Victory for Vergne in the inaugural Formula E race at the streets of Bern

The reigning Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah) clinched his third win of the season and the eighth Formula E victory in a career today at the streets of Bern in Switzerland, in the eleventh and the penultimate round of the 2018-2019 FIA Formula E Championship season. Vergne shared the Swiss ePrix podium with Mitch Evans (Jaguar Racing) and Sebastien Buemi (Nissan e.dams).

Behind the leading trio, the other drivers in the top 10 were Andre Lotterer (DS Techeetah), Sam Bird (Virgin Racing), Maximilian Gunther (Dragon Racing), Daniel Abt (Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler), Alex Lynn (Jaguar Racing), Felipe Massa (Venturi) and Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler).

But, Andre Lotterer was handed a drive-through penalty after the race, which was converted to a 22-second time penalty, for ignoring the pit exit light. That penalty dropped him to 14th place and he didn’t earn points.

Jean-Eric Vergne at Swiss ePrix

Vergne came to Switzerland as the championship leader and increased his lead from six points to 32 point-gap with two more races on a calendar, both at Brooklyn Street Circuit in New York.

Lucas di Grassi is second, with 98 points on his account, behind Vergne with 130 points. Today’s podium-scorer Mitch Evans collected 87 points so far and he still has mathematical chances to win the championship title at two New York’s races, same as Andre Lotterer (86 points), Antonio Felix da Costa (82) and Robin Frijns (81). Fifty-eight points are still in the game, so even the seventh-placed Buemi and eighth-placed Daniel Abt have mathematical chances, but it’s clear that Vergne himself is deciding about the 2018-2019 Formula E title.