Nyck De Vries untouchable in Diriyah

The grand slam. Nyck De Vries won all the sessions held on the Diriyah circuit on Thursday and Friday, from practice to the race. The Dutch driver who started from pole was never worried and took the first victory of his career in Formula E.

Its success also symbolizes the strength of Mercedes in this first round of the season, since Edoardo Mortara and his Venturi powered by the German manufacturer took second position following a big comeback.

The Swiss notably made an exceptional overtake on Mitch Evans and Pascal Wehrlein, going from fifth to third position in one braking session. He then overtook René Rast at the end of the race.

Mitch Evans (Jaguar) completes the podium after a generally solid race ahead of Rast (Audi) Wehrlein (Porsche) and Rowland (Nissan DAMS). The fourth comeback of the day is to the credit of Stoffel Vandoorne who managed to obtain eighth place after a poor qualifying, proof once again of the good health of the Mercedes.

The other favorites for the title, however, had a complicated start to the championship. Defending champion Antonio Felix Da Costa finished 11th in his DS Techeetah, while Sébastien Buemi, very angry on the line, ranks 13th with his Nissan DAMS just ahead of the French Norman Nato (Venturi) and Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah).

Note the exit of Maximilian Günther who hit the wall and the collision between Alex Lynn and Sam Bird, both accidents leading to a safety car.