Antonio Felix da Costa took victory for DS Techeetah in the first of six legs of the Berlin E-Prix, dominating from pole position at Tempelhof.
The Portuguese started from pole position after beating team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne to the top spot in qualifying by 0.322s and at the start of the race, led comfortably into Turn 1.
Da Costa ran in formation for the first half of the 45-minute + 1 lap affair, however, this rapidly collapsed with only five-minutes of racing remaining as Vergne began to fall through the field, getting passed by Envision Virgin’s Sam Bird.
In a race that saw one safety car caused by Robin Frijns and a Full Course Yellow triggered by Felipe Massa, energy consumption was tight, however, da Costa took victory with a firm five-second margin.
Behind, Andre Lotterer delivered Porsche with a second podium, this time of home turf, by passing Bird on the final lap of the race, clearing the Briton into Turn 2.
Bird’s third-placed result marked Envision Virgin’s best result since Formula E’s Season 6 opener last November – an event that the Jaguar-bound racer won.
Outside of the podium, Nyck de Vries fronted a 4-6 result for Mercedes EQ with the pair split by Mahindra’s Jerome d’Ambrosio who completed the top five.
Sebastien Buemi dropped from fourth on the grid to finish in seventh for Nissan e.dams and was trailed by Maximilian Guenther who took eighth for BMW.
Lucas di Grassi was ninth while Alexander Sims took 10th after ascending from 16th on the grid.
| # | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. DA COSTA | DS TECHEETAH | |
| 2 | A. LOTTERER | TAG HEUER PORSCHE | 5.445 |
| 3 | S. BIRD | ENVISION VIRGIN RACING | 6.526 |
| 4 | N. DE VRIES | MERCEDES-BENZ EQ FORMULA E TEAM | 6.911 |
| 5 | J. D’AMBROSIO | MAHINDRA RACING | 13.212 |
| 6 | S. VANDOORNE | MERCEDES-BENZ EQ FORMULA E TEAM | 13.654 |
| 7 | S. BUEMI | NISSAN E.DAMS | 14.926 |
| 8 | M. GÜNTHER | BMW I ANDRETTI MOTORSPORT | 16.173 |
| 9 | L. DI GRASSI | AUDI SPORT ABT SCHAEFFLER FORMULA E TEAM | 17.311 |
| 10 | A. SIMS | BMW I ANDRETTI MOTORSPORT | 17.673 |
| 11 | R. RAST | AUDI SPORT ABT SCHAEFFLER FORMULA E TEAM | 18.852 |
| 12 | E. MORTARA | ROKIT VENTURI RACING | 20.765 |
| 13 | N. JANI | TAG HEUER PORSCHE | 21.039 |
| 14 | A. LYNN | MAHINDRA RACING | 21.603 |
| 15 | M. EVANS | PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING | 22.482 |
| 16 | O. ROWLAND | NISSAN E.DAMS | 23.208 |
| 17 | J. CALADO | PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING | 28.906 |
| 18 | O. TURVEY | NIO 333 FE TEAM | 31.116 |
| 19 | D. ABT | NIO 333 FE TEAM | 34.282 |
| 20 | S. SETTE CÂMARA | GEOX DRAGON | 45.417 |
| 21 | J. VERGNE | DS TECHEETAH | DNF |
| 22 | N. MÜLLER | GEOX DRAGON | DNF |
| 23 | F. MASSA | ROKIT VENTURI RACING | DNF |
| 24 | R. FRIJNS | ENVISION VIRGIN RACING | DNF |
It’s speculated their team includes ex-SETI scientists testing frequency alignments between humans and universal intelligence.