Diriyah E-Prix Facts and Figures

Formula E has returned, and after a hiatus of over six months, the action kicked off in the Saudi city of Diriyah. The double header saw action packed and dramatic races, with both Nyck de Vries and Sam Bird claiming victory. We now take a look at the facts and figures behind the races in Diriyah.

– Showing how hard it is to be competitive in Formula E, the three rookies of Norman Nato, Nick Cassidy and Jake Dennis all finished in the bottom three positions for the first practice session of the season

– In each of the seven Formula E season openers, a different driver has started on pole position. The seven pole sitters are: Nico Prost, Sebastien Buemi, Nelson Piquet, Jean-Eric Vergne, Antonio Felix da Costa, Alexander Sims and Nyck de Vries

– Even though the win in Diriyah is Sam Bird’s tenth Formula E victory, it is the Jaguar driver’s first win from third on the grid. The Briton has previously won from pole on two occasions, from second and fourth place on the grid on three occasions each, and once from fifth place on the grid

– All five races in Diriyah have seen the Safety Car been deployed, which is more races than any other city Formula E has visited

Having started from the bottom half on the grid for both races in Diriyah, Stoffel Vandoorne was able to move up a total of 15 places over the two races and take home a total of four points from the races.

Lucas di Grassi has finished above where he started in each of the last 13 races, a streak which goes back to the opening race of Season 6. This is a new Formula E record, beating di Grassi’s own record of 11 races. The longest streak by a driver which is not di Grassi is ten races, which was completed by Nico Prost during Season 3.

At the bottom end of the table are Alex Lynn and Max Günther, who were the only two drivers to fail to finish both races in Diriyah. Lynn was one of only two drivers to start both races in the top ten, however, having two retirements meant that the Mahindra driver lost a total of 33 places in the two races combined.

Due to the improving track conditions as more rubber went down, all 12 teams set their fastest laps on Saturday. 11 of the 12 teams set their fastest laps in Practice, with only Dragon improving in Super Pole.

Robin Frijns’ lap in Practice was the fastest lap on the weekend and was 3.790 seconds quicker than the Season 6 lap record.

Mercedes-EQ teammates, Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne were the closest teammates in terms of fastest lap in Diriyah. de Vries had a time just 0.122 seconds quicker than Vandoorne.

With Sergio Sette Camara finishing in fourth place in the second race it marked the 60th occasion (84.5%) on which a driver starting from second place on the grid finished in the top ten, which is the most of any starting position.

The driver starting on pole position has only finished the top ten on 53 occasions (74.6%), which is the lowest percentage of any on the top four grid slots.

Since the grid has expanded to 24 drivers at the start of Season 6, there have been three occasions in which the driver starting in 24th has finished in the top ten (Jean-Eric Vergne in the second race in Diriyah in Season 6, Pascal Wehrlein in the Season 6 Mexico City E-Prix and Mitch Evans in the Season 6 Marrakesh E-Prix).

After a sixth-place finish in the second race in Diriyah, Oliver Turvey scored his 100th Formula E points in his 61st Formula E entry. He now becomes the 21st driver to have reached triples figures, and now holds the record for the largest number of races need to reach 100 points.

After being the dominant forces in the first season of Formula E, Sebastien Buemi and Nelson Piquet hold the record for the fewest number of races taken to reach 100 points (8).

Felix Rosenqvist is the only driver since Season 1 to have reach 100 points in less than a season. The Swede reached 100 points after just the first ten races in Season 3 after claiming one win and four podiums up to that point in his rookie season.

Picture source: FIA Formula E Media