Evans dramatises the Formula E championship by winning the first race in Seoul! Vandoorne still has everything in his hands

New Zealander Mitch Evans of Jaguar is not giving up yet! With his triumph in the first race of the final round of this year’s Formula E season, he has pulled within a point of Mercedes’ Stoffel Vandoorne. However, the Belgian’s fifth place keeps him relatively calm. However, his 21-point lead is not enough to clinch the world title early, and he must earn it all in tomorrow’s final race.

Qualifying ahead of the 15th e-Prix of the season produced a minor surprise. All the protagonists in the title fight slipped into the elimination duels. That is, apart from Vergne, who definitely lost even the slimmest of hopes of pulling off the biggest turnaround in motorsport history.

However, Vandoorne, the leader in the standings, could not reach more than seventh place. While Evans and Mortara finished third and sixth respectively.

The start of the race itself went best for Evans, who could not have wished for anything better than to break into the lead at the end of the first lap. Behind him, however, things were happening.

At the penultimate corner, the eight drivers in the second half of the field found themselves together in the barrier! Nyck de Vries even undercut Sébastian Buemi’s car! the protective halo thus once again – for the umpteenth time across the motorsport series – confirmed its purpose.

A 45-minute long red flag break followed, after which racing resumed. On lap five, Mortara went into the final corner’s escape zone after contact with Vergne, which Vandoorne took advantage of to take sixth position. Mortara eventually received a five-second penalty for zigzagging in front of Vergne, which directly preceded the entire incident.

A few laps later, Vandoorne managed to shake off Vergne as well. Fifth place, however, was the Belgian’s final finish. Mortar’s race went from bad to worse when a blown left rear tyre permanently ruled him out of the race, and therefore out of the title battle.

The E-Prix eventually finished behind the safety car when Alexander Sims failed to negotiate a right-hand corner and ended up in the barriers on the exit. Evans was able to breathe a sigh of relief as he drove to his fourth win of the season. His nearly extinguished hopes of a championship reversal were fully reignited.

However, the math is still in Vandoorne’s favour. Evans must win unconditionally in the last race of the year or finish second, including gaining pole position. Vandoorne, on the other hand, just needs to repeat today’s fifth place tomorrow and set the fastest lap. That’s one way the 30-year-old from Kortrijk, Belgium, can become world champion in the eighth edition of the Formula E series.

Source: FIA Formula E