Formula E landed in New York on the weekend of July 16 and 17, with four drivers directly involved in the fight for the category title. Since then, Stoffel Vandoorne's competitors for the coveted cup have been experiencing chaotic times, involved in crashes, crashes, and punishments. And while all the chaos is unfolding around him, the Belgian is making steady strides towards his first world title.

Vandoorne's greatest asset in this Formula E season has been, without a doubt, regularity. To have an idea, the championship leader - with a 26-point lead over Mitch Evans, the second place - has only won one race this year, in Monaco. However, he is the record holder for podiums in 2022, with seven, and places himself among the top finishers at each and every opportunity he gets.

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Stoffel Vandoorne somou o sétimo pódio da temporada em Londres, mais do que qualquer outro do grid (Foto: FIA Fórmula E) — Stoffel Vandoorne added his seventh podium of the season in London, more than anyone else on the grid (Photo: FIA Formula E)

The current weekend in London was perhaps the biggest example of this. Let's go to the competitors: absolutely none of them made it to the knockout stage on the first day of racing at the ExCel Arena, while Vandoorne again went all the way to the final. Although he was overtaken by Jake Dennis, the Mercedes driver was at least guaranteed a front row start. Meanwhile, Mortara started ninth, Vergne was 13th, and Evans was 14th.

From then on, it was clear that the race would be a recovery challenge for the other three, while Vandoorne would avoid any kind of confusion to take the points from second place. The Belgian even threatened an attack on Dennis at the end, but preferred to keep his second position at the end of the race.

As for the others, Evans was the only one to recover: he finished sixth, and the eight points he gained were enough to take the second place from Mortara.

The Swiss' race was then a disaster. Mortara was involved in a quadruple incident in the first corner, when four cars tried to force their way through the same space, and was hit hard by Sam Bird. The Venturi driver did not give up and went back to the pits to change the nozzle, but dragged himself to the bottom of the grid throughout the race and even risked the embarrassment of taking a lap from the leaders - Vandoorne among them.

Evans tomou o segundo lugar de Mortara na tabela, mas ainda tem um caminho árduo para chegar em Vandoorne (Foto: Jaguar) — Evans took second place from Mortara in the standings, but still has a hard way to go to Vandoorne (Photo: Jaguar)

Finally, Jean-Èric Vergne is a chapter apart. Like Vandoorne, the Frenchman's main asset throughout the year was his regularity. He didn't win races, but he had scored in all of them and posed throughout the year a real threat to the leaders. However, everything went wrong in New York. After zeroing out a round for the first time in Brooklyn, the DS Techeetah starter went out without points for the third time in a row in London and sees his title chances fading faster and faster.

While his rivals are slipping - through no fault of their own or others - the fact is that Stoffel ignores them and keeps collecting good results. In the retrospective of the last three races, Vergne has no points, Mortara has five, and Evans has 23. Vandoorne alone has 48.

For the first time this season, a driver has opened a considerable lead in the Formula E series. And by doing so at the most decisive moment of the championship - with only three more races to go - Stoffel Vandoorne is closer than ever to his dream world title.