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Nyck de Vries won the fifth race of the 2021 Formula E season in Valencia.
For the Mercedes driver it was the second win of the season in the emission-free racing series.
So far so good.
But the way in which the Dutchman secured first place is curious.
In periods of heavy rain, Formula E experienced a memorable race in which, after a total of five safety car phases, a whole series of racing cars ran out of energy on the final lap.
As a result, the ranking was completely mixed up.
One of the victims of the lack of electricity was Antonio Felix da Costa, who had led the race for long stretches and looked like the sure winner right into the last lap.
Oliver Rowland and Alexander Lynn, who crossed the finish line in second and third place, were also downgraded because their cars had completely used up the available energy.
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“I knew de Vries had a little more energy and I might have to let him pass.
One lap before the end I was suddenly told that I had to save energy, ”said da Costa at“ ran ”.
"We're the joke of the year," he added.
Only twelve drivers counted
Racing expert Daniel Abt suspected that the race management had erroneously reduced too much energy.
“With the best will in the world, I can't imagine that 15 drivers and, above all, their teams in the background are too stupid to calculate that,” said the ex-driver at “ran”.
According to the rules, the amount of energy available to the cars is automatically reduced by the race management as soon as the safety car comes onto the track.
In Valencia, those responsible apparently cut too drastically.
Therefore, towards the end of the race there were grotesque scenes. Many drivers braked almost to walking pace because they ran out of energy. In total, only twelve of the 24 drivers were rated. For Abt an unworthy end of the race: “It doesn't look good when a race ends like this. We have seen a mega race up until then. I think it would have been a great fight between da Costa and de Vries. "