Who flew and who fumbled in Formula E's Tempelhof tussle

When Formula E reconvened after the coronavirus interlude, all six of its stand-in races were held at one venue. The nine-day showdown had the makings of its own mini-series.

Antonio Felix da Costa came out of the blocks in imperious form, scoring two poles and two wins in the first double-header on the reversed Tempelhof Airport circuit. Add in his fourth and second-place finishes in the next brace of races, he would be crowned champion. An entirely deserving one at that, despite the unusual circumstances.

All races would play out on the same abrasive concrete surface and in one climate. There was a host of new and returning drivers drafted in just for the rounds in the German capital. A potential shake-up of the pecking order was also at play, after teams had enjoyed five-months to analyse data and find performance gains.

So, if treated in isolation, who was first class at Tempelhof Airport and who suffered a bumpy landing?

With some simple subtraction - taking every driver's and team's post-Marrakech points haul away from their final end-of-season score - that gives a broad account of how they fared in Berlin. Here's the highlights from that alternative leaderboard.

CLIMBERS:

Antonio Felix da Costa
2019-20 drivers' points ranking: 1st
Post-Marrakech drivers' points ranking: 1st
Berlin mini-series drivers' points ranking: 1st

To ape the UK Top 40 Singles Chart, a non-mover at number one is newly crowned champion da Costa. First in the standings after Marrakech, first in Berlin, first at the end of the season.

Some 91 of his 158-point total was chalked up in Germany; a distant second-best was Sebastien Buemi with 57. And it's not just the maths that back da Costa's claim as the star driver of the mini and, indeed, full season.

While the concrete Tempelhof surface did suit da Costa's driving style, meaning he kept the all-weather Michelin tyres in check while they over-heated for many others, he still had the measure of everyone.

Five of the six rounds were won by the polesitter in races that didn't give way to the oft-praised FE "unpredictability". But da Costa was the only repeat winner in Berlin, plus his 5.4s and 3s triumphs were the most emphatic of the lot.

He was a smart operator in race three. After starting eighth - which DS Techeetah team principal Mark Preston attributed to his driver being hurt more than most by a 0.1-bar tyre pressure reduction - he bided his time and didn't attempt rash overtakes. He then climbed four places, helped by Stoffel Vandoorne's retirement and catching out Alex Lynn with a well-executed dummy.

Maintaining second on the grid to the finish in race four - bar two lots of team orders, which meant da Costa did enjoy a stint in the lead ahead of stablemate Jean-Eric Vergne before dropping back - was more than enough for the championship.

Only the harshest of critics would hold a freak retirement in race five, caused by a chunk of rubber flicking the car's external reset switch, against da Costa. A recovery from 19th to ninth in the finale, after all of his fellow group one rivals qualified at the back, was again sound.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is this: in the six FE seasons to date, only the sophomore campaign had fewer rounds - 11 versus 10. But never has a driver won the crown with two races to spare, until da Costa did.

Nissan e.dams
2019-20 teams' points ranking: 2nd
Post-Marrakech teams' points ranking: 4th
Berlin mini-series teams' points ranking: 2nd

A maiden series win for Oliver Rowland and a hat-trick of podiums for Sebastien Buemi headlined a return to form for Nissan e.dams in Berlin. Hamstrung entering the season after its twin-motor powertrain concept was banned, this was the team that took the biggest steps forward with its pace over the shutdown period.

Buemi was only 12th in the drivers' table entering the six-race showdown but would amass the second highest number of points. That closely followed his 2018-19 form, when he leapt from 13th with six races to go to an eventual second after the squad finally cracked the dual-motor tune. Rowland was the fourth most successful in Germany.

When Buemi finished third behind a DS Techeetah 1-2 in race three, his fastest lap was 0.2s shy of da Costa and Vergne's best efforts. A questionable decision to change his car's set-up ahead of the final race meant he didn't provide polesitter Vandoorne with the substantial threat for victory that many had anticipated.

Not only did he not have the outright speed, but the energy management that the 2015-16 champion had nursed so well in the previous races appeared to slip away in that final bout. The result was his second win-less campaign from his six seasons in FE, but nevertheless Buemi's talents shone brightly.

When the car was working, he was comfortably best of the rest - marked by his climb from 22nd to 10th in the penultimate race to lead home those caught in the group-one qualifying gaffe.

Rowland, on the other hand, took time to recover the confidence lost after his Santiago qualifying shunt. But his race-five pole over Robin Frijns by 0.049s and a subsequent effortless-looking triumph showed that he can comfortably combine raw speed and consistency.

As much as Nissan e.dams did develop, the two places it gained in the championship table was massively aided by the near-capitulation of the Jaguar and BMW Andretti threats that had proved so strong in the first part of the season.

