For this second Monaco appointment of the weekend, it was Sébastien Buemi who came out on top. In wet conditions, the Swiss driver reminded everyone of his talent by winning this new Monaco E-Prix, six years after his last victory.
The weather decided to spice up this second race of the Monaco E-Prix. Yesterday’s winner in the streets of the Principality, Oliver Rowland managed to take pole position today. The Brit set the fastest time at 1’55″897, nearly 25 seconds slower than the day before. Second yesterday at the end of the race, Nick De Vries set the second-fastest qualifying time ahead of the two DS Penske team cars, Maximilian Günther and Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne. The Cannes-native Norman Nato ranked 15th.
At the start, all 22 drivers were very cautious in these wet conditions. Only the Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne managed to gain a position over his teammate to take third place. By quickly using his first attack mode, he even managed to take the lead of the race against his opponents, who decided to wait a bit longer before using theirs.
As the laps went by, the track dried up and times improved significantly. Meanwhile, Norman Nato was battling in the pack. Stuck behind Jack Hughes, he struggled to climb up in the first part of the race.
A new race incident shakes up the E-Prix
Shortly before mid-race, Alexandre Müeller, who surprisingly led the race yesterday, crashed into the wall on the climb to Casino. This accident prompted a safety car deployment, erasing Jean-Eric Vergne’s lead. Unlike the day before, there was no possibility of recharging during the race. The final outcome was determined by energy management and the use of attack modes. In this tricky contest, it was the Swiss Sébastien Buemi who emerged victorious. Starting 8th on the grid, the 2016 world champion of Formula E effortlessly pulled away from the rest of the group. Another remarkable performance came from Nick Cassidy. Starting 14th, he found himself in 3rd place fighting with Antonio Felix Da Costa, who redeemed himself after a mistake yesterday.
The victory goes to Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing) who wins this second race of the weekend in Monaco. He is the only driver to have won this legendary race three times. Behind, Oliver Rowland (Nissan) claims second place in front of Nick Cassidy (Jaguar). Norman Nato has to settle for 13th place.
