How Monaco dealt Formula E a winning hand to cure its hangover

It’s felt as though Formula E has been nursing a hangover during the first half of this season. The improvised six races in Berlin last August to conclude the interrupted 2019-20 campaign acted like a nine-day bender and since then the series has come across a touch bleary-eyed.

Three double-header events, split by barely enough time to abide by the UK government’s requirement to self-isolate for 10 days upon returning to the country, has left little room for respite to shift the heavy heads in 2021. The paddock swapped its pre-pandemic optimism for an altogether flatter mood with questions asked over what return manufacturers are getting for their millions, even withstanding the body blow COVID has dealt.

A faltering start to life with full FIA World Championship status was compounded by the Valencia debacle last month. Mass retirements and disqualifications as drivers exceeded energy limits wasn’t a good look. The governing body attempting to place blame on its popular reigning champion and long-time race leader Antonio Felix da Costa didn’t help matters. Formula E trying to justify events as a showcase of the need to lift and coast was cumbersome at best.

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The series needed to bounce back from what was quite possibly its nadir. And that was just the lucky hand Formula E was dealt in Monaco, as a thrilling contest last weekend helped alleviate the irritability. In some style, da Costa finally earned the first victory of his title defence in a race that featured six swaps for the lead. This came on the championship’s maiden use of the full grand prix circuit, where overtaking opportunities are generally thought to be sparing in the context of Formula 1.

It was a fine showcase of how far Formula E has come. Having rocked up to the principality for a European debut in May 2015, back then two cars were required per driver just to complete the race on a shortened 1.1-mile circuit that missed out the iconic stretch from Beau Rivage to the harbour. Almost six years to the day on from that foray in the champagne state, the warm Mediterranean Sea air put the wind not only in the sails of the glistening super yachts crowded into Port Hercules, but also back into the championship itself.

Robin Frijns, Envision Virgin Racing, Audi e-tron FE07

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Last-minute tweaks to the layout might have got proceedings off to a rocky start. The series was set to use the faster and more open set-up of Sainte Devote, with the electric cars ready to bask in some history and follow the first corner route used for the maiden Monaco Grand Prix in 1929. However, not unrelated to events in Spain, the tighter F1 configuration was sanctioned to provide a bigger braking zone to give drivers every opportunity to recoup energy before the deceptively steep climb up to Massenet.

Similarly, the attack mode activation loop was moved from Loews Hairpin to the outside of Casino Square while the kerb at the second apex of the Nouvelle Chicane was repositioned to greatly tighten the corner.

The expectation was that these late changes would wreak havoc with the teams’ simulator preparation. But with seven drivers having contested the World Endurance Championship curtain raiser at Spa the weekend prior, their homework had been delayed and so the chagrin was kept to a minimum.

As Stoffel Vandoorne explained: “This time it was actually beneficial to go to the simulator quite late before the event because the updates on the circuit came quite late. I would say [the tight turnaround between events] in the end was almost a benefit.”

Da Costa reckoned the controversial end to the first race in Valencia had made Formula E “the joke of the week”, but he was the one laughing at the end of qualifying. Arriving in Monaco, the DS Techeetah driver only had two points finishes to show from six races. That meant plying his trade in group three. Although track evolution was minimal compared to the dusty streets of Saudi Arabia and the dry lines that emerged in Italy, he used his later run to secure the fourth-best time and earn a spot in the top-six superpole shootout.

"We raced hard but absolutely fair. Maybe other drivers would have made it more dangerous for me, but he gave me room on the outside and I just squeezed by" Mitch Evans

There was little to split the fastest four from their final flying laps, just 0.059s. Robin Frijns did his heavy lifting in the last sector to claw back a tenth and land second on the grid. Jaguar Racing rival Mitch Evans was wild for the duration but pieced it together for third, while da Costa nosed in front to claim his sixth series pole by a 0.012s whisker.

“I went at like 99% because I’m just not in a place right now, with the way we’ve built our season up to here, to really go full beans and risk touching a wall,” said the Portuguese, who reckoned he channelled the same focus that had borne Macau GP wins in 2012 and ’16. “I was comfortable with what I needed to do. I said, ‘I’m not going to look for lap time anymore’.”

David Ladouce, Race Engineer, DS Techeetah, Antonio Felix Da Costa, DS Techeetah

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“All week I have been wanting this super bad... putting so much pressure on myself. I’ve been working mentally to keep that under control one step at a time. We’ve been trying to kickstart this season since we had a pretty slow start. This is where we either throw our towel on the floor or we pick ourselves back up.”

The towel da Costa needed before long was to dry himself after leaping off the 10-metre diving board above the swimming pool in celebration of his exquisitely-executed triumph.

A smooth launch and maintaining a tight line against the inside barrier gave da Costa a short run into Sainte Devote where he found breathing space to maintain first. Evans, meanwhile, tried to bully himself up the inside of Frijns but thought better of it, emitting a small puff of blue smoke from the fronts as he briefly locked up and settled into third.

Aside from a clumsy run through Leows Hairpin – Alexander Sims was tapped under braking by Pascal Wehrlein and then clonked into the outside wall by the Porsche driver after a brief coming together with Sebastien Buemi – the opening lap was of little note. It was the cars simply passing through the famous setting that provided the spectacle rather than any major on-track skirmishes. That appeared to put the race on course for a procession.

