The 2023 Monaco E-Prix was exciting once again – especially for the two teams with Jaguar powertrains: It was only at the end that it became clear Mitch Evans of Jaguar TCS Racing had no chance of winning: A late safety car phase towards the end of the race thwarted the TCS Jaguar team’s chances.
The Monaco race, like Berlin, is one of the twisty courses that require a lot of tactics – it can be somewhat compared to a chess tournament where the "pieces" move at up to 240 km/h – putting the Monaco course well below the vehicles' top speed. But in this case, Cassidy's tactics were smarter: After the pit gave the green light for a six-lap sprint, Cassidy clawed his way to the front – always in a match with Mitch Evans. Cassidy remarked:
"We still have a long way to go. Mitch once again showed today how incredibly strong he is. It will be a really cool fight, but for now, we should just enjoy the fact that we won in Monaco."
According to the drivers: New Zealand will be the new Formula E nation
Evans had worked his way up from sixth on the grid to second place by the end and was within reach of Envision until the safety car phase three laps before the end of the race. Either way, Jaguar and New Zealand could celebrate: With this New Zealand double victory, there were four consecutive wins – a new Formula E record for a single nation. Evans summarized:
"It wasn't the ideal position, but I gave it my best today. Big kudos to Nick and Envision, they did a great job. Nick passed me at the right moment. I thought I had him, but he made a good move and that was it. But we have another podium spot. Our good streak with many points continues and that's the most important thing."
Jake Dennis of Avalanche Andretti – the Porsche customer team – took the third podium spot. He couldn't quite keep up with the leading duo, but clawed his way up from 11th on the grid to third place to finally make the last step onto the podium.
And Porsche itself: After an extremely strong start, they are losing more and more ground: Championship leader Pascal Wehrlein could only improve from 12th on the grid to 11th, where there are no points. This led to both him and his TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team losing the lead.
Vergne makes up 15(!) positions in an overtaking maneuver
But the otherwise strong DS Penske team also didn't have a smooth run in Monaco: After DS Penske was disqualified from qualifying due to tire pressure violations, Jean-Éric Vergne managed to move from the last starting position to seventh place. For his overtaking maneuver, in which he made up 15(!) positions, Vergne was awarded the first ever ABB Driver of Progress Award, which honors intelligent and efficient driving that leads to the most position gains in a race. Defending world champion and teammate Stoffel Vandoorne managed to finish ninth, at least in the points ranks.
The weekend was also successful for Nissan: Sacha Fenestraz from the Nissan Formula E Team thought he had the Julius Baer Pole Position in the bag, but a subsequent penalty meant that this honor was bestowed upon Jake Hughes from Neom McLaren. Nevertheless, Fenestraz finished fourth as he managed to somewhat keep pace with the leading trio through a successful combination of speed and efficiency. Hughes followed him across the finish line in fifth place.
Behind them, hothead Dan Ticktum of Nio 333 Racing positioned himself, who despite several accidents in the final phase of the race and (again) some damage to his own car secured sixth place.
Porsche: Started from the back, fought to the front - finished in tenth place as the top result
Porsche continues to ponder: Pascal Wehrlein started from position 12 and after just six laps, he was in eighth place with his Porsche 99X Electric, before losing positions again due to the activation of the Attack Mode. In the final phase of a race marked by exciting wheel-to-wheel duels, he overtook several competitors again and eventually crossed the finish line in tenth place. António Félix da Costa also started from behind. He fought his way up to eighth place. When a competitor hit his rear, he had to pit due to a damaged rear tire and fell back. Florian Modlinger, overall project manager Formula E was, of course, extremely disappointed:
“This is a disappointing result. António fought his way from far behind into the points, but had to pit due to a tire damaged by contact. More than just one point was possible for Pascal today as well. In the first half of the season, we proved that we could compete for victories and podium finishes on different tracks. Seven races remain. We are still in the championship fight and we will work hard to bring significantly more points home in the upcoming races.”
Cupra remained without points once again. | Photo: Cupra
Noticeable: The colorful grooves of the Hankook I.On racing tires. | Photo: Hankook
Even more frustrating was the race for Cupra: after the first points in Berlin, they went empty-handed this time. Robin Frijns finished in 13th place, Nico Müller dropped out. Maserati also only managed eleventh place at their "home Grand Prix" with Mortara, while Max Günther dropped out. Sébastien Buemi also scored points in the second Envision (eighth place).
In the driver standings, Cassidy leads with 121 points ahead of Wehrlein with 100 points, Jake Dennis is now third with 96 points and Evans is close behind with 94 points. Vergne leaves Monaco as fifth in the overall standings. In the team standings, Envision Racing is now at the top with 182 points, 14 points ahead of the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team with 168 points, while Jaguar TCS Racing is in third place with 157 points.
The next stop of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is the return to Indonesia for the first Jakarta E-Prix with Round 10 on Saturday, June 3, and Round 11 on Sunday, June 4, 2023.
What does that mean?
The strong teams remain strong, but the championship is now wide open: It should still be decided between Jaguar and Porsche powertrains.
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