From the beginning of the race to the end, the final round of the Formula E world championship in Berlin was devastating, exhilarating, and down-right crazy!
A tragic end to the weekend for both Kiwi drivers with Evans’ horrendous crash at the start and Nick Cassidy’s courageous effort to finish 17th after starting 24th.
Here are the highlights of the final round:
When the lights went green Mitch Evans car shuddered to a stop after he attempted to launch from his 3rd place grid position. The car did seem to move but immediately shut down when an alarm sounded in the interior of the car leaving him stranded as the rest of the field flew by.
Evans was then smashed into from behind by Edoardo Mortara who unfortunately had no time to react and could not see the incident ahead. The crash left both cars out of the race and the track was red-flagged.
Both Evans and Mortara were championship contenders with Mortara 2nd position in the standings at the start of the race and Evans in 4th. But that was not to be the last championship contender to leave the race.
After the restart, a third title contender exited in the form of Jake Dennis. The British rookie’s car was pushed aside after he attempted a brave move around the outside. His car slammed into the barrier and then continued straight completely missing the corner.
With 3 of the 4 championship contenders out of the race after less than 4 minutes had passed, Nyck de Vries had essentially won the driver’s championship already.
The young Dutchman just needed to stay in the race and pick up as many points as he could to solidify his top spot in the championship. Nyck started 13th but did not show any signs of remorse as he powered his way into the top 10 within the first half of the race.
To make things even easier for de Vries a 4th championship contender exited the race with 16 minutes remaining. Antonio Felix Da Costa, who qualified 15th and was sitting in 7th in the driver’s standings before the race, was the only other driver that had a slight opportunity of taking de Vries’ prize if he had won the race.
Nyck continued to push his Mercedes higher up the positions and into 8th where he eventually finished. Adding a further 4 points to his total for the season and claiming his first ever Formula E world championship title!
Additionally, due to Evans early exit, Mercedes had luck on their side as pole sitter Stoffel Vandoorne managed to take home a 3rd place podium plus championship winner Nyck de Vries’ 4 points for finishing 8th.
That meant Mercedes not only had the winning driver in the championship but also won the team championship. Mercedes earned 26 points in the final round as opposed to Jaguar racing’s 6 which put Mercedes ahead by just 4 points!
A crazy stroke of luck for the team and overall an insane end to the season. As unpredictable as it comes but it certainly made for an emotional rollercoaster for all Formula E viewers with the dramatic exits of 3 out of the 4 serious potential winners.
The race was eventually won by Frenchman Norman Nato who battled professionally to the top spot after some great early moves. Oliver Rowland took home 2nd with Stoffel Vandoorne managing to keep it in the podium places after his pole position start to claim 3rd.
Here is how the drivers finished:
| More | Pos | Driver | Team | Started | Best | Time | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  #71NormanNATO |  ROKIT VENTURI RACING | 6 | 1:08.639 | 1:11:57.152 | 25 | |
| 2 |  #22OliverROWLAND |  NISSAN E.DAMS | 2 | 1:09.138 | + 2.270 | 18 | |
| 3 |  #5StoffelVANDOORNE |  MERCEDES-EQ FORMULA E TEAM | 1P | 1:08.831 | + 2.837 | 19 | |
| 4 |  #36AndréLOTTERER |  TAG HEUER PORSCHE FORMULA E TEAM | 7 | 1:09.487 | + 7.105 | 12 | |
| 5 |  #29AlexanderSIMS |  MAHINDRA RACING | 4 | 1:09.223 | + 8.453 | 10 | |
| 6 |  #99PascalWEHRLEIN | TAG HEUER PORSCHE FORMULA E TEAM | 10 | 1:08.982 | + 8.847 | 8 | |
| 7 |  #10SamBIRD |  JAGUAR RACING | 22 | 1:08.603 | + 10.473 | 6 | |
| 8 |  #17NyckDE VRIES |  MERCEDES-EQ FORMULA E TEAM | 13 | 1:08.812 | + 11.108 | 4 | |
| 9 |  #33RenéRAST |  AUDI SPORT ABT SCHAEFFLER | 19 | 1:08.486FL | + 12.189 | 3 | |
| 10 |  #88TomBLOMQVIST |  NIO 333 FE TEAM | 5 | 1:09.219 | + 12.679 | 1 | |
| 11 |  #25Jean-ÉricVERGNE |  DS TECHEETAH | 16 | 1:08.800 | + 13.437 | 0 | |
| 12 |  #4RobinFRIJNS |  ENVISION VIRGIN RACING | 21 | 1:09.069 | + 13.748 | 0 | |
| 13 |  #94AlexLYNN |  MAHINDRA RACING | 14 | 1:09.170 | + 14.366 | 0 | |
| 14 |  #23SĂ©bastienBUEMI |  NISSAN E.DAMS | 8 | 1:09.439 | + 14.692 | 0 | |
| 15 |  #28MaximilianGUENTHER |  BMW I ANDRETTI MOTORSPORT | 18 | 1:09.175 | + 15.528 | 0 | |
| 16 |  #6JoelERIKSSON |  DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT | 23 | 1:08.912 | + 15.940 | 0 | |
| 17 |  #37NickCASSIDY | ENVISION VIRGIN RACING | 24 | 1:08.967 | + 16.306 | 0 | |
| 18 |  #7SĂ©rgioSETTE CĂ‚MARA |  DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT | 12 | 1:09.260 | + 16.961 | 0 | |
| 19 |  #8OliverTURVEY |  NIO 333 FE TEAM | 20 | 1:09.181 | + 21.076 | 0 | |
| 20 |  #11LucasDI GRASSI |  AUDI SPORT ABT SCHAEFFLER | 17 | 1:08.305 | + 35.155 | 0 | |
| 0 |  #13António FélixDA COSTA |  DS TECHEETAH | 15 | 1:09.263 | –DNF | 0 | |
| 0 |  #27JakeDENNIS |  BMW I ANDRETTI MOTORSPORT | 9 | – | –DNF | 0 | |
| 0 |  #20MitchEVANS |  JAGUAR RACING | 3 | – | –DNF | 0 | |
| 0 |  #48EdoardoMORTARA |  ROKIT VENTURI RACING | 11 | – | –DNF | 0 |
featured image source: twitter.com/MercedesEQFE & europsport
