Reigning Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne believes that his collision with Sam Bird in Turn 1 at the Marrakesh E-Prix is the biggest mistake that he has made in his time in the all-electric single seater series.
In Marrakesh, Vergne qualified in second place, starting alongside Envision Virgin Racing's Sam Bird who took pole position.
Getting a strong start, Vergne began to close in on Bird who proceeded to defend the inside line in an attempt to hold onto first place, however, was struck by Vergne who to tried to clear the Briton with an opportunistic and ultimately unrealistic overtake.
While Bird held onto the lead, Vergne spun his DS Techeetah car, leaving him facing the wrong way on the circuit, dropping down to last place.
Recovering with no significant damage, Vergne fought back through the field to finish in fifth place, taking 10 points and overtaking a total of 15 cars throughout the 45-minute + 1 lap race on the Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan.
"We’re racing drivers in the end of the day and we go for the gap, so when I saw it I went for it, but quickly realised that I couldn’t make it so I had to spin the car so that I didn’t crash into Sam [Bird] as I didn’t want to ruin his race," said Vergne
"[It] was my fault, but if this is the biggest mistake I’ve done in Formula E so far and I still got P5, there’s still a lot to be happy about.
"In the end, I overtook 15 cars gaining 16 seconds on the leaders and I was only four seconds behind them in the last couple of laps which shows the incredible pace of our package."
For Vergne's team-mate Andre Lotterer, it was a strong showing of performance despite the triple Le Mans winner finishing in sixth place, with a poor qualifying run meaning that the German racer, like Vergne, had to battle through the field after starting in 20th:
“Qualifying in the back isn’t the start you want but we had fun fighting our way through the grid to finish P6 in the end," said Lotterer.
"I made a small mistake in the qualifying session which led to the start from the back but it’s good to be in the top five in the championship and to remain the championship leaders.
"As we head to the South American races rest assured, we will continue to fight to stay there.
"We had a good race in Santiago last year when we scored the first 1-2 in Formula E history, but it’s a new track this year so let’s see if we can do it all again at the new location.”
DS Techeetah currently leads the Teams' Championship with 47 points, with BMW i Andretti Motorsport closely following in second, seven points adrift of the top of the table.
Formula E will return on January 26 for the Santiago E-Prix.
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