2022 Seoul E-Prix I

2022 Seoul E-Prix I
The Seoul E-Prix finally made its FE debut in 2022.
Race Information
Date	13 August 2022
E-Prix No.	99 (15 of 2021/22)
Official Name	2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix I
Location	Seoul Street Circuit Jamsil Sports Complex, Seoul, South Korea
Format	45 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	2.621 km (1.628 mi)
Distance	30 laps / 79.002 km (49.090 mi)
Support Race
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Oliver Rowland
Team	Mahindra Racing
Time	1:35.406
Fastest Lap
Driver	Jake Dennis
Team	Avalanche Andretti Formula E
Fastest Lap	1:25.497 on lap 27
ePrix Result
First	Second	Third
Mitch Evans	Oliver Rowland	Lucas di Grassi
Winner Team	Jaguar TCS Racing
Time	1:29:55.478
ePrix Guide
Previous		Next
2022 London E-Prix II		2022 Seoul E-Prix II
Post-Race Test

The 2022 Seoul E-Prix I, formally known as the 2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix I, was the fifteenth and penultimate E-Prix of the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, staged at the Seoul Street Circuit in the Jamsil Sports Complex, Seoul, South Korea, on 13 August 2022. The race was the first running of the Seoul E-Prix, after it had been postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Qualifying had seen Oliver Rowland snatch a surprise pole position in the #30 Mahindra in wet conditions, defeating recently announced future teammate Lucas di Grassi in the final by 0.623s. En-route to the final Rowland would defeat Sérgio Sette Câmara by default and Pascal Wehrlein in the Semis, while di Grassi fended off challenges from Jake Dennis and title pretender Mitch Evans. Champion elect Stoffel Vandoorne, meanwhile, would grab seventh on the grid after being defeated in the Quarter-Finals by Wehrlein.

The circuit was still very damp as the field lined up on the grid for the start, and this would undermine Rowland right from the get go as the #30 Mahindra launched straight onto a painted surface, killing his momentum almost instantly. di Grassi and Evans duly went either side of Rowland to snatch first and second into the first corner, before Evans pulled an audatious move on di Grassi into turn one, slithering down the inside of the #11 ROKiT Venturi to claim the lead for himself.

With that Evans was away, although before the end of the opening lap his lead would be wiped out by a red flag, moments after Rowland had retaliated and grabbed second from di Grassi. The issue was at turn twenty/twenty-one where eight cars had ended up in the barriers, as a combination damp conditions, changing road surfaces and spray had caused chaos for those in the lower half of the field. Norman Nato, the first man to slide into the wall, and Nick Cassidy would both escape and pit for repairs, while Sébastien Buemi found himself on top of Nyck de Vries after the Dutchman had slammed into the back of the #23 Nissan e.Dams and wedged the #17 Mercedes underneath it.

After 45 minutes the accident had been cleared and the order untangled, which was set to how the field had completed the second sector of the opening tour, with Evans hence leading the field as they returned to the circuit behind the Safety Car. After single tour the race resumed with Evans escaping into the lead ahead of Rowland and di Grassi, with status quo reigning behind throughout the early laps.

Indeed, other than drivers taking Attack Mode the action would be rather limited in the first half of the race, the biggest incident of note being when Jean-Éric Vergne punted Edoardo Mortara out of fifth place, a result of the Swiss pilot weaving around in the braking zone in front of the Frenchman. That move would also allow Vandoorne to pass the #48 Venturi as it rejoined the circuit, before Mortara had 5 seconds added to his woes for his overly aggressive defending.

Mortara would make more questionable defensive manoeuvres when trying to hold Wehrlein at bay, before his race came to an end with a right-rear puncture, although Mortara did do a good job of slotting the #48 Venturi behind the barriers without outside assistance. Out front, meanwhile, Evans was still in complete control ahead of Rowland, di Grassi and Jake Dennis, while Vandoorne inherited fifth from Vergne when the #25 DS Techeetah was abnormally slow exiting the penultimate corner.

With five minutes to go the race was settled, Alexander Sims putting himself into the barriers in the Stadium and out of the race, the SC making its second appearance of the day to lead the field past the chequered flag. Evans hence claimed an impressive victory to keep his slim title hopes alive ahead of Rowland and di Grassi, while Dennis claimed the bonus point for fastest lap in fourth. Vandoorne finished in fifth to maintain a strong 21 point lead over Evans in the Championship heading into the final day of the season, with Vergne, Wehrlein, Robin Frijns, António Félix da Costa and Cassidy securing the remaining points.

