Envision Virgin Racing's Robin Frijns believes that the 2018/19 Formula E title fight is "still wide open" despite leading the championship as the series heads to Monaco this weekend.
On the streets of Paris, Frijns triumphed in difficult conditions, with the Dutchman claiming his maiden victory in the all-electric single seater series which also coincidentally marked the championship's first wet race to date.
By winning the eighth round of the season, Frijns was Formula E's eighth different winner this year in what is the series' most unpredictable and closely contested campaign to date while Envision Virgin became the first repeat winners this season.
With five races remaining in the 2018/19 campaign, Frijns holds a one-point lead over DS Techeetah's Andre Lotterer in the Drivers' Championship while Antonio Felix da Costa and Lucas di Grassi sit 10 points behind the second-placed German, holding 70 points.
Running down the field, only 29 points cover the top 10 in the standings – the maximum number of points that any driver can score on an E-Prix weekend by taking pole position, fastest lap and the all-important race win.
Given this close nature, Frijns described the title race as "wide open" when looking ahead to this weekend's Monaco E-Prix, aiming to carry his momentum from Paris to the Principality:
“The last Formula E event was the toughest race of my career so to come away with the win was an amazing feeling,” said Frijns.
“Now Sam [Bird], myself and the whole team is gearing up for Monaco where we’re aiming to carry that momentum through, especially with the improvements we’ve made in qualifying which is going to be paramount on such a narrow circuit like Monaco.
“Although we’re leading the championship it doesn’t change our focus or approach, and there’s still a long way to go with many points up for grabs. For sure, the Formula E title race is still wide open with any of the top 10 drivers in contention.”
For Frijns' team-mate Bird, it has been a difficult run of three races, with the Briton and former championship leader failing to register a points finish since March's Hong Kong E-Prix – a run that marks the driver's poorest performance tally in Formula E to date which is something that he is looking to end this weekend:
“Monaco is such an amazing and iconic place to race so every driver looks forward to this event," said Bird.
"Compared to other Formula E tracks, Monaco is a much smoother, more clinical circuit, but it’s still easy to damage the car and because it’s so narrow, there’s even more emphasis on qualifying.
"Sadly, I didn’t get the result I wanted last time out in Paris, but we’ve put that behind us and are now fully focused on getting a good result in Monaco.”
