Vandoorne banishes bad F1 memories
During his all-too-brief two-year spell in Formula 1 with McLaren, Vandoorne’s confidence and self-esteem appeared to drain away and leave him a shell of the driver who’d shone so spectacularly in GP2 (now known as Formula 2). Vandoorne won on the streets of Monaco in the F1 feeder series, but only had a lowly 14th to show for his two efforts at the Grand Prix proper. Still, it’s all in the increasingly distant past as Vandoorne relishes his Formula E rebirth – and how it showed in Monaco.
He started fourth after losing his qualifying semi-final to Wehrlein, but like his fellow frontrunners saved energy in the early running and then began to rise up the order. Having lost a place to Robin Frijns, the way he slashed back past as the pair exited the tunnel was up there among the best moves of the race.
There was some fortune mixed in with his skill, too, as he swept to victory. Evans was surprised how his Jaguar over-used energy, forcing him into a more conservative approach than he would have wished, while Wehrlein looked on course to win until his Porsche simply lost power and led him to coast to a standstill. The subsequent safety car undid Jean-Eric Vergne’s race as he picked up his second dose of Attack Mode through Casino Square at precisely the wrong moment. It was a series of events that contributed to Vandoorne hitting the front, although how he fended off Evans and Vergne for the remainder of the race showed the maturity you would expect from an experienced F1 exile.
The Mercedes EQ ace now leads the standings on 81 points. Vergne (DS Techeetah), whom Vandoorne deposed from the top, is second on 75, with Evans third on 72 and Frijns (Envision) fourth on 71. Four drivers from four different teams, separated by just ten points after six rounds? You can’t argue with that. A gap is beginning to open to the rest, with Edoardo Mortara fifth on 49, so will the champion come from the top-four quartet? There are still 10 rounds to go at six different venues, so it’s a touch early to make a concrete prediction.