Background

After fourteen races in nine cities the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship arrived in Seoul, South Korea, for its season finale, to be held across two races centred upon a former Olympic stadium. Inedd, the Jamsil Sports Complex in the South Korean capital would play host to the Seoul Street Circuit, which was to stage both the inaugural Seoul E-Prix as well as the 99th and 100th FE races, a significant milestone in FE's history. The races would also be the last of the Generation 2 era for FE, with the Spark SRT05e to be retired at the end of the race weekend having served as the Series' base chassis since 2018/19.

Korean Captivation

The 2022 Seoul E-Prix I would be the first staging of the Seoul E-Prix, which had first been touted to join the FE Championship during the 2019/20 season after being included on that season's calendar. That attempt at hosting the race had to be abandoned due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, while ongoing issues with the virus and in Seoul meant that the race was skipped over for 2020/21. Regardless, the Seoul E-Prix would feature on the calendar for 2021/22, and with the virus in relative retreat in Korea, the Seoul E-Prix would finally debut, over two years after its originally planned date.

Bird's Blight

Elsewhere, Sam Bird would be a no-show for the season finale, after the Brit was found to have broken his hand at the 2022 London E-Prix II, an injury he would carry throughout that race. The British racer was taken to hospital for scans after complaining of a pain in his hand, with the Jaguar Racing squad later confirming that Bird had suffered a "displaced mid-shaft fracture on his left hand", which he had sustained on the opening lap of the second battle of London. Ultimately Bird was required to have surgery on his hand, meaning he would have to miss the Seoul round despite initial optimism he would be able take part in what would be his 99th and 100th FE races, therefore ending his streak of winning at least one race in every season entered.

On 5 August, the same date that Bird and Jaguar confirmed that the Brit would not take part in the Seoul E-Prix, it was revealed that Norman Nato would sub in for the British ace, having served as Jaguar's reserve driver throughout Season Eight. It would hence be Nato's first appearance since the 2021 Berlin E-Prix II, a race that the Frenchman had won in the hands of a ROKiT Venturi to conclude the 2020/21 season.

Mahindra Motivation

Ahead of the Seoul E-Prix one of the first driver line-up announcements for 2022/23 would be unveiled, as Mahindra Racing announced their capture of Lucas di Grassi for the campaign. The move, which would see di Grassi join Oliver Rowland at the squad for Season 9, meant that di Grassi returned to being a factory driver for an FE team, and would arguably be the biggest driver deal Mahindra had made since securing Nick Heidfeld's signature in 2015. The announcement was expected to set off a chain of other driver announcements during the Seoul weekend, while Alexander Sims, the man di Grassi would replace at Mahindra, was set to leave FE to reignite his sportscar career.

Londinium Lunge

The title would be Stoffel Vandoorne's to lose heading into the final two races in Seoul, with the Belgian pilot holding a 36 point lead after his title rivals all failed to score in the second London race. Indeed, victory for Vandoorne in the first race in Seoul would earn him the title, with Mitch Evans needing to outscore the Belgian by at least seven points in the first Seoul race in order to keep his title hopes alive. For Edoardo Mortara the target in the first Seoul E-Prix would be to outscore Vandoorne by eleven, while Jean-Éric Vergne was still mathematically in the hunt, but faced a huge 57 point gap with only 58 left to fight for.

In the Teams' Championship it was likewise all in Mercedes' hands heading to South Korea, with the German squad holding a healthy 36 point lead over their closest challengers. Those challengers were in the form of customer team ROKiT Venturi, who would have to score at least nine points more than the factory Mercedes squad to remain in the hunt, while DS Techeetah had to best the factory Mercedes team by twenty in the first Korean bout to retain their hopes. Jaguar Racing in fourth, meanwhile, were 91 points behind and hence were still mathematical contenders, but would need a maximum score in both races and see Mercedes claim less than 3 points across the final two races.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2022 Seoul E-Prix I is displayed below:

