Car Vrum

The Roman race weekend had, however, got off to an excellent start for Stoffel Vandoorne. He scored his first pole position of the season, the third of his career. However, Vandoorne could not enjoy it for long. After the first race laps were completed due to the somewhat wet conditions behind the safety car, things went wrong for Vandoorne just after the real race start.

André Lotterer tried to steal the Belgian from Mercedes, miscalculated in his braking maneuver and knocked Vandoorne off the track. The German was conceived with a five-second penalty, but Vandoorne had in the meantime fallen back to thirteenth place.

A tough catch-up race brought Vandoorne back to sixth place, just behind teammate and championship leader Nyck de Vries. No team orders at Mercedes, and Vandoorne did not need long to steal the Dutchman from fifth place.

A little later it even seemed to become fourth, when leader Lucas di Grassi suddenly slowed down shortly before the end. However, while avoiding the slow-moving Audi, Vandoorne’s car was catapulted upwards by a bump in the road surface, but for a moment the West Fleming seemed to be able to keep his car under control. However, De Vries was also surprised by the bump next to the driving line and gave Vandoorne an extra push, so that it ended up in the wall backwards. End of race for both Mercedes drivers immediately.

The race was completed under neutralization, Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah) finished first. Sam Bird (Jaguar), second, becomes the new leader in the standings. Stoffel Vandoorne remains fifteenth, and is now 36 points behind the leader. The fourth e-Prix of the season will be finished in Rome on Sunday.