It’s not often that we see it, nor is it favorable to be out front in a Formula E race for the entirety of the 45-minute race, but Nyck De Vries did just that on Friday.
The Mercedes driver got out front from the start of the Diriyah E-Prix, constantly putting more and more space between himself and second place.
His plan was working for almost 30 minutes of the event, as De Vries kept pulling away while chaos was going on behind him.
Moves were being made all over the place, including this highlight pass for position from ROKiT Venturi Racing’s Edoardo Mortara.
ROKiT Venturi Racing's Edoardo Mortara with a crazy pass here on Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein and Jaguar's Mitch Evans to move into P3. #FormulaE
13 minutes remaining.
🎥 @FIAFormulaE pic.twitter.com/btEVIk9vo4
— Connor Ferguson (@cfchangs9) February 26, 2021
That move put Mortara in third right before the safety car came out for an accident between Sam Bird and Alex Lynn, who both finished in the consecutive last spots.
By the time Mortara got to P2, De Vries had driven away for Mercedes second Formula E win in a row, dating back to last year’s season finale.
The win also gave De Vries his first career victory in the series, and first win since he won the 2019 Formula 2 series championship.
The tour will go live from Diriyah for it’s second race of the season on Saturday, kicking off at the same 10:30 a.m. CT spot on CBSSN tomorrow.
Formula E Diriyah E-Prix 1 Results
1. Nyck De Vries
2. Edoardo Mortara
3. Mitch Evans
4. Rene Rast
5. Pascal Wehrlein
6. O. Rowland
7. A. Sims
8. S. Vandoorne
9. L. Di Grassi
10. O. Turvey
11. A. Da Costa
12. J. Dennis
13. S. Buemi
14. N. Nato
15. J. Vergne
16. A. Lotterer
17. R. Frijins
18. T. Blomqvist
19. N. Cassidy
20. S. Sette Camara
21. N. Muller
22. M. Gunther
23. S. Bird
24. A. Lynn
