RACE CENTRE FORMULA E ROME
32 AUTOSPORT.COM 18 APRIL 2019Lotterer/Evans battle was
eventually settled by a
robust overtaking moveLotterer makes a strong
start on the slippery track
to defend against EvansGRIFFITHStwo blinking and going for the attack-
mode zone in the early running.
Due to the many race interruptions so
far this season, the attack-mode strategy
cat-and-mouse has not really shown its
full potential. But that changed in Rome,
with only a short full-course yellow –
called on lap 14 after Felipe Massa’s
car came to a stop on the run from
Turn 10 – halting the racing further.
Evans ultimately made the first move
and went into the 225kW mode on lap 16.
He naturally dropped back from Lotterer
due to the zone’s offline position, but
soon caught him again. After feigning
a few moves, the defining moment ofleft stranded down the order due to what
many reckoned was the second biggest
group one-two track-evolution delta of
the season, after Santiago. But that left
the stage set for a tantalising race.
It started with a farce. Lotterer leaped off
the line to defend firmly against Evans on
the run to the first corner – technically
the Turn 13 hairpin due to the track’s offset
grid setting. Behind them, Lopez made a
slow getaway and went too deep at the first
corner, slid wide and was swallowed up by
the pack. This left Lopez exposed to attack
from behind and, at the Turns 11/12 chicane,
he found Bird making a move around the
outside. Contact was made, which put the
Envision Virgin Racing driver into the wall
and seemingly out of the race, with Dragon
Racing man Lopez later given a penalty.
Lopez’s first-lap adventures continued
when he hit the wall on the inside of the
Turns 17/18 chicane and crashed into the
outside barrier. The following Gary Paffett
had nowhere to go and, as he suddenly
slowed, he was hit from behind by Vergne,
which blocked the track and brought out
the red flags for a fourth race in a row.
Lotterer led the pack back to the pits and
the race remained neutralised for the best
part of an hour, with Paffett remarkably
the only casualty. Lopez and Vergne had
their cars fixed during the suspension,
as did Bird, whose Virgin team rapidly
repaired the major damage he had suffered.
When the racing resumed with a
safety-car restart, the focus switched back
to Lotterer and Evans. Most of the field
opted to use their first attack-mode
activations immediately under the safety car
or on the following lap. Techeetah team
boss Mark Preston later explained that his
squad had heard “confusing” information
about when the drivers could enter the
higher-power mode at the restart, which
meant Lotterer did not take his first
activation early, and was mirrored by Evans.
The Jaguar driver stayed glued to the
rear of Lotterer’s car as the top two edged
clear of Vandoorne in third, whose HWA
Venturi was falling back but still staying
well clear of the pack behind. A tense
stalemate ensued, with neither of the topthe whole event occurred.
Evans attacked as the pair bounced
over the bumps at the top of the hill
approaching Turn 9 on lap 18 of what
would be a 29-lap race. He was rebuffed
but stayed on it, ultimately getting
alongside a few corners later and diving
to the inside of the Turns 11/12 chicane.
The pair made contact, rubbing firmly,
and Lotterer had to give way or end up
in the wall. It was right on the limit,
but Evans was through.
Both drivers ultimately earned FE’s first
‘yellow cards’, which was how FIA circuit
championships director Frederic Bertrand
described the verbal warnings that race