Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Toto Wolff linked up with Mercedes-EQ for the Rome E-Prix, and was on the ground as Stoffel Vandoorne launched himself into the Drivers' Championship mix with the race win and TAG Heuer Fastest Lap in Round 4 after a frantic encounter at the city's Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR.
Vandoorne bounced back from a disappointing Round 3 which saw him taken out of contention in contact with Porsche's Andre Lotterer, which saw the latter penalised. The Belgian fought his way from fourth to the front, holding fast for victory and firing himself into championship contention having started the day 15th in the standings. Meanwhile, Nyck de Vries and Sam Bird (Jaguar Racing) had a coming-together which saw both fail to finish.
"Drama and glory is very close together in Formula E" - Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes Motorsport #RomeEPrix@MercedesEQFEpic.twitter.