Very regular but without any wins, Jean-Èric Vergne had his first really bad weekend in Formula E - enough to take him out of contention for his third championship. Meanwhile, Stoffel Vandoorne shows strength and regains the lead
If Formula E landed in New York with four drivers from different teams vying for the championship title, it can be said that only three of them leave Brooklyn, after this weekend's two races, still with a palpable chance of lifting the cup for the first time in their careers. While Stoffel Vandoorne retook the lead, Edoardo Mortara limited damage and Mitch Evans gained a position in the Drivers' World Championship, Jean-Èric Vergne all but gave up the fight.
Throughout the championship, the Frenchman from DS Techeetah has been torn between absurd regularity - which has allowed him to take points in every race of the season until he arrived in New York - and the difficulty of getting a win. There had been too many opportunities for the two-time champion, especially in race 1 in Rome and in the eP of Monte Carlo - when he started from pole in both and lost the result throughout the races.
The lack of wins had not taken a toll until now - the Frenchman even led the standings after the weekend in Rome - but in the first moment of his life, he was able to live up to the expectations of his teammates.but the first time he experienced what every other driver has experienced at some point this year - coming away without points from a race - the campaign was not enough to keep him in contention.
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A great example of this is Edoardo Mortara, who also had a terrible weekend in New York. The driver took only five points from the two races combined, suffering from an atypical weekend. However, his previous streak of 90 points in four races - with two wins in that period - kept him in contention, despite losing first place. Still, he remains only 11 points off the lead.
Vergne, who already sees leader Vandoorne 27 points behind, has a considerably more complicated situation - mainly due to the fact that the deficit is greater than a victory, something that has not even been achieved yet this season. With the experience of someone who has already lifted two category trophies, the Frenchman practically predicted his own future when he said after Rome that "the lead meant nothing. Well, what counts is to occupy the first place after the end of the championship.
As for the other three competitors, the fight goes on. Mitch Evans shows an absurd psychological strength race after race, never giving up on recovering on the grid. This Sunday he again had a test of patience: first he saw Nyck de Vries try a very dangerous overtake - hitting the back of Sims - and had to give up position to avoid an accident.
On the next lap, he tried to make up for it, and he was very hungry: he spun and almost hit the wall. Miraculously, the New Zealander did not lose any positions and kept his usual pace, focused on getting closer to Vandoorne. In the end he succeeded: third place, just one position behind his rival, and 16 points off the leader - a considerable distance, but not impossible to reverse.
The Mercedes driver, on the other hand, shows all the qualities of someone who aims to be champion of the category. Once again he took advantage of an opportunity that was offered to him by André Lotterer's bad start, and climbed from fifth to second place at the end of the race, maximizing a result that already looked good while his competitors suffered. He looks set to keep the Formula E title in the Mercedes garage, but still has the shadows of Evans and - especially - Mortara.
Formula E still has four races to go until the end of the championship, in two double rounds that will take place in England and South Korea. The next round takes place at the end of the month, with London's eP scheduled for July 30-31, and the fight will be fierce until the championship closes in August.
