Home win and Double Podium for Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team in Berlin

Successful home race for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team in the eighth round of the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Nyck de Vries wins Race 2 in Berlin, Stoffel Vandoorne secures a podium for third place

• Nyck set the second-fastest time in his qualifying group and went through to the semi-finals in the knock-out stages but was eliminated by Edoardo Mortara (Venturi Racing) and qualified third on the grid as a result.
• Stoffel posted the fastest time in Group A of qualifying but lost out to André Lotterer (Porsche) in the quarter finals. Stoffel started the E-Prix from P7 after another driver was handed a penalty.
• Nyck got away to a fantastic start, taking the lead going into the first corner from third on the grid. He then activated Attack Mode at an early stage in the race, which temporarily dropped him back down the field to P3.
• Nyck was subsequently able to quickly fight his way back up into P1 which is where he stayed until the finish line.
• This was his fourth Formula E win and his second of the season. In his 34th E-Prix start, he also notched up more than 200 points in total in the all-electric racing series.
• For the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, this was their seventh victory in Formula E and third of the season.
• Stoffel maintained his position at the start, and like Nyck, activated Attack Mode early on; Attack Mode was only available once during Race 2 in Berlin, but for a duration of eight minutes.
• Stoffel fought his way up the field in the 40-lap race and secured third place just before the end with a strong overtaking manoeuvre against Lucas di Grassi (Venturi Racing).
• This was Stoffel’s twelfth Formula E podium, his fifth of the season and second this weekend. Thanks to his two third places in Berlin, he has now scored more than 300 points overall in the racing series.
• Stoffel (111 points) leads the Drivers’ World Championship by 12 points from Edoardo Mortara (99 points). Nyck (65 points) is in sixth place.
• After the eighth race of the season, the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team (176 points) leads the Team Championship from Venturi Racing (148 points).
• The next round of the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will take place 4 June 2022 when the all-electric racing series makes its debut on the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital city, for the ninth race of the season.

Nyck de Vries:

“What a fantastic result! These past few race weekends haven’t been easy for us, so I’m incredibly happy to have won today. It was a very emotional moment for me. I’ve had quite a tough time in the last three races, and so, am really pleased to have been able to hit back after yesterday which was pretty difficult. Many thanks to my engineers and to everyone in the team for providing me with such a great car. Edo was very strong all weekend, but the team’s strategy was spot-on and I was able to put it into practice. I’m very pleased.”

Stoffel Vandoorne:

“That was an excellent race for us. It was a little less action-packed for me than yesterday, but still, it’s great to be back on the podium. Our cars were really flying again today. Qualifying was tricky, so after that, it was important not to lose momentum and to get back up to speed in the race. Two podium finishes this weekend – I’m very pleased about that! It felt good to be able to overtake Lucas towards the end. He’s a tough one to fight, but I had a little more pace than him at that point and passed him cleanly.”

Ian James, Team Principal:

“Berlin has been a pretty special place for the team, right from its inception. This is where we celebrated our first ever win, back in Season 6 – and a pretty special one: a one-two with Stoffel and Nyck. And then of course, last year, our season culminated in us winning the World Championship in both the Team Championship and Drivers’ Championship in the German capital. That impressive streak has now continued this weekend: 3 podium finishes for the team, of which one was a race win, is incredible. Today also saw Mercedes powertrains propelling the top 4 cars to the finish – Berlin is always going to hold a special place in our hearts and the fact that it’s a home race for Mercedes-Benz makes it all the more special.

It was a phenomenal weekend for both of our drivers. Stoffel seems to be able to qualify in eighth and seventh place on the grid and then still end up on the podium. Simply awesome and it perfectly showed the strength of his character through the performance that he put in. With regards to Nyck, I think today he had us all on the edge of our seats from that very first corner. His move into turn 1 didn’t only catch the two drivers in front by surprise, but us in the garage as well. Together with the team he managed the strategy beautifully to put himself in a strong position for the remainder of the race. A masterful performance that is deserving of a defending World Champion. Well done, Nyck.

I am so proud of how we seem to be going from strength to strength as a team. We are growing in every aspect, including in confidence, but remain with our feet firmly planted on the ground – we all know there is still a long way ahead. So, although we are in a strong position after this race weekend, we have to build on the momentum that we’ve achieved so far and ensure that we carry that through to the next races.

Now, as much as we like to look forward, I want the team to live in the moment and to celebrate this achievement because all the women and men in Brackley, Brixworth, Stuttgart and here at the track that work tirelessly to make this possible should know and feel this is very, very well deserved. Well done to you, Team! Celebrate well.”