2022 Seoul E-Prix I Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Car
3	Oliver Turvey	NIO 333 FE Team	NIO	333 FE 001
4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	Audi	e-tron FE07
5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 02
7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon/Penske Autosport	Penske	EV-5
9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type V
10	Norman Nato	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type V
11	Lucas di Grassi	ROKiT Venturi Racing	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 02
13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	DS	E-Tense FE 21
17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 02
22	Maximilian Günther	Nissan e.Dams	Nissan	IM03
23	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	Nissan	IM03
25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	DS	E-Tense FE 21
27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti Formula E	BMW	iFE.21
28	Oliver Askew	Avalanche Andretti Formula E	BMW	iFE.21
29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M7Electro
30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M7Electro
33	Dan Ticktum	NIO 333 FE Team	NIO	333 FE 001
36	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric
37	Nick Cassidy	Envision Racing	Audi	e-tron FE07
48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 02
94	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Dragon/Penske Autosport	Penske	EV-5
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying for the 2022 Seoul E-Prix I would be conducted according to the knockout format, introduced ahead of season eight. The field would be split into two groups of eleven drivers, based on Championship position, with each group then getting ten minutes on track to complete as many laps as they wished at 220 kW. The fastest eight overall would then proceed to the knockout phase, now running at the maximum 250 kW qualifying mode, with the fastest from group A against the fourth fastest from group B and so on, until four drivers were left.

Those four would move on to the Semi-Final, with the winner of A1/B4 taking on the victor of A2/B3, while the triumphant driver of A3/B2 would take on A4/B1's winner. The winners from those duels would then go into the final, with the winner of that duel taking pole, while the runner-up would start from second, before any grid penalties were applied.

Post Qualifying

The final qualifying result for the 2022 Seoul E-Prix I are outlined below:

2022 Seoul E-Prix I Qualifying Results
Final
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
I	Win	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	1:35.406	—	1
	Lose	11	Lucas di Grassi	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:36.029	+0.623s	2
Semi-Finals
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
I	Win	11	Lucas di Grassi	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:35.692	—	F
	Lose	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	1:35.884	+0.192s	3
II	Win	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	1:34.880	—	F
	Lose	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Formula E Team	1:36.517	+1.637s	4
Quarter Finals
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
QF 1	Win	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	1:31.293	—	SF
	Lose	48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:32.442	+1.149s	6
QF 2	Win	11	Lucas di Grassi	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:31.735	—	SF
	Lose	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	1:32.424	+0.689s	5
QF 3	Win	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	1:32.590	—	SF
	Lose	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon/Penske Autosport	—		8
QF 4	Win	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Formula E Team	1:35.117	—	SF
	Lose	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1:35.401	+0.284s	7

Group Stage
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid	Group
1st	48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:22.397	—	QF 1	GA
2nd	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	1:22.441	+0.044s	QF 2	GA
3rd	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon/Penske Autosport	1:22.477	+0.080s	QF 3	GA
4th	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1:22.542	+0.145s	QF 4	GA
5th	23	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	1:22.732	+0.335s	10	GA
6th	13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	1:22.793	+0.396s	12	GA
7th	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Dragon/Penske Autosport	1:22.837	+0.440s	14	GA
8th	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	1:23.057	+0.660s	16	GA
9th	3	Oliver Turvey	NIO 333 FE Team	1:23.214	+0.817s	18	GA
10th	36	André Lotterer	Porsche Formula E Team	1:23.331	+0.934s	20	GA
11th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Formula E Team	1:30.321	+7.924s	QF 4	GB
12th	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	1:30.345	+7.948s	QF 3	GB
13th	11	Lucas di Grassi	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:30.726	+8.329s	QF 2	GB
14th	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	1:30.755	+8.358s	QF 1	GB
15th	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	1:30.811	+8.414s	9	GB
16th	10	Norman Nato	Jaguar Racing	1:30.943	+8.546s	11	GB
17th	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO 333 FE Team	1:31.577	+9.180s	13	GB
18th	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	1:31.704	+9.307s	15	GB
19th	22	Maximilian Günther	Nissan e.Dams	1:31.840	+9.443s	17	GB
20th	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision Racing	1:32.387	+9.990s	19	GB
21st	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	1:33.592	+11.195s	21	GB
Group A 110% Time: 1:30.636
NC	28	Oliver Askew	Avalanche Andretti	1:50.546	+28.149s	22	GA
Group B 110% Time: 1:39.353
Source:

Race

Result

The final classification of the 2022 Seoul E-Prix I is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold:

