Round 8 of the halfway point of Season 10 in ABB FIA Formula E saw the Teams and Drivers arrive at Monaco for the one they all want to win!
Winner: Mitch Evans
After years of coming close, Mitch Evans is finally a win around the streets of Monte Carlo! Mitch drove a great and rather smart team Race (we’ll get to Jaguar later) and when he needed to push after the second Safety Car, he had more than enough pace in hand to take his first victory in Season 10! Evans is now 5th in the Drivers’ Championship, and that’s definitely not a bad place to be!
Loser: Jake Dennis
In a rare occurrence, Jake Dennis didn’t find himself on the Podium again and instead found himself finishing last of the running cars. Firstly, Jake’s Qualifying was a bit of a disaster, meaning he started 18th for the E-Prix, but after just 7 laps, the reigning World Champion was already in the points in typical Dennis fashion! However, soon after he activated Attack Mode, Dennis came together with Robin Frijns in the lose hairpin and that ultimately saw him damage his front wing and take him out of contention. So yeah, a rare off day for the Champ!
Winners: Jaguar TCS Racing
So not only did Mitch Evans take victory for Jaguar TCS Racing, Nick Cassidy came home in a fantastic second place to take a massive 44 points for Jaguar! The teamwork between the two Kiwi drivers was superb, and it’s only now furthered Jaguar’s gap at the top of the Teams’ Championship. Also, Cassidy is now up to second in the Drivers’ Standings so what an amazing weekend for them!
Losers: Sam Bird and Jehan Daruvala
So the reason why I’ve put Sam Bird and Jehan Daruvala together is because their days kind of tie in together. So, in Practice this morning, Sam Bird found the wall into Saint Devote and that ultimately resulted in Sam fracturing his hand and having to pull out of the E-Prix. He was replaced by Rookie Driver Taylor Barnard, and we’ll save him for later! So, the reason why Jehan Daruvala is here is not only did he finish 9 places behind his Maserati MSG teammate Maximilian Gunther, but he finished behind his fellow Rookie, which is honestly unacceptable given this was his 8th E-Prix!
Winners: DS Penske
Another team that had a fantastic outing in Monaco was DS Penske! DS have had a decent start to the year, certainly better than last year, but today was by far their best as Stoffel Vandoorne came home to score his first Podium with the team whilst Jean-Eric Vergne was just behind in P4! Those 27 points for DS Penske have seen them move to within 11 points of Andretti in P3, which is pretty good for them going into the second half of the year!
Loser: Edoardo Mortara
Today was not the day that Edoardo Mortara had planned! After lining up 12th on the Grid, Edo got into a bit of bumper cars with Jake Hughes before Dan Ticktum stuck his nose in at the first part of the swimming pool section. This completely put Mortara off who went straight into the barrier, taking him out of the E-Prix and bringing out a Safety Car as a result. This was definitely avoidable for Edo Mortara, as his and Mahindra’s pointless 2024 continues (even though Nyck de Vries had a better day).
Winner: Taylor Barnard
And finally, let’s talk about Taylor Barnard. For those who don’t know, Taylor Barnard is a Race winner in FIA Formula 3 (with a poor team I might add) and he serves as the Test and Reserve Driver for NEOM McLaren in ABB FIA Formula E. Due to Sam Bird’s injury this morning, Taylor came straight into Qualifying, and ultimately only got to do 2 flying laps. However, the Race went much better as Barnard stayed out of trouble and ultimately came home to finish P14, ahead of his McLaren teammate Jake Hughes (due to a penalty). Given everything, I don’t think Taylor Barnard could’ve done much else, and if he can work on using all of his energy up (he had a good amount saved up at the flag), he’d be a good addition to the FE Grid!
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