Robin Frijns
2019-20 drivers' points ranking: 12th
Post-Marrakech drivers' points ranking: 15th
Berlin mini-series drivers' points ranking: 6th

Envision Virgin Audi driver Frijns crashed out of the Berlin opener and then failed to start race four altogether after a last-minute change of battery was required. Despite this, he still managed to move up three places in the overall standings after finishing sixth in the standalone Berlin table.

His qualifying form was a big part of this climb, as he progressed through to the top-six superpole shootout on four of the six occasions - more than anyone else. Frijns was also part of a small chunk of FE history, as he finished just 0.128s behind winner Maximilian Guenther in round three to record the closest-ever finish (at the line) in the 69 races to date.

The Dutch racer could have even risen higher, as he was on for a strong result in the finale before being punted around at the Turn 15 hairpin on the extended Tempelhof Airport circuit by Guenther. At the time, Frijns was running in seventh but would retire with a puncture and steering damage.

Frijns has copped flack for being inconsistent, and purely in terms of results, the same was true of Berlin: three retirements, two fourths and a second. But he also receives plenty of praise for his astonishing pace when it is indeed his day. Again, that was also seen in the six-race finale.

He put the developments made by Audi to good use in the customer Envision Virgin car. Frijns scored a third more points in Germany than his team-mate Sam Bird and finished well ahead of factory drivers Lucas di Grassi and Rene Rast, too.

Jean-Eric Vergne
2019-20 drivers' points ranking: 3rd
Post-Marrakech drivers' points ranking: 8th
Berlin mini-series drivers' points ranking: 3rd

At first glance, Vergne's defence of his second FE title was rather tepid. Only one victory, which came in the fourth Berlin race, and he was particularly shown up by his DS Techeetah team-mate. What's more, having turned up in Germany eighth in the points, after the first two races he slid down to 12th. Tyre and energy management issues cost him dear in the rounds that da Costa excelled.

But his efforts in the final four races in fact mean his runout in Berlin should go down as a success. He would eventually climb five places in the championship to end up third, as Vandoorne's triumph in the final race of the season knocked Vergne down a place. An eventual tally of 86 points meant he was some 72 behind da Costa at the close of play. In Berlin alone, he scored 57 points to da Costa's 91 - a rather measly effort in both cases given the equal machinery at his disposal.

Vergne was second to da Costa in the first Tempelhof race with seven laps to go, until a potent combination of tyre and energy woes meant he crashed down the order. A late tangle with di Grassi was enough, and Vergne pulled into the pits to classify 20th. Another non-score was registered in race five, after DS Techeetah overcooled the car's battery on the grid to give Vergne a drive-through penalty - incidentally, when Mercedes committed the same error on Nyck de Vries' car in Santiago, that only earned a five-second reprimand...

Vergne's repeat brandishing of the 2019-20 campaign as a "nightmare" seemed on the money. But after qualifying 21st for the finale from a session in which all of the group-one contestants were thwarted by the exacerbated track evolution on the extended Tempelhof configuration, he limited the damage more than most. A rise to seventh at the flag was the best return out of those caught out.

And although he did duck behind da Costa to pre-empt a threat from Buemi in race four, this came at the behest of team orders. That Vergne duly obliged shouldn't be held against him, and anyway, the positions were restored in the closing laps, allowing Vergne to wrap up the spoils.

It wasn't the cleanest or strongest set of performances for the two-time FE title winner. But in time, when people revisit the championship points and view them in isolation, third place will register well enough.

FALLERS:

BMW Andretti
2019-20 teams' points ranking: 5th
Post-Marrakech teams' points ranking: 2nd
Berlin mini-series teams' points ranking: 8th

DS Techeetah had the quickest car in the first part of the season. Jaguar was a close second. Hot on their heels was BMW Andretti, whose iFE.20 enjoyed a wide operating window and could consistently enable drivers Guenther and Alexander Sims to rack up the points.

Sims won the second race of the double-header season-opener in Saudi Arabia. Guenther was victorious next time out in Santiago. But in Berlin, that promise went worringly AWOL.

Guenther did win race three in Berlin but would only finish again in the finale. He was disqualified for over-consuming energy in race one, collided with Bird in race two - failing to finish and with a five-second penalty - crashed with Oliver Turvey in race four and was then hit by di Grassi in race five. Remarkably, this season, he either won, finished second or failed to score at all.

Sims, on the other hand, was more regular, only not in a good sense. He was largely without meaningful pace for the duration in Germany.

From their post-Marrakech rankings of third for Sims and fourth for Guenther in the drivers' table, they would fall to an eventual ninth (Guenther) and 13th (Sims). That cost BMW Andretti no fewer than six places. Only Jaguar would experience a fate that bad.

BMW has long been involved in the championship through its technical partnership with Andretti that started life for the 2015-16 campaign. But last season was its first as a fully-fledged manufacturer. Fifth in the points was no bad return, and all the early signs pointed to an improved force this time around.

