Mercedes close out Formula E season with a 1-2 finish at the Berlin E-Prix
Vandoorne led home Mercedes team-mate de Vries to cap a historic 1-2 finish on home soil with Nissan e.dam's Sébastien Buemi rounding out the podium in 3rd.
Ex-Formula One driver Stoffel Vandoorne led home Mercedes team-mate Nyck de Vries in the final race of the 2019-2020 Formula E championship, staged at Berlin's historic Templehof airport, after an unprecedented six races were held at the same venue to bring the curtain down on the season.
Starting from pole position, Vandoorne ceded his lead twice in a tactical drive which saw the Belgian activate both of his attack mode boosts fellow Mercedes driver de Vries managed to beat former champion Sébastien Buemi in the Nissan e.dams machine to second.
As Vandoorne controlled the race in the latter stages, de Vries managed to conserve his car’s energy artfully and the Dutch driver dived past Buemi at turn seven to take second to give Mercedes their best finish in the series. Buemi had to settle for the final podium place as newly crowned champion Antonio Felix da Costa ended his campaign in ninth place.
The result marks a maiden 1-2 finish for Mercedes in Formula E and brings the curtain down on a season interrupted by the global Covid-19 pandemic. As with most sporting competitions, the sixth season of Formula E racing fell victim to the situation, requiring a dramatic restructuring of the championship's calendar.
Racing was brought to a halt back in March with five races completed and organisers were forced to host six races over three different track layouts on the tarmac at Berlin’s Templehof airport. Da Costa went into the final races 11 points ahead of Jaguar’s Mitch Evans, and managed to win the title with two races to spare and also helping his Chinese DS Techeetah team to retain the constructor's title