A messy opening to the race saw both factory Porsches compromised in separate incidents as early season championship leader Antonio Felix da Costa got used as a launch pad by Nico Mueller’s Andretti Porsche, while his teammate Pascal Wehrlein received a puncture by a wayward Mitch Evans.
Mueller was out on the spot, while Wehrlein and da Costa battled on with damaged cars. Evans also pitted for repairs but went a lap down effectively ending hope of achieving anything noteworthy.
Formula E Notebook caught up with the wounded quartet after the race and this is what they had to say.
Wehrlein’s Take……
“I got hit from behind in Turn 5, got a puncture, got a bent toe-link and the car was not drivable anymore afterwards. Not much we could do, so obviously didn’t see it coming.
“The next corner he hit another car again. I haven’t spoken to him, so he didn’t come (to discuss). It ruined my race, probably his as well. I think his second incident with de Vries really ruined his race, where he lost the front wing then. But there’s no satisfaction for me in that, because I think we’re up for a strong result today, which was taken away from us.
Evans’ take…..
“I had a good launch, and then I was kind of stuck behind Pascal for the first few corners. He seemed to be really tentative, and then I got into Turn 5, lap 1, and hit Barnard inside him.
“He got on the brakes a lot harder than I was expecting and I just ran out the back of him. So, I thought I had a wing damage. I wasn’t sure how bad it was, and then going into T8 I was kind of a bit vulnerable with guys coming behind me.
“I misjudged it. That was all on me, and I clipped my wing and really finished it off. But it was then stuck on my wheel, and I just was trying to get rid of it. But it was too bad to continue because the tyre was just shredding. Then I had to box.”
Mueller’s Take……
“It was pretty chaotic from the get-go really, a lot of contact from cars in front. I had to avoid a couple of incidents in Turn 1. I honestly felt I had a bit more grip than cars around me for whatever reason. So, I was feeling confident and committed to the outside line going into Turn 8. Then apparently there was further contact up front, things bunched up.
“Unfortunately, the kind of to- be expected concertina effect that was slightly bigger than I anticipated happened. The whole track was basically blocked in front of me and I struggled to slow down the car.
“I didn’t quite manage to slow it down as expected, still need to understand why really, and then very suddenly I locked the front. I couldn’t avoid clipping the rear wheel of Antonio, which is very unfortunate, so sorry for him.
“I was the one that could have avoided the contact for sure, even though it was several circumstances leading to the situation. But in the end, I take the responsibility and I’m sorry for the team, for the work it cost.”
Da Costa’s Take….
“I got hit from behind three times, extremely hard. I was very lucky to keep going, to be honest. Parts (of the car) kind of fell off and I wasn’t told to box. I mean, I just got lucky there, to be honest. That damaged my car a little bit, so pace wasn’t amazing. But I could hang on and we were doing a decent race.
“I appreciate he came to me, and he apologized. Everybody makes mistakes and I have nothing bad to say about him. He came straight away to apologise.”
“Then to be fair, at the end, I just didn’t do a good enough job on energy management. So, things I can do better, but I think ultimately we just need to qualify a bit more at the front. But we have the package to do so.
“We were very good in free practice, so I was very disappointed with where we qualified.
