While Stoffel Vandoorne held on to retake the championship lead with a second place finish in New York, Jean-Èric Vergne left Brooklyn without a single point and sees his title chances slip away
Stoffel Vandoorne regained the lead in the Drivers' World Championship on Sunday (17), when he finished the second race of the eP New York in second place - the winner was DS Techeetah's António Félix da Costa. The Mercedes driver now has 155 points in the table and leaves the then leader Edoardo Mortara behind.
The Swiss Venturi driver suffered during the whole weekend and broke his streak of four consecutive podiums with only five scored points in the two races. On Sunday, he finished 10th and managed to set the fastest lap, which gave him two points on the grid - he has 144, 11 less than Vandoorne.
Third on the podium, Mitch Evans also gained a position and is now third with 139 points, leaving Jean-Éric Vergne in fourth place. The DS Techeetah Frenchman arrived in New York with points in every race of the championship, but left Brooklyn with none and parked on 128 - seeing title contention slipping through his fingers with four races remaining.
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Only two other drivers managed to gain positions on the grid. Winner António Félix da Costa went to 100 shots with the 25 from his victory and passed Nyck De Vries - now eighth - and Lucas Di Grassi to take sixth place.
Further back, Alexander Sims got 12 points with fourth place and added six times the amount of shots he had so far, reaching 14 in 15th place. He passed Maximilian Günther, Oliver Askew, Oliver Turvey, and Oliver Rowland.
The title race remains unpredictable at the top of the table, with only 16 points separating first from third place. However, the race seems to have lost a competitor with Vergne's bad weekend. The next challenge for the drivers will be in England, with the eP London scheduled to take place on July 30 and 31.