The trait Vandoorne rediscovered to claim Formula E's era-ending title

The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and Mercedes has burned so very brightly during its three-year tenure in Formula E. It won both of last year’s crowns, then made the decision to bow out after one more season, and was hoping to leave the series on the back of a successful title defence.

It duly did so. The German manufacturer and new champion Stoffel Vandoorne faced incredibly stiff competition through the year amid a thrilling four-way battle for the title. But the 30-year-old’s irrepressible consistency and diligence behind the wheel proved to be the deciding factors, handing him a first championship crown since his 2015 GP2 Series triumph.

Mercedes’ title victories from last season came in an entropic season that ensured 18 drivers went into the Berlin double-header finale in mathematical contention for a title; Nyck de Vries claimed the spoils by seven points, Mercedes beat Jaguar to the teams’ crown by just four points.

So 2021-22 required a very different approach, and Formula E introduced a more meritocratic qualifying system that blended two group qualifying sessions with a tournament knockout system. In the written word, it appeared a convoluted system. In action, it drew admiring glances from other championships, even in Formula 1…

The idea was to create a little bit more of a pecking order and eliminate the massive advantage that the drivers in the last of four qualifying groups (populated by those at the bottom of the championship) would receive. It created much more of a cohesive championship narrative; it was still open to the flights of fancy that Formula E races often dispense, but this time it would reward consistency.

And if there was a driver who you’d bet on to deliver a near omnipresence in the points, it would be Vandoorne. A calm and considered presence behind the wheel, the Belgian’s past results have indicated that, given the car, he could methodically and reliably bank points on the march to a possible title.

Vandoorne was competitive everywhere, and even if his only win came in Monaco he was on the podium a further seven times

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

That pre-dates Formula E; from the summer of 2014 to the end of 2015, Vandoorne finished outside the top nine places just once in 35 GP2 races. In a series that, like Formula E, values a higher variance in results, that’s phenomenally consistent.

The pattern of Vandoorne’s Formula E title victory is not dissimilar but, in comparison, lacks the profusion of victories he had gathered racing for ART back in 2015. In a more competitive field, Vandoorne was aware that the eventual four-way championship battle could result in drivers taking points off each other, alongside the usual chaos present in the series. If he wasn’t going to win races outright, he was going to be the steadiest performer on the grid instead.

“After last year where I had that down moment in London that took me out of the championship, this year I turned up and I didn’t want to leave anything on the table. Nothing,” Vandoorne reflected after securing his title in South Korea. “That’s what I did all season, gave it my all, controlled it when I had to control.

"I’m a little bit surprised myself [by the consistency] to be honest. Even in Mexico, we would have scored points if it wasn’t for some contact on the penultimate lap. That would have made it maybe an even more beautiful story" Stoffel Vandoorne

“I only had one victory but the consistency we showed this year, I think it’s been impressive. And it’s partly helped by the qualifying system, and I think it made the most consistent drivers and the top guys excel, and it took away a little bit of the randomness.”

Vandoorne finished outside the top eight once, in Mexico City where he was tagged by Lucas di Grassi in the Foro Sol stadium on the penultimate lap. Had that not occurred, particularly amid the context of other cars dropping off with low energy when Porsche took the race to another lap, his season could well have yielded points from every race.

But often, a champion’s season lives and dies with its nadir. Edoardo Mortara, one of the Fantastic Four alongside Vandoorne, Mitch Evans and Jean-Eric Vergne to contend for the title, pointed out that, since his peaks and troughs were considerably more pronounced than the title winner’s, he eventually struggled to keep up.

“We knew this year if you wanted to be champion, you have to be more consistent,” Mortara explains. “This is what Stoffel did – he was extremely good in that. He might have won fewer races, but in the end he was more consistent. This is what I will try to do next year; I need to have better bad race weekends!”

