vries and Wehrlein able to stride away as the then-top three.
Mueller, who pitted early to repair a puncture left-rear tyre, looked to be the man in the box seat on Lap 20 – with the Andretti driver having taken PIT BOOST, while having eight minutes and two activations of his 50kW ATTACK MODE power advantage in-hand. He hit the net race lead on Lap 20 as Beckmann and Hughes headed for PIT BOOST.
Once the order began to shake out come Lap 22, Mueller had the lead from Cassidy – with both down on energy to third-placed Rowland. De Vries, Dennis, Barnard, Mortara, Wehrlein, Ticktum and Frijns rounded out the top 10. It looked to be Mueller versus Rowland with Cassidy some eight percent down on usable energy to those around him.
Rowland crept by Cassidy on Lap 23 at the chicane, and Mueller, down on energy but still at the front, now had just three seconds in his pocket over Rowland. Mueller managed to take his second ATTACK MODE on Lap 24 while retaining P1 but needed to build a cushion to Rowland – with the Nissan driver himself having an ATTACK MODE activation still to play with.
The start of Lap 25 saw de Vries pinch second from Rowland at Sainte Devote, with just two seconds between P1 and P7. The concertina effect spat Barnard out into the wall at Fairmont – the polesitter skittled all the way down the order. Mahindra’s de Vries followed up on his move for second with a strike for the lead at the chicane in the melee – shuffling Mueller to second, and then third behind teammate Dennis.
Severe pressure followed as the Andretti pair sought to make use of four-wheel drive and their 50kW ATTACK MODE advantage. De Vries held fast but it was now Rowland the one to watch as the Nissan driver became the last of the leaders to jump through the ATTACK MODE activation loop. He swooped by the Andrettis on Lap 27 through Sector 1 and set about de Vries before dispatching the Mahindra driver through the tunnel for the lead with what looked like the decisive move.
The standings leader was able to stride to a 2.5 second lead and rounded the final few laps for a comfortable win in the end. In-behind, Dennis had receieved a penalty for overspeed under the FCY, but his teammate played his role perfectly to hold those behind up and secure a net third for the sister Andretti. Mueller himself looked to have followed but Mortara pipped him on the line. The Swiss followed in firth with Wehrlein rounding out the top six.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1918666606466457705
[The story is as per press release]