Sebastien Buemi won Race 2 of the Formula E Monaco E-Prix double-header in brilliant style, cruising to his first victory in five years and the first for Envision Racing in nearly two years.
The Swiss overcame the challenge of Nissan’s Oliver Rowland take the chequered flag by almost five seconds, with Nick Cassidy taking a brilliant third place from 11th.
Buemi’s victory, his third on the streets of Monaco, comes at a time where his Formula E future has been in doubt, and gives the Jaguar-powered British outfit a much-needed boost after a difficult period since winning the Teams’ Championship in Season 9.
Rowland keeps lead at start
At the start, Rowland led away from de Vries, followed by the two Penskes. Further back in the midfield, many jostled for position but with caution as the wet surface prevented any significantly lunging from any drivers.
Into Lap 3, Buemi and Ticktum opted for Attack Mode, but the Kiro then lost his momentum by going wide into the hairpin. Buemi scythes past Vandoorne for sixth, as Dennis, Nato and Beckmann also joined in for a first Attack Mode.
Buemi was up to fourth by Lap 4, as Rowland opened-up a half-a-second lead on de Vries. Guenther, da Costa and Vandoorne also put in their first attacks, with de Vries following on Lap 5.
Buemi was now up to third just as his extra power ran out, as Ticktum worked his way up to fifth. Down the order, Beckmann was forced to take to the escape road at Sainte-Devote after being tapped by Jake Hughes.
Vergne was in the lead by Lap 6, as Rowland was the only of the lead drivers to not take an Attack Mode.
As de Vries’s first Attack Mode ran out, he set the fastest lap so far and was up to third ahead of Guenther and Buemi.
Lap 7, the first Full Course Yellow was enforced as Lucas di Grassi’s Lola-Yamaha-ABT went nose-first into the barrier at Portier as he dive-bombed Jake Dennis’ Andretti.
The FCY ended a lap later with Vergne still leading by three seconds over Rowland with de Vries in third. Like Saturday, Nick Cassidy opted to take his second Attack Mode early.
Ticktum’s weekend of early promise went further downhill, almost literally, as he was forced to take to the escape road at Mirabeau as he defended his eighth place from Cassidy.
He was able to brilliantly spin-turn the car in the narrow space to rejoin, but was now down in 18th place.
Zane Maloney’s race was running well, maintaining ninth place, as Vergne continued to lead by a similar margin from Rowland, who was still yet to take an Attack Mode.
Pascal Wehrlein took his first Attack Mode late, the Porsche down in 16th and pressuring Mitch Evans’ Jaguar, who also hadn’t taken any extra energy.
By the end of the lap, Wehrlein performed a clever switch back on Norman Nato’s Nissan, and then benefitted from Evans and Jake Hughes’ touching at Turn 1, powering past them up the hill.
Safety Car makes appearance to stunt Vergne’s lead
Nico Mueller was out on Lap 14 after clouting the barrier on the outside at Massenet, bringing out the Safety Car and reducing Vergne’s lead.
It came in a lap later, and Vergne immediately set about opening his lead back up, and it was six tenths by the middle of the lap as de Vries looked to take Rowland’s second place.
By Lap 16, Buemi forced his way past Antonio Felix da Costa at the hairpin and moving up to fifth, and making it fourth quickly as he went by Max Guenther’s DS Penske.
Despite still having both Attack Modes in reserve, Rowland was now just three tenths behind Vergne, opening-up a gap of half-a-second to de Vries.
Rowland took his first on Lap 18, dropping behind de Vries and just about staying ahead of Buemi.
With so much extra power, Rowland went for it on the outside at the Nouvelle chicane, the Dutchman’s robust defending ensuring the Nissan was forced onto the run-off.
Letting him back through, Rowland set about quickly taking him again, and he did so, and then looked at Vergne’s lead.
The Frenchman’s DS proved very wide, and Rowland, trying the same manoeuvre, held firm and bounced over the kerb at Nouvelle to take the lead, but as Vergne held no quarter whatsoever, de Vries went past both of them, as well as third-placed Buemi, into the lead, with Rowland’s extra power immediately seeing him back into the lead.
Vernge was now down to third, with de Vries’ Mahindra forcing him to back-off, but with the Dutchman now in Attack Mode the next lap, he was quick to leave the DS far behind, and on Lap 20, went ahead of Rowland and immediately opened-up a 1.3 second gap.
Buemi was now in his second Attack Mode and duly took second off Rowland, who still had one left.
Both DS Penskes took their second attack along with Cassidy and Wehrlein, leaving da Costa down in eighth, who then took his second attack in response.
Buemi, using all his extra power and all-wheel drive, took the lead off de Vries with Rowland dropping to fourth behind Vergne.
With six laps now left, Buemi was leading by two seconds from de Vries who in turn was two seconds ahead of Vergne, who was taken by Rowland, and began to form a train behind, with Cassidy working his way up to fourth on his final attack.
Rowland took his second and final attack and was quickly up to second, but still needed to claw back the lead of 3.4 seconds Buemi was currently enjoying.
Cassidy was now up to third, muscling his way past de Vries at Mirabeau, and was followed by da Costa into fourth.
With Rowland’s Attack Mode now over, Buemi was still ahead and further still, now by four seconds, with Cassidy still keeping in touch with da Costa not far behind.
Race Control added one lap for the Safety Car and FYC as da Costa continued to hustle Cassidy’s Jaguar for third. He tried at the Nouvelle, but Cassidy crowded him out.
Buemi coasts to fine victory
If anyone needed demoralising, Buemi did so by setting the fastest lap whilst in the lead, now by four-and-a-half seconds.
Cassidy responded to the pressure by setting the fastest lap, and was now a second ahead of da Costa, as his team-mate Wehrlein was now up to seventh.
Now on the final lap of the race, Buemi led by 4.7 seconds from Rowland, to take his 14th Formula E win – the outright record – and his first since New York in 2019.
READ MORE – Monaco E-Prix: Oliver Rowland on pole after track limit penalties hand him top spot
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