Formula E talking points - Nyck de Vries and Robin Frijns to do battle for Drivers’ Championship in Berlin
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ByEurosport
Published 11/08/2021 at 14:30 GMT
Season 7 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship reaches its climax this weekend with a double-header at the BMW i Berlin E-Prix presented by CBMM Niobium. The Net Zero Carbon Championship returns to the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit, the location which featured a remarkable six races in nine days for the most intense season finale in motorsport history last year.
Nyck De Vries
Image credit: Getty Images
Here are all your talking points as another spectacular season of electric racing looks to crown its first World Champion...
Flying Dutchmen lead competitive Drivers’ Championship
It was not all that long ago that Mercedes-EQ’s Team Principal Ian James admitted his team had ‘failed massively’ in keeping their consistency following their early dominance this season.
However, James and his team will have been rejuvenated following a double podium in London courtesy of now World Championship leader Nyck de Vries.
De Vries holds a six-point lead heading into the double-header finale in Berlin over his compatriot Robin Frijns of Envision Virgin Racing, with the rest of the top six separated by just three points.
Frijns, who last week extended his stay at the team for the 2021/22 season, could become the first driver in Formula E history to win the Championship without winning a race.
And all eyes will be on the pair heading into the weekend in which the two Dutchmen look set to take centre stage in the fight to become champion in Formula E’s first season as an FIA-sanctioned World Championship.
Brits looking to pick up where they left off
After the 2020 Marrakesh E-Prix, the race prior to last year’s finale in Berlin, the names Jake Dennis and Alex Lynn would not even have featured on the drivers’ grid.
But fast forward a year and the British duo head into Berlin as the two previous race winners following victory at their home London E-Prix, with Dennis remarkably claiming a second victory during his first season in the series as he looks nailed on for the Rookie of the Year prize.
For Lynn, meanwhile, the victory in Round 13 vindicated Mahindra Racing’s decision to sign the Essex driver ahead of last year’s Berlin finale – that win being the team’s first for over two years.
Fellow Brit Sam Bird sits in third ahead of Dennis and Lynn, a disappointing showing in London causing the Jaguar Racing man to lose his seat at the top of the standings but remaining very much in the title hunt.
Meanwhile, DS TECHEETAH driver and reigning champion Antonio Felix da Costa will be looking to shine once again at his former stomping ground – the Portuguese securing the title in last year’s finale in Berlin.
Da Costa scored a remarkable 91 points during those six Berlin races – an average of 15.1 or six third place finishes in a row.
Envision Virgin going for unlikely glory in Teams’ Championship
Historically, Audi and e.dams are the most successful teams in Berlin having each won three races, meanwhile DS TECHEETAH has the highest number of poles with four.
But they could have a new challenger from the manufacturer grid this year as customer team Envision Virgin Racing go into this weekend top of the pile.
Although yet to win a race this season, four podiums and a host of points scoring races shared between their two drivers Frijns and Nick Cassidy mean the Silverstone-based team lead the Teams’ Championship by seven points.
With Mercedes-EQ, Jaguar, and two-time champions DS TECHEETAH hot on their tails there is still all to play for this weekend, but if Envision Virgin can replicate the consistency they have shown all season it could be a fairy-tale ending for the team.
Formula E returns to German home at Tempelhof
The world’s premier all-electric racing series returns to the track it has raced on more than any other – the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit.
The 2.4km custom-built track has hosted Formula E racing every year since the series’ inception in 2014, the one exception being in 2016 when the now defunct airport was used to house refugees, with the track moving to downtown Berlin.
There will be two different configurations used over the weekend with Saturday’s race using the traditional anti-clockwise direction and Sunday switching to clockwise.
Tempelhof was also used to film scenes for The Hunger Games, and that analogy seems appropriate as the drivers prepare to do battle for another hotly contested championship finale.
And there will be a welcome return for fans as the E-Prix will be open to the general public for the first time since the start of the global pandemic, with more than 10,000 General Admission grandstand seats available.
Catch the season finale double-header of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship live on Eurosport 2 at 13.00 BST on Saturday 14 August and at 14.30 BST Sunday 15 August.
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