2021 Diriyah ePrix

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2021 Diriyah ePrix
Race 1 of 15 of the 2020–21 Formula E season Next race →
Race details
Date	26 February 2021 (2021-02-26)
Official name	2021 Diriyah E-Prix
Location	Riyadh Street Circuit, Diriyah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Course	Street circuit
Course length	2.495 km (1.550 mi)
Distance	32 laps, 79.840 km (49.610 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes
Time	1:08.157
Fastest lap
Driver	Stoffel Vandoorne René Rast[a]	Mercedes Audi
Time	1:09.583 (1:09.655) on lap 30 (16)
Podium
First	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes
Second	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes
Third	Mitch Evans	Jaguar
Lap leaders

2021 Diriyah ePrix
Race 2 of 15 of the 2020–21 Formula E season Next race →
Race details
Date	27 February 2021 (2021-02-27)
Official name	2021 Diriyah E-Prix
Location	Riyadh Street Circuit, Diriyah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Course	Street circuit
Course length	2.495 km (1.550 mi)
Distance	29 laps, 72.355 km (44.959 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Robin Frijns	Virgin-Audi
Time	1:07.889
Fastest lap
Driver	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes
Time	1:08.811 on lap 20
Podium
First	Sam Bird	Jaguar
Second	Robin Frijns	Virgin-Audi
Third	António Félix da Costa	Techeetah-DS
Lap leaders

The 2021 Diriyah ePrix (officially the 2021 ABB FIA Formula E Diriyah ePrix) was a pair of Formula E electric car races held at the Riyadh Street Circuit in the town of Diriyah, north-west of Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia on 26 and 27 February 2021. It was the opening round of the 2020–21 Formula E season and the third edition of the Diriyah ePrix, and marked the first ever Formula E race held at night. The first race was won by Nyck de Vries,^[1] with Edoardo Mortara and Mitch Evans rounding out the podium. Sam Bird won the second race,^[2] ahead of Robin Frijns and António Félix da Costa.

Group draw[3]
Group 1	DAC (1)	VAN (2)	JEV (3)	BUE (4)	ROW (5)	DIG (6)
Group 2	EVA (7)	LOT (8)	GUE (9)	BIR (10)	DEV (11)	FRI (12)
Group 3	SIM (13)	MOR (14)	RAS (15)	LYN (17)	WEH (18)	TUR (24)
Group 4	MUL (25)	BLO (26)	SET (27)	DEN (–)	CAS (–)	NAT (–)

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	GS	SP	Grid
1	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	1:08.786	1:08.157	1
2	99	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	1:08.885	1:08.821	2
3	33	René Rast	Audi	1:08.959	1:08.869	3
4	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes	1:08.798	1:09.317	4
5	94	Alex Lynn	Mahindra	1:09.133	1:09.345	5
6	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	1:09.152	1:09.706	6
7	36	André Lotterer	Porsche	1:09.157	—	7
8	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar	1:09.265	—	8
9	28	Maximilian Günther	Andretti-BMW	1:09.277	—	9
10	22	Oliver Rowland	e.dams-Nissan	1:09.362	—	10
11	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra	1:09.559	—	11
12	71	Norman Nato	Venturi-Mercedes	1:09.628	—	12
13	8	Oliver Turvey	NIO	1:09.631	—	13
14	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti-BMW	1:09.723	—	14
15	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1:10.128	—	15
16	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	1:10.474	—	16
17	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	1:10.594	—	17
18	13	António Félix da Costa	Techeetah-DS	1:10.735	—	18
19	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-DS	1:10.804	—	19
20	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon-Penske	1:21.445	—	20
21	37	Nick Cassidy	Virgin-Audi	1:22.0201	—	21
22	88	Tom Blomqvist	NIO	1:23.1651	—	22
23	6	Nico Müller	Dragon-Penske	1:24.9551	—	23
24	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin-Audi	no time	—	24
Source:[4][5]

Notes:

• ^1  – Nick Cassidy, Tom Blomqvist, and Nico Müller had their fastest qualifying lap times deleted for failing to reduce speed under double yellow flag.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	32	46:44.765	1	25+3+11
2	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes	32	+4.119	4	18
3	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	32	+4.619	6	15
4	33	René Rast	Audi	32	+4.852	3	12+12
5	99	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	32	+7.962	2	10
6	22	Oliver Rowland	e.dams-Nissan	32	+9.318	10	8
7	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra	32	+9.686	11	6
8	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	32	+9.973	15	4
9	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	32	+11.089	16	2
10	8	Oliver Turvey	NIO	32	+15.518	13	1
11	13	António Félix da Costa	Techeetah-DS	32	+16.225	18
12	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti-BMW	32	+17.025	14
13	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	32	+17.273	17
14	71	Norman Nato	Venturi-Mercedes	32	+17.312	12
15	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-DS	32	+18.402	19
16	36	André Lotterer	Porsche	32	+18.417	7
17	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin-Audi	32	+18.822	24
18	88	Tom Blomqvist	NIO	32	+19.072	22
19	37	Nick Cassidy	Virgin-Audi	32	+19.951	21
20	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon-Penske	32	+20.174	20
21	6	Nico Müller	Dragon-Penske	32	+20.586	PL
Ret	28	Maximilian Günther	Andretti-BMW	23	Accident	9
Ret	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar	22	Collision damage	8
Ret	94	Alex Lynn	Mahindra	16	Collision	5
Source:[6]

Notes:

• ^1  – Pole position; fastest in group stage.
• ^2  – Fastest lap.