Mortara, pictured congratulating Vandoorne after the pair finished 1-2 in the Seoul finale, took a season high four wins (matched by Evans) but off-days counted against him in the title race

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Although Mortara is right, Vandoorne often made his own luck when he was having a sub-optimal day. Take the first Berlin race; Vandoorne started from eighth, got a bad start and dropped to 12th. Doing that in Formula E puts a driver at risk of losing further places if they fail to be proactive and make the most of attack mode, without being reckless. That line is where Vandoorne has typically thrived, and he methodically rose through the field to rescue an excellent third place.

This had followed his Monaco victory but, given the plethora of podium finishes he’d scored through the year, Vandoorne could have theoretically finished second and still won the title. That’s championship form.

“I’m a little bit surprised myself [by the consistency] to be honest,” he adds. “Even in Mexico, we would have scored points if it wasn’t for some contact on the penultimate lap. That would have made it maybe an even more beautiful story.

“Nonetheless, it’s been an incredible year. Our time came in Monaco, I’m super-proud to have ticked that one off. Monaco is one of those special races that everyone just wants to win, everyone wants to have it on their CV.

“But even on the days where it was more difficult, that’s where I managed to recover, and I think those were the key moments. I think if there’s one race where that jumps in my mind there’s Berlin race one. I dropped back to, like, P12 on lap one, and a few laps from the end I was still fighting for the victory. Those moments, they made the championship.”

It also helped that Mercedes’ Silver Arrow 02 machinery was the class of the field. In the efficiency stakes, it just seemed to boast that little bit extra, helping Vandoorne to rescue results if qualifying had not gone to plan by giving him a tad more energy to use. Crucially, the car also seemed to work well at each venue. Where Evans’s challenge fell was on Jaguar having holes in its performance on a few of the circuits, such as Mexico City and Berlin, ultimately depriving him of the Vandoornian consistency that culminated in Mercedes sweeping to a second pair of crowns.

So Mercedes left Formula E on the high it craved. The core of the squad remains, because McLaren has bought out the team to compete in the new Gen3 era, while team principal Ian James was pleased that his squad added to the Silver Arrows’ rich motorsport history – and deservedly so. Vandoorne, meanwhile, has a title to defend and, based on the season just gone, it would be foolish to count him out.

Mercedes bowed out of FE on a high with consecutive sweeps of the drivers' and manufacturers' crowns before the team becomes McLaren next season

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Race by race

Diriyah 1
1 de Vries
2 Vandoorne
3 Dennis

Attack-mode activation error from Vandoorne grants de Vries a perfect start to his title defence, as the Dutchman grabs the lead and never looks back. Dennis takes a fine third for Andretti on its first event after BMW’s exit, dispatching Lotterer when the Porsche overconsumes energy and drops back.

Diriyah 2
1 Mortara
2 Frijns
3 di Grassi

Mortara cements his own championship credentials with Venturi’s first win of the year, charging to the front with his second attack mode as polesitter de Vries falters in the second half. Frijns snatches second from di Grassi two laps before a safety car neutralises the end of the race.

Mexico City
1 Wehrlein
2 Lotterer
3 Vergne

Porsche runs rampant in Formula E’s return to Mexico City, and Wehrlein takes the race to an extra lap to leave the rest of the field struggling for energy. Lotterer plays the team game and settles for second, while Vergne’s late dash for third is helped by Frijns’s energy-enforced drop.

Rome 1
1 Evans
2 Frijns
3 Vandoorne

Evans rockets from ninth on the grid, scything through the order to claim a stunning victory as Jaguar atones for a miserable trio of opening races. Frijns, Vandoorne and Vergne trade places in the battle for second, with the Envision driver beating Vandoorne to the punch.

Rome 2
1 Evans
2 Vergne
3 Frijns

A risky attack-mode strategy pays off for Evans, who doubles up on Rome wins as team-mate Bird helps keep the pack at bay. Vergne challenges for victory, but has no answer for Evans at the end. Frijns benefits from Formula E’s new added-time rule to peel third from Lotterer’s grasp.