That lasted only as far as lap four, when Frijns propelled himself out of Anthony Noghes to tuck into da Costa’s slipstream past the pits and then throw his Envision Virgin Racing machine down the inside for the lead into Sainte Devote.

As is par for the course in Formula E, the battle for victory then descended into an attack mode strategy game. Da Costa was the first to duck off-line for his 35kW boost and slotted into fourth behind team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne. When the two-time champion attempted an outside pass on Evans into Nouvelle Chicane and the pair brushed bodywork and slowed, da Costa pounced back for second place but in the delay was now 2.3s adrift of Frijns.

The Dutch racer used that cushion to activate his attack mode. He deployed the extra power to good effect to recover first place with a deft move into Sainte Devote. The positions were reversed once more as Frijns didn’t hang about to take his second boost, handing da Costa track position. But it only took half a lap for Frijns to sweep back at the exit of the tunnel and then streak into a lead of 2.5s.

Robin Frijns, Envision Virgin Racing, Audi e-tron FE07 Antonio Felix Da Costa, DS Techeetah, DS E-Tense FE21

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Da Costa responded with his second attack mode and smartly hung on around the outside of Mirabeau to hold the inside line in Leows as he fought off Evans for third. He was then gifted second place as Vergne ran off-line to activate his boost but missed the gate and so lost time to no avail.

The runaway star of last season then used his power advantage to reel in the leader, thumbed the fanboost button and carried masses of speed out of the tunnel to return the favour on Frijns with flying overtake into the Nouvelle Chicane. But as the race grew into a breathless fight for the lead, the top two were left prey to the attack mode-enhanced Evans with 16 minutes to play.

The Monegasque resident, more accustomed to navigating the streets on his moped, dispatched of Frijns around the outside on the main straight to tuck into the tow of da Costa. And while there were several contenders for the overtake of the race up this point, Evans blew them all away. He ran side by side with the DS Techeetah machine and then sliced with millimetric precision up the inside through Beau Rivage to a complete a simply stunning move.

“I wasn’t really expecting it but just the pace difference on attack mode going up the hill, it was huge,” said Evans. “I wasn’t really sure what Antonio was going to do, so I went with my gut… we raced hard but absolutely fair. Maybe other drivers would have made it more dangerous for me, but he gave me room on the outside and I just squeezed by.”

Evans would soon come to rue that turn of blinding speed as he fell behind his rivals in the battle to preserve energy. A safety car was called for three laps when Rene Rast ran out of room in his dice with Nick Cassidy and understeered into the barrier. Evans led away at the restart and a stricken Nyck de Vries on the approach to Tabac provided a yellow flag breather to help the Kiwi keep hold of track position.

"I went for the move on that last lap in Turn 12 thinking ‘OK, I’ll go for it, but it will probably not work. He’s got enough to cover me.’ But it was just enough" Antonio Felix da Costa

It proved insufficient, however. Evans’ speed dropped more and more as he had to conserve energy, handing da Costa the opportunity he needed to be the last of the late brakers and slingshot round the outside for the victory on the run into the Nouvelle Chicane. A massive lock up couldn’t hold him back as somehow managed to haemorrhage enough speed and make the apex on the final lap to earn the spoils in sterling fashion. Title defence ignited.

“You just feel it here from your gut,” da Costa said. “The whole week, it’s something there. To pull it out feels amazing. There’s so many details that led to me being the lucky one. I went for the move on that last lap in Turn 12 thinking ‘OK, I’ll go for it, but it will probably not work. He’s got enough to cover me.’ But it was just enough to get him.”

Antonio Felix Da Costa makes his final lap move stick on Mitch Evans

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Evans slowed to such an extent, conceding second on the line to new and entirely deserved points leader Frijns by just 0.024s, that da Costa ran 2.8s clear. But that, and the top six (completed by Vergne, Maximilian Guenther and Oliver Rowland) classifying where they had started, belied what was an emphatic electric classic.

In such a setting and after a truly entertaining encounter, the fog in the paddock lifted no end to give Formula E a welcome shot in the arm. The championship can dine out on the superlative action last weekend ahead of its comparatively enduring six-week lie-in until Mexico.

That positive sentiment would do well to carry over for the double-header visit to the Autodromo Miguel E Abed near the city of Puebla. The gorgeous marina vistas of Monaco will be swapped for a flat oval with a fiddly infield route. It also marks the quick return of a permanent circuit with the energy management turmoil of Valencia still fresh in the memory.

With memos reportedly sent around about the need to travel in and out of the circuit in convoy to improve security for personnel, the former World Touring Car venue faces an uphill battle to worm its way into the heart of the paddock. But if the on-track competition can hold a candle to that on display last weekend, then Formula E might wave goodbye to its hangover before supping Long Island Ice Teas in New York in July.

Robin Frijns, Envision Virgin Racing, 2nd position, Antonio Felix Da Costa, DS Techeetah, 1st position, Mitch Evans, Jaguar Racing, 3rd position, on the podium

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images