Jean-Eric Vergne says he was content with fifth place at the Berlin ePrix, admitting the Renault e.dams and Abt cars were too quick.
The Frenchman started the race from pole position after setting the pace in qualifying but he couldn’t retain the lead.
He enjoyed a strong battle early on with Sebastien Buemi but the e.dams car soon scampered into the distance, while Vergne felll down to fifth by the finish.
“No,” he said when asked if the race was a missed opportunity. “I think it was a great day. Obviously you start from pole, you want to be winning the race.
“Paris to here, the track was more or less the same length, but you had four more laps. With our car, race energy was way too difficult.
“I tried to attack as much as I could. I was extremely aggressive, even sometimes a bit too much. The two e.dams and the two Abts were way too quick.
“There was nothing I could have done to stop them. I tried as much as I could, but I couldn’t do any more. I was wasting energy. The pace was simply not there compared to those guys.
“Maybe if there had been less laps it would have been a different story like in qualifying. But yeah, of course, I’m disappointed. You start on pole you want to be winning the race.
“Fifth place should be a disappointment, but I don’t take it like that. I take it very positively. We have a very good car but energy-wise we have a lot of work to do.
“We have only one more round to go in the championship, next year’s going to be a new engine, a new powertrain, new everything.
“We’re going to try and make the best of the last race in London. I’m not disappointed because I know I could not have won the race or finished on the podium unless others made mistakes, but they didn’t.”
