The 2022 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 28 and 29 January 2022. It was the opening round of the 2021–22 Formula E season and the fourth edition of the Diriyah ePrix, and was held at night for the second time. Novelties for the event included the introduction of a knockout-style qualifying format, which replaced the series' long-standing four-group and superpole qualifying.
The first race was won by defending world champion Nyck de Vries, with Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Dennis rounding out the podium. Edoardo Mortara won the second race, ahead of Robin Frijns and Lucas di Grassi.
Background Nyck de Vries entered the event as the series' reigning world champion, whilst his team Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team are the defending constructors' champions in what is set to be their last season in Formula E.
Regulation changes The races were the first to see the new knockout-style qualifying format introduced for the season. Under the new format, the grid is split into two groups of eleven cars, each of which will have ten minutes to set the fastest time with the cars set to deliver 220kW of power. The fastest four drivers from each group then advance to a knockout-style tournament to decide the top eight, with the drivers being eliminated via quarter-final and semi-final heats to leave a two-car battle for pole position. The cars' usable power is upped to 250kW for the knockout stages.
Driver changes Following the withdrawal of Audi from Formula E at the end of the 2020–21 season, former champion Lucas di Grassi moved to ROKiT Venturi, partnering the incumbent Edoardo Mortara and replacing Norman Nato, the series' latest race winner, who moved to Jaguar as a reserve driver. Long-time Nissan e.dams driver Oliver Rowland switched to Mahindra Racing to replace the outgoing Alex Lynn, his space at Nissan being taken by former Andretti driver and three-time race winner Maximilian Günther.
Three drivers made their Formula E debuts at the event. Former Formula One driver Antonio Giovinazzi joined Dragon / Penske Autosport to partner Brazilian Sérgio Sette Câmara. Former Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum joined NIO to replace the outgoing Tom Blomqvist alongside Oliver Turvey. 2019 Indy Lights champion and former IndyCar driver Oliver Askew joined Andretti Autosport, no longer factory-backed by BMW, to partner Jake Dennis, who came third in the 2020–21 season as a rookie.
Classification Race one Qualifying Group draw Group A ASK SET JEV FRI BIR ROW VAN TUR BUE DIG WEH Group B DEN GIO DAC CAS EVA SIM DEV TIC GUE MOR LOT
Qualifying duels
Overall classification Driver Team 1 5 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes 1:09.489 1:08.873 1:08.407 1:08.626 1 2 27 Jake Dennis Andretti-BMW 1:09.284 1:08.749 1:08.379 1:08.926 2 3 17 Nyck de Vries Mercedes 1:09.164 1:08.600 1:08.813 3 4 36 André Lotterer Porsche 1:09.313 1:09.018 1:09.014 4 5 10 Sam Bird Jaguar 1:09.407 1:08.919 5 6 37 Nick Cassidy Envision-Audi 1:09.214 1:08.951 6 7 4 Robin Frijns Envision-Audi 1:09.163 1:09.109 7 8 30 Oliver Rowland Mahindra 1:09.549 1:09.329 11 9 11 Lucas di Grassi Venturi-Mercedes 1:09.617 8 10 22 Maximilian Günther e.dams-Nissan 1:09.471 9 11 94 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche 1:09.710 10 12 48 Edoardo Mortara Venturi-Mercedes 1:09.536 12 13 25 Jean-Éric Vergne Techeetah-DS 1:09.811 13 14 9 Mitch Evans Jaguar 1:09.587 14 15 7 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon-Penske 1:09.867 15 16 13 António Félix da Costa Techeetah-DS 1:09.704 16 17 28 Oliver Askew Andretti-BMW 1:09.891 17 18 29 Alexander Sims Mahindra 1:10.039 18 19 3 Oliver Turvey NIO 1:10.129 19 20 33 Dan Ticktum NIO 1:10.507 20 21 23 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Nissan 1:10.185 21 22 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Dragon-Penske 1:10.596 22Source: Notes: – Oliver Rowland received a 3-place grid penalty for impeding another driver in the pit lane.
Race Driver Team Time/Retired Points 1 17 Nyck de Vries Mercedes 41 52:14.642 3 25 2 5 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes 41 +0.636 1 18+3 3 27 Jake Dennis Andretti-BMW 41 +8.802 2 15 4 10 Sam Bird Jaguar 41 +14.925 5 12 5 11 Lucas di Grassi Venturi-Mercedes 41 +15.152 8 10 6 48 Edoardo Mortara Venturi-Mercedes 41 +16.015 12 8 7 37 Nick Cassidy Envision-Audi 41 +17.265 6 6+1 8 25 Jean-Éric Vergne Techeetah-DS 41 +25.076 13 4 9 28 Oliver Askew Andretti-BMW 41 +25.699 17 2 10 9 Mitch Evans Jaguar 41 +27.320 14 1 11 94 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche 41 +28.781 10 12 22 Maximilian Günther e.dams-Nissan 41 +30.536 9 13 36 André Lotterer Porsche 41 +31.521 4 14 29 Alexander Sims Mahindra 41 +34.572 18 15 7 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon-Penske 41 +36.781 15 16 4 Robin Frijns Envision-Audi 41 +39.953 7 17 23 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Nissan 41 +41.334 21 18 33 Dan Ticktum NIO 41 +49.222 20 19 3 Oliver Turvey NIO 41 +50.965 19 20 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Dragon-Penske 41 +1:16.527 22 Ret 30 Oliver Rowland Mahindra 7 Collision 11 Ret 13 António Félix da Costa Techeetah-DS 0 Collision damage 16 Source: Notes: – Pole position. – Fastest lap.