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Group draw[7]
Group 1	DEV (1)	MOR (2)	EVA (3)	RAS (4)	WEH (5)	ROW (6)
Group 2	SIM (7)	VAN (8)	DIG (9)	TUR (10)	DAC (11)	DEN (12)
Group 3	BUE (13)	NAT (14)	JEV (15)	LOT (16)	FRI (17)	BLO (18)
Group 4	CAS (19)	SET (20)	MUL (21)	GUE (22)	BIR (23)	LYN (24)

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	GS	SP	Grid
1	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin-Audi	1:07.810	1:07.889	1
2	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon-Penske	1:08.333	1:08.178	2
3	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar	1:08.384	1:08.405	3
4	8	Oliver Turvey	NIO	1:08.424	1:08.439	4
5	88	Tom Blomqvist	NIO	1:08.367	1:08.732	5
6	6	Nico Müller	Dragon-Penske	1:08.432	1:09.060	6
7	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-DS	1:08.471	—	7
8	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	1:08.544	—	8
9	94	Alex Lynn	Mahindra	1:08.632	—	123
10	13	António Félix da Costa	Techeetah-DS	1:08.649	—	9
11	37	Nick Cassidy	Virgin-Audi	1:08.733	—	10
12	28	Maximilian Günther	Andretti-BMW	1:08.797	—	11
13	22	Oliver Rowland	e.dams-Nissan	1:08.798	—	13
14	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra	1:08.876	—	14
15	11	Lucas Di Grassi	Audi	1:08.970	—	15
16	99	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	1:09.601	—	16
17	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti-BMW	1:11.194	—	17
18	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	1:13.868	—	18
19	33	René Rast	Audi	1:13.954	—	19
20	17	Nyck De Vries	Mercedes	no time4	—	20
21	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes	no time4	—	21
22	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	no time4	—	22
23	71	Norman Nato	Venturi-Mercedes	no time4	—	23
24	36	André Lotterer	Porsche	no time	—	24
Source:[8][9]

Notes:

• ^3  – Alex Lynn received a 3-place grid penalty for causing a collision in race one.^[10]
• ^4  – Following a brake failure in Edoardo Mortara's car that caused him to crash heavily into the barriers in free practice, all four Mercedes-powered cars were deemed unsafe and therefore not allowed to participate in qualifying.^[11]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar	29	39:50.836	3	25
2	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin-Audi	29	+2.194	1	18+3+15
3	13	António Félix da Costa	Techeetah-DS	29	+6.900	9	15
4	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon-Penske	29	+12.817	2	12
5	6	Nico Müller	Dragon-Penske	29	+13.924	6	10
6	8	Oliver Turvey	NIO	29	+15.523	4	8
7	22	Oliver Rowland	e.dams-Nissan	29	+16.389	13	6
8	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	29	+20.612	15	4
9	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	29	+22.482	20	2+16
10	99	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	29	+25.395	16	1
11	36	André Lotterer	Porsche	29	+27.257	PL
12	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-DS	29	+28.8467	7
13	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	29	+29.112	22
14	37	Nick Cassidy	Virgin-Audi	29	+33.0797	10
15	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra	29	+43.8857	14
16	71	Norman Nato	Venturi-Mercedes	29	+48.192	23
17	33	René Rast	Audi	29	+1:06.2547	19
18	88	Tom Blomqvist	NIO	29	+1:09.5087	5
Ret	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	26	Retired	8
Ret	28	Maximilian Günther	Andretti-BMW	26	Collision	11
Ret	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	26	Collision	18
Ret	94	Alex Lynn	Mahindra	26	Collision7	12
Ret	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti-BMW	16	Collision	17
DNS	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes	0	Did not start	21
Source:[12]

Notes:

• ^5  – Pole position; fastest in group stage.
• ^6  – Fastest lap.
• ^7  – Jean-Éric Vergne, René Rast and Tom Blomqvist received a drive-through penalty apiece for failing to activate the second of the two mandatory attack modes. Rast and Blomqvist also received a further drive-through penalty for speeding under full course yellow, as did Nick Cassidy. Alexander Sims and Alex Lynn received a drive-through penalty each for a technical infringement involving the throttle pedal map. All these penalties were issued after the race and were therefore converted into 24-second time penalties.^[13]

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Edoardo Mortara suffered a brake failure in his Venturi-Mercedes car while making practice starts after the end of Saturday's free practice 3, causing him to crash heavily into the barriers at turn one. He was taken to hospital for precautionary checks.^[14] Mortara was permitted to race, despite not taking part in qualifying. However, he did not take the start as his mechanics could not repair the damage to his car in time.^[15]

Later on in the day, race two ended early following an accident – not shown on the international broadcast, but on one of the track's CCTV cameras – involving Mitch Evans and Alex Lynn in which the latter's car flipped over. It came shortly after Sébastien Buemi had come to a halt and Maximilian Günther and Tom Blomqvist had made contact further up ahead on the same lap. Immediately after Lynn's car stopped, Evans jumped out of his car to check on the Briton. The safety car was called out, and eventually the race was concluded with a red flag.^[16] Lynn was taken to hospital for examination,^[17] and later the Mahindra team announced on Twitter that he had been cleared from the hospital, and would thus be allowed to take part in the Rome ePrix.^[18] The way the crash unfolded looked similar to that of Formula One driver Mark Webber at the 2010 European Grand Prix, with the exception that Lynn's car landed upside down rather than Webber's right side up.

During the award ceremony, the government of Saudi Arabia, with a Patriot missile, neutralized a missile over Riyadh, near the town of Diriyah,^[19] allegedly fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels.^[20] There were no injuries, but flights were diverted^[21][22] or cancelled, making some participants go back to their hotels,^[23] and a house was damaged.^[24] This also raised concerns about the then-upcoming Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with regards to safety for the staff, teams, and drivers; such a missile attack did occur during the 2022 running of the Formula One event.

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