2022 Seoul E-Prix I Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	30	1:29:55.478	1:25.919	25
2nd	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	30	+0.820s	1:25.901	21
3rd	11	Lucas di Grassi	ROKiT Venturi Racing	30	+1.393s	1:26.129	15
4th	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	30	+1.902s	1:25.497	13
5th	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	30	+2.470s	1:25.863	10
6th	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	30	+3.957s	1:26.182	8
7th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Formula E Team	30	+4.149s	1:25.576	6
8th	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	30	+4.508s	1:25.935	4
9th	13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	30	+4.970s	1:26.219	2
10th	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision Racing	30	+5.325s	1:25.947	1
11th	22	Maximilian Günther	Nissan e.Dams	30	+5.610s	1:26.402
12th	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon/Penske Autosport	30	+6.121s	1:28.055
13th*	10	Norman Nato	Jaguar Racing	30	+57.545s	1:28.371
Ret	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	26	Accident	1:25.780
Ret	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Dragon/Penske Autosport	24	Retired	1:27.784
Ret	48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	20	Puncture	1:28.268
Ret	23	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	0	Accident	—
Ret	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO 333 FE Team	0	Accident	—
Ret	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	0	Accident	—
Ret	33	Oliver Turvey	NIO 333 FE Team	0	Accident	—
Ret	36	André Lotterer	Porsche Formula E Team	0	Accident	—
Ret	28	Oliver Askew	Avalanche Andretti	0	Accident	—
Source:

• Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race.
• * Nato served a five second time penalty for falling more than ten car lengths behind the car ahead during a Safety Car period. The penalty made no difference as he finished the race last.

Milestones

• First Seoul E-Prix to be staged.
• Sixth victory for Mitch Evans.
• Jaguar Racing claimed their eighth win as an entrant.
  • Also the eighth win for Jaguar as a powertrain supplier.
• Lucas di Grassi became the first driver in FE history to pass 1,000 career points.
• Fifth fastest lap recorded by Andretti Formula E as an entrant.

Standings

Stoffel Vandoorne had failed to secure the Championship at the first time of asking in the first Seoul E-Prix, although the Belgian pilot remained the overwhelming favourite heading into the final day of the season. Indeed, only a victory with Vandoorne retiring would realistically hand Mitch Evans the title, while sixth, regardless of what Evans did, would be enough for Vandoorne to claim the crown. Evans could also win the Championship with Vandoorne failing to score and him finishing in second with pole position, which would leave the New Zealander as the Champion on countback by holding four wins to Vandoorne's two.

Like their lead driver it was Mercedes' title to lose in the Teams' Championship ahead of the final race of the season, the German manufacturer's factory team holding a 31 point lead over their closest challengers. Indeed, only their customers ROKiT Venturi Racing could overhaul them on the final day, and would require a double podium, and likely need see their sister team fail to score at all, in order to secure the title for themselves. DS Techeetah could theoretically tie with Mercedes on 301 points with a maximum score on the final day, but the title would still head to Mercedes on countback, as they would hold three victories to DS Techeetah's theoretical two.

2021/22 Drivers Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Stoffel Vandoorne 195 ◄0 2nd Mitch Evans 174 ◄0 3rd Edoardo Mortara 144 ◄0 4th Jean-Éric Vergne 136 ◄0 5th Lucas di Grassi 126 ▲1 6th António Félix da Costa 118 ▼1 7th Robin Frijns 114 ◄0 8th Jake Dennis 111 ▲1 9th Nyck de Vries 106 ▼1 10th Pascal Wehrlein 71 ◄0 11th Nick Cassidy 63 ▲1 12th André Lotterer 63 ▼1 13th Sam Bird 51 ◄0 14th Oliver Rowland 32 ▲3 15th Sébastien Buemi 28 ▼1 16th Alexander Sims 14 ▼1 17th Oliver Askew 14 ▼1 18th Oliver Turvey 6 ◄0 19th Maximilian Günther 6 ◄0 20th Sérgio Sette Câmara 2 ◄0 21st Dan Ticktum 1 ◄0 22nd Norman Nato 0 ▲1 23rd Antonio Giovinazzi 0 ▼1

2021/22 Teams Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes 301 ◄0 2nd ROKiT Venturi Racing 270 ◄0 3rd DS Techeetah 254 ◄0 4th Jaguar Racing 225 ◄0 5th Envision Racing 177 ◄0 6th Porsche Formula E Team 134 ◄0 7th Avalanche Andretti 125 ◄0 8th Mahindra Racing 46 ▲1 9th Nissan e.Dams 34 ▼1 10th NIO 333 FE Team 7 ◄0 11th Dragon/Penske Autosport 2 ◄0

References

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