Formula E: Championship set for season finale in Berlin
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is preparing for its final double header of the season in Berlin.
The drivers’ standings is delicately poised heading into rounds 14 and 15, with 18 drivers still in mathematical contention.
Mercedes-EQ’s Nyck de Vries leads the way as things stands, with only a slender six-point lead over Robin Frijns of Envision Virgin Racing. Still within touching distance of the top spot are British pair Sam Bird of Jaguar Racing and BMW i Andretti Motorsport’s Jake Dennis, who claimed his second win of the season in spectacular fashion on the streets of London.
After claiming a surprise podium on the Sunday in London, Jaguar’s Mitch Evans has emphasized the importance of grinding out another positive result in Berlin.
He said: “The final race weekend of the season is always an important one – but so were the other 13 to get us here – as a team we will approach the weekend with the same attitude. We know the Berlin Tempelhof circuit well and have done plenty of preparation and head to the weekend with a positive and optimistic mindset.”
As Evans stated, the teams and drivers’ are very familiar with the circuit, with six races on three different track layouts in nine days to finish last season which was heavily disrupted by Covid.
They will be battling it out on the 2.4km Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit on the outskirts of the German capital city and two different configurations will be used over the weekend with Saturday’s race using the traditional anti-clockwise direction and Sunday switching to clockwise.
Whilst the drivers’ may know the circuit like the back of their hand, Mahindra Racing’s Alexander Sims says he has still been fine-tuning his approach to the track in order to make the most of the final few rounds.
“Tempelhof is a circuit that everybody knows very well from racing in previous years, but this will be the first year I’ve driven the Mahindra Racing car there so I have been using the time on the sim to understand the small tweaks that I need to make to optimise my driving and our package.
“I really enjoy Berlin; not only is it a lovely city which I experienced back in Season 5 (sadly not so much last year!) but it’s a fun track, with lots of overtaking opportunities and should be fairly energy challenging and maybe temperature limited as well. I’m looking forward to racing there again and hopefully we can end the season with a strong result.”
Another driver looking forward to the weekend is Jaguar’s Sam Bird, who is also looking to sign off the season with a positive result.
He said: “Entering the final weekend of a Formula E season sitting third in the teams’ and drivers’ championship with Jaguar Racing is a great place to be. Saturday will be tough from group one and with the penalty so I will be focused on a clean race.
“After the intensity of London, I am just going to enjoy my racing and take each session as it comes. It has been a great first year with Jaguar and we are all aiming to end on a positive.”
The 2020/21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship reaches its climax this weekend with a double-header at the BMW i Berlin E-Prix presented by CBMM Niobium, with Rounds 14 and 15 taking place on 14th and 15th August.