Instead, on home soil, the attack fell apart. Other than in the build-up to Guenther's win, when he qualified second, the BMW Andretti duo never made an appearance in the superpole shootout in Berlin. Vergne, da Costa, di Grassi and Vandoorne all could more regularly, despite facing the same handicap from the early group-one running order.

The car did not take to set-up changes either and, all told, it was a torrid end to the season.

Mitch Evans
2019-20 drivers' points ranking: 7th
Post-Marrakech drivers' points ranking: 2nd
Berlin mini-series drivers' points ranking: 15th

Mitch Evans is not to blame for his genuine title chances evaporating into nothing. His brilliant victory in Mexico City and a mesmeric rise from last to sixth in Marrakech after Jaguar botched its qualifying strategy proved the car had sublime race pace. That made it the nearest challenger to the DS Techeetah machine.

While Jaguar, like BMW Andretti, dropped six places in the teams' standings after its woeful Berlin showing, it was Evans who bore the brunt of the underperformance. The Kiwi driver had done the vast majority of the heavy lifting to propel the constructor into third by time the season was halted. He had racked up 56 points to team-mate James Calado's 10. Evans lost the most from the I-Type 4 going well of the boil.

From enjoying a wide operating window and responding well to set-up changes during the early part of the season, it morphed into a knife-edged racer at Tempelhof Airport. If it wasn't on the money, then it was nowhere.

Evans' brace of seventh-place finishes was as good as it got in Berlin. What hurt the most is that the strongest Jaguar asset, the aforementioned race pace, had gone. The 2012 GP3 champion only once qualified in the top 10, and then until the final three races, struggled to recover the places in the heat of battle in a manner as effectively as that of Marrakech.

He scored just 15 points in Germany, in turn giving him 15th place in the mini-series standings and costing him some five places in the overall drivers' championship.

Both Evans and Calado isolated the troubles to wayward car balance. But even with the diagnosis and Jaguar promising after the first double-header that it would bounce back, the hot pace didn't return with anywhere near the same potency.

With Bird representing something of a marquee signing for the team as he comes on board for the 2020-21 season, both drivers and team will be hoping that the stark loss of performance can be attributed to the venue and won't be here to stay.

Venturi Racing
2019-20 teams' points ranking: 10th
Post-Marrakech teams' points ranking: 8th
Berlin mini-series teams' points ranking: 10th

Team principal Susie Wolff called Venturi Racing's form in Berlin "alarming" and "hugely disappointing". Classifying 10th of the 12 teams in those six races backs up her frustration.

Driver Edoardo Mortara impressed in the first five rounds of the season - bar retiring with accident damage in Santiago - to sit a lofty seventh in the standings. That was only one place behind Vandoorne and six spots ahead of de Vries in the factory Mercedes, of which Venturi is a powertrain customer.

But whereas the Silver Arrows kicked on in Germany, marked by a 1-2 in the final race of the season, the Venturi squad slumped. Mortara wound up 14th in the eventual table, having been 16th in the Berlin-only points. Struggles with managing tyre life headlined the troubles.

Where Venturi was hurt further was by the poor showing from Felipe Massa. His exit from the team was announced only moments after he'd taken the chequered flag for the final time to finish off a vastly underwhelming season.

In Berlin, the 11-time Formula 1 grand prix winner pointed the finger at confused team strategy and was also unfortunate to receive a harsh drivethrough penalty after colliding with di Grassi - when the Audi driver had a near-identical tangle with da Costa the next day in race four, di Grassi earned a rap on the knuckles that time around.

Nevertheless, Massa did not deliver the goods for his team. Rather than coast into a likely permanent FE retirement, instead he was in the thick of it. Crashing in race one and running out of energy in the second encounter played a significant part in the Brazilian only scoring a single point from the six Berlin races.

All told, the team fell behind series debutant Porsche and Mahindra - whose early season was plagued by unreliability from a change in gearbox supplier - to 10th. This came as donor team Mercedes climbed to third overall. Only Dragon Racing and NIO 333, the backmarkers of the last two seasons, finished behind.

Berlin's alternative standings

Drivers' standings

1 da Costa 91
2 Buemi 57
3 Vergne 55
4 Rowland 53
5 Vandoorne 49
6 Frijns 48
7 Lotterer 46
8 de Vries 42
9 di Grassi 39
10 Bird 34
11 Rast 29
12 Guenther 25
13 D'Ambrosio 16
14 Lynn 16
15 Evans 15
16 Mortara 9
17 Jani 8
18 Sims 3
19 Massa 1
20 Calado 0
21 Abt 0
22 Turvey 0
23 Muller 0
24 Blomqvist 0
25 Sette Camara 0

Teams' standings

1 DS Techeetah 146
2 Nissan e.dams 110
3 Mercedes 91
4 Envision Virgin 82
5 Audi 68
6 Porsche 54
7 Mahindra 32
8 BMW Andretti 28
9 Jaguar 15
10 Venturi 10
11 Dragon 0
12 NIO 333 0