Mitch Evans puts the car in P1 in the first session of the day, followed by the local team of Maserati MSG Racing.
Credit: Formula E Media Bank / Sam Bloxham
Welcome to the first practice for the Monaco E-Prix! Formula E’s travel to the streets of Monte Carlo brought us back a more “traditional” weekend format – all of the sessions are happening on the same day. After Berlin and halfway through the season, everyone is eager for points that can help them secure the championship title by the last round in London.
The session began with 18C air temperature and 19C track temperature, and most of the drivers left the pits immediately. In the first few minutes, Andretti’s driver Lotterer had a travel outside of the track lines, but was able to continue his session with no issues.
The first driver to set a competitive lap time was Bird, with the time of 1:43.393s. He was followed by the two McLaren drivers of Hughes and Rast, Emo Mortara and Buemi in Top 5. 20 minutes on the clock and more drivers began to push, with the likes of Vandoorne, Sette Camara, Fenestraz, Rowland and both ABT Cupra’s got their spot at the front. Porsche powered cars were the only ones that didn’t make it on track so far (despite Lotterer’s, who then went back to pits). It appears it was a software issue related to regeneration.
With 17 minutes on the clock, some of the drivers decided to go back to their pits. With 15 minutes down, the Porsche powered cars finally made it on track. At that time, it was Vergne, Fenestraz, Müller, Bird and Rast in Top 5. Vergne was soon replaced by Evans, who’s lap time was 1:32.627s, who was then replaced by Buemi in Envision.
With 10 minutes of the session left, we’ve got Rowland in P1, followed by Müller, Buemi, Evans, Fenestraz, Bird, Rast, Sette Camara and Frijns in P10. Pascal Wehrlein was only capable of putting the car in P17 after loosing around a half of the session. Cassidy, the other championship contender was not much better, with his car in P16.
Two minutes before the checkered flag we’ve got yellow flag, after his “rears locked” and he hit the wall at Saint Devote. He’s managed to get going again, but there might be slight damage on the car, especially the nose of the car.
The session has ended and the Top 10 was: Evans, Vandoorrne, Gunther, Mortara, Vergne, Rast, Sette Camara, Buemi, Lotterer and Bird in P10. Here’s the final classification of the session:
