Berlin E-Prix: Mortara holds off late Vergne charge to win

Edoardo Mortara converted his maiden Formula E pole position into a well-controlled victory at the Berlin E-Prix, seeing off a late threat from Jean-Eric Vergne to win by 1.7s.

Mortara pounced upon a mistake from Vergne, who was baited into attacking the Venturi driver at Turn 6 with three laps remaining and went deep – recovering but shipping over a second to the leader.

This gave Mortara free licence to extend his lead and rocket off into the distance, ensuring he claimed his second victory of the year to get back among the top four in the drivers’ championship battle.

Having resisted the temptation to eat into his final attack mode until the 31st lap, Mortara had waited until the chasing Stoffel Vandoorne and Andre Lotterer’s own final attack mode activations began to tick down, giving him a surplus of time with 250kW power over his rivals.

Lotterer, in the lead by that point, was usurped by Vandoorne and Mortara once the Porsche driver’s attack mode had elapsed, but Vandoorne soon fell victim to the similarly Mercedes-powered Venturi at Turn 6.

Vergne then powered into contention and brushed Lotterer aside, and then employed his fanboost activation to nip past Vandoorne to sit in second.

The DS Techeetah driver, who had shaken off qualifying disappointment after failing to progress to final despite setting exactly the same laptime as Alexander Sims, was then beginning to hustle Mortara for position, as he had an extra percent of energy entering the final laps.

Mortara got back on energy terms with Vergne as the Frenchman continued to give chase, and immediately anticipated a move from Vergne into Turn 6 on lap 38.