Evans was unstoppable in Rome, where he seized both victories

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Monaco
1 Vandoorne
2 Evans
3 Vergne

Wehrlein’s electrical issue denies him a second win of the season, as Vandoorne’s mid-race pass on Evans proves enough to grant the Mercedes driver his sole victory of the year. Evans overcomes energy worries to beat Vergne to second place after the Frenchman’s attack mode elapses under the safety car.

Berlin 1
1 Mortara
2 Vergne
3 Vandoorne

Mortara converts a long-overdue first Formula E pole into victory, seeing off a late threat from Vergne. The DS Techeetah driver tries a move at Turn 6 with three laps left but goes deep, giving Mortara the whip hand. Vandoorne drops to 12th on lap one, but still finishes third.

Berlin 2
1 de Vries
2 Mortara
3 Vandoorne

You wait for one, and two come at once. Mortara doubles up on Berlin poles, but is usurped by de Vries into the first corner. The reigning champ is imperious and rarely threatened, capturing a second win of the year. Vandoorne completes an all-Mercedes podium on home turf.

Jakarta
1 Evans
2 Vergne
3 Mortara

DS Techeetah has a clear advantage in qualifying, but Evans defies the weekend’s formbook to overcome Vergne. In a hot and humid encounter, Vergne’s battery management modes strip him of race-winning pace, amid a tightly contested battle with Evans and Mortara for victory.

Marrakech
1 Mortara
2 da Costa
3 Evans

Morocco is a late addition to the calendar after Vancouver is canned, and Mortara chalks up win number three to take the championship lead. A late charge for the win from polesitter da Costa is in vain, while Evans once again nips past Vergne at the death for a last-gasp podium.

Win number three of the year in Morocco gave Mortara the points lead

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

New York City 1
1 Cassidy
2 di Grassi
3 Frijns

A sudden heavy downpour in Brooklyn puts Cassidy, di Grassi and Vandoorne in the Turn 6 wall, and so the race is red-flagged and never restarted. Cassidy is deservedly granted his first win after taking pole, with di Grassi classified second and Frijns making it both Envision Audis on the podium.

New York City 2
1 da Costa
2 Vandoorne
3 Evans

Cassidy takes pole but starts last after a penalty for a battery change. Da Costa assumes first on the grid, and keeps Vandoorne at bay for victory as the Belgian reclaims the title lead. Evans beats Sims to fourth, and Vergne and di Grassi create a brief pile-up at Turn 6.

London 1
1 Dennis
2 Vandoorne
3 Cassidy

Dennis enthrals the home crowd with a lights-to-flag victory on London’s docklands, while Vandoorne’s risk-free run to second extends his points advantage. De Vries has to fend off Sette Camara and Cassidy for the final podium position, but overdoes his defence and the Kiwi assumes third.

London 2
1 di Grassi
2 Dennis
3 de Vries

Although Dennis doubles up on poles at the ExCeL, fellow front-row starter di Grassi is too rapid and claims his first win for Venturi. Bird breaks his hand on lap one and is out for Seoul, and Evans’s retirement from fourth helps Vandoorne take a big step towards the title.

Seoul 1
1 Evans
2 Rowland
3 di Grassi

Rowland dazzles in a wet qualifying, and a damp track produces a first-lap midfield pile-up at Turn 21. Evans picks up the lead after the first two corners, winning to give himself a fighting chance. Rowland and di Grassi complete the podium after Sims’s crash brings out a late safety car.

Seoul 2
1 Mortara
2 Vandoorne
3 Dennis

Mortara snatches the lead from polesitter da Costa on lap two to pick up the lead, ending a spell of poor form with victory. Vandoorne assumes second after Dennis is handed a five-second penalty for nerfing da Costa off-track, and wins the title as Mercedes bows out of Formula E.

Vandoorne celebrates after clinching his first title since the 2015 GP2 season after finishing second in the Seoul finale

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images