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Nyck de Vries 25 2 Stoffel Vandoorne 21 3 Jake Dennis 15 4 Sam Bird 12 5 Lucas di Grassi 10
Teams' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 46 2 Venturi-Mercedes 18 3 Andretti-BMW 17 4 Jaguar 13 5 Envision-Audi 7
Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
Race two Qualifying Group draw Group A DEV () DEN (3) DIG (5) CAS (7) ASK (9) WEH (11) LOT (13) SET (15) BUE (17) TUR (19) ROW (21) Group B VAN (2) BIR (4) MOR (6) JEV (8) EVA (10) GUE (12) SIM (14) FRI (16) TIC (18) GIO (20) DAC (22)
Qualifying duels
Overall classification Driver Team 1 17 Nyck de Vries Mercedes 1:07.939 1:06.871 1:06.835 1:07.154 1 2 48 Edoardo Mortara Venturi-Mercedes 1:07.724 1:07.014 1:06.987 1:07.159 2 3 4 Robin Frijns Envision-Audi 1:07.757 1:07.207 1:07.184 3 4 11 Lucas di Grassi Venturi-Mercedes 1:08.083 1:07.580 1:07.216 4 5 36 André Lotterer Porsche 1:08.224 1:07.285 5 6 25 Jean-Éric Vergne Techeetah-DS 1:07.968 1:07.539 6 7 30 Oliver Rowland Mahindra 1:08.101 1:07.780 10 8 13 António Félix da Costa Techeetah-DS 1:07.806 No time 7 9 27 Jake Dennis Andretti-BMW 1:08.419 8 10 29 Alexander Sims Mahindra 1:08.011 9 11 94 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche 1:08.454 11 12 5 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes 1:08.257 12 13 28 Oliver Askew Andretti-BMW 1:08.626 13 14 22 Maximilian Günther e.dams-Nissan 1:08.339 14 15 23 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Nissan 1:08.829 15 16 9 Mitch Evans Jaguar 1:08.368 16 17 3 Oliver Turvey NIO 1:08.943 17 18 33 Dan Ticktum NIO 1:08.753 18 19 7 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon-Penske No time 19 20 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Dragon-Penske 1:08.811 20 21 37 Nick Cassidy Envision-Audi No time 22 22 10 Sam Bird Jaguar 1:13.910 21Source: Notes: – Oliver Rowland received a 3-place grid penalty for causing a collision in race one. – António Félix da Costa had his quarter-final duel lap time deleted for missing his slot. – Sérgio Sette Câmara had all his qualifying lap times cancelled for impeding another driver. – Nick Cassidy did not take part in qualifying as his team could not repair his car in time following an accident in free practice. He was allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.
Race Driver Team Time/Retired Points 1 48 Edoardo Mortara Venturi-Mercedes 35 47:02.131 2 25 2 4 Robin Frijns Envision-Audi 35 +0.451 3 18 3 11 Lucas di Grassi Venturi-Mercedes 35 +0.912 4 15 4 36 André Lotterer Porsche 35 +1.125 5 12 5 27 Jake Dennis Andretti-BMW 35 +1.646 8 10 6 25 Jean-Éric Vergne Techeetah-DS 35 +3.166 6 8 7 5 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes 35 +3.568 12 6+1 8 30 Oliver Rowland Mahindra 35 +4.235 10 4 9 94 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche 35 +4.962 11 2 10 17 Nyck de Vries Mercedes 35 +5.294 1 1+3 11 28 Oliver Askew Andretti-BMW 35 +6.732 13 12 13 António Félix da Costa Techeetah-DS 35 +8.693 7 13 23 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Nissan 35 +9.015 15 14 22 Maximilian Günther e.dams-Nissan 35 +9.464 14 15 10 Sam Bird Jaguar 35 +11.690 21 16 37 Nick Cassidy Envision-Audi 35 +13.973 22 17 7 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon-Penske 35 +14.521 19 18 3 Oliver Turvey NIO 35 +15.005 17 19 33 Dan Ticktum NIO 35 +16.744 18 20 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Dragon-Penske 35 +17.681 20 21 9 Mitch Evans Jaguar 35 +29.872 16 Ret 29 Alexander Sims Mahindra 29 Accident 9 Source: Notes: – Fastest lap. – Pole position. – Mitch Evans received a post-race drive-through penalty converted into a 24-second time penalty for failing to activate the second of the two mandatory attack modes.
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 5 1 Edoardo Mortara 33 1 2 Nyck de Vries 29 1 3 Stoffel Vandoorne 28 1 4 Lucas di Grassi 25 2 5 Jake Dennis 25
Teams' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 1 Venturi-Mercedes 58 1 2 Mercedes 57 3 Andretti-BMW 27 1 4 Envision-Audi 25 2 5 Porsche 14
Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
Notes
References
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