However, the race in Mexico City brought no luck to the Mercedes-Benz EQ duo Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries. At the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, for the first time in the young team history, neither of the two drivers saw the checkered flag, so that the team had to leave an E-Prix for the first time without points. Nevertheless, the team was able to gain valuable experience for the further races in its debut season during its only fourth day of racing in the electric racing series.
Until his retirement, Stoffel had fought five positions up in the race and was on course for his fourth point arrival this season. Shortly before the end of the race, he tried to defend his fifth role and touched the wall, which eventually led to his failure.
His team-mate Nyck de Vries temporarily took second place at the Inaugurate and finished in the top 5 after an early security automobile half. As a result, Nyck defended himself in a duel for fifth against António Félix da Costa (DS Techeetah). It came into contact with Robin Frijns (Envision Virgin Racing), after which Nyck had to park his vehicle at the edge of the track.
Nyck went to the Inaugurate in the second qualifying group and secured the second fastest time in the group phase. It was the second time in his rookie season that he had reached the orderly pole of the top six. There he secured fourth place, but moved forward to a third starting position as a result of a penalty for Pascal Wehrlein.
Stoffel drove the second fastest time of the first qualifying group in not yet ideal track conditions, but once was not enough to move into the orderly pole. He started the race from tenth place on the grid.
As in the previous three races, Stoffel and Nyck also received support from the fan boost in Mexico City (Stoffel: 20% / Nyck: 8%). In the fourth season run, Stoffel trudge for the fourth time in the favor of followers.
The team will travel from Mexico to Morocco in two weeks, where on 29. February at the Marrakech E-Prix 2020 the fifth round of the season takes place.
Ian James, Team Principal: “Of course the emotions are stirred up after this race. Unfortunately we leave Mexico empty-handed. Both drivers had incidents today that ended their races prematurely.”
“We see this as a character-building experience for the entire team, which has delivered a strong performance this weekend. Now we have to re-sort and make sure that we roll up our sleeves until the next race.”
Stoffel Vandoorne: “After this race, of course, I was colossally disappointed. We dropped a lot of points today. I was in fifth place when I was a bit off the line in turn three. After that, I had no likelihood of closing the wall I am extremely sorry for the team, because we should have scored points on a design like this. But we will not give up and will come back strengthened in Marrakech. “
Nyck de Vries: “Unfortunately my race ended up in the wall today. After the end of the race I was with the race stewards because of the incident. For me it is clear that due to a technical complication I was only a passenger in my car. Of course I still want to Sorry for that, but I just couldn't stop the car anymore. Now I'm looking ahead to the next race in Marrakech. ”
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