Formula E: Disaster For Mahindra As Rosenqvist Crashes; Bird Wins Rome E-Prix

Bouncing back after a disappointing last round, Mahindra Racing's Felix Rosenqvist seemed destined to win the 2018 Formula E Rome e-Prix; however, a crash on Lap 23 ended his run prematurely stealing on what could have been his third win of the season. Rosenqvist's crash promoted Sam Bird into the lead and the DS Virgin Racing driver went on to win the Rome e-Prix ahead of Lucas di Grass of Audi Sport ABT Schaffler, while Andre Lotterer of Techeetah took the third place on the podium in the final lap. The Rome e-Prix was also a disaster for Jaguar Racing with Mitch Evans losing out of power on the final lap dropping from third to ninth.

The Italian city was added to the calendar for the first time the history of the electric series and also sported the second longest track of the season at 2.84 km in length.

(Sam Bird took his second win of the season in the 2018-19 Formula E championship)

Rosenqvist was dominant through practice and qualifying over Friday and Saturday and claimed his third pole position for the season ahead of Bird. The Swede led the race right from the start and continued to hold on to the lead even as Bird was right at his tail for the most of the race. Rosenqvist was in control for most of the race and seemed to have sealed his third win for the season. However, the disaster spell on Lap 23 after the Mahindra Racing driver clouted the kerb, breaking his rear suspension. Rosenqvist stopped almost immediately handing over the lead to Bird, who went on to secure his second win of the season 0.970s ahead of Lucas di Grassi.

(Lucas di Grassi passed Mitch Evans to take P2 in the Rome e-Prix)

Following Rosenqvist's retirement, Bird had a three-second advantage over Jaguar's Mitch Evans while di Grassi was in third place. Evans showed some exceptional driving in the following laps and reduced the gap by a substantial margin with the top three drivers making way for a three-way battle in Rome.

With four laps to go, Evans tried to pass Bird to claim his first win but the DS Virgin driver resisted all attempts till the chequered flag. Meanwhile, di Grassi closed in on Evans and passed him on Lap 31 taking in the second spot. Jaguar was rooting for a podium finish meanwhile, its second for the season, but Evans lost useable energy on the final lap, allowing Lotterer to pass the Brit team to secure a podium finish.

(2018 Formula E Rome e-Prix Winners)

Finishing fourth was Daniel Abt of team Audi, followed by points leader Jean-Eric Vergne of Techeetah in fifth place. Coming in sixth was Sebastien Buemi of Renault e.dams, ahead of Dragon Racing's Jerome d'Ambrosio and Mario Engel of Venturi. Edoardo Mortara of Venturi finished in 10th place, behind Evans.

Andretti's Antonio Felix da Costa finished 11th, followed by Oliver Turvey and Luca Filippi in the NIO Formula E cars, while Nicolas Prost in the second Renault took 14th place. Nick Heidfeld in the second Mahindra finished last in 16th place, behind Andretti's Tom Blomqvist in 15th.

The results of the Rome e-Prix have promoted Sam Bird into second place in the drivers' standings for the 2018-19 Formula E season, 18 points behind Vergne. Meanwhile, Rosenqvist is down to third place but still ahead of Sebastien Buemi. In the constructors' standings too, Mahindra is down to third with 103 points, while DS Virgin has been promoted to P2 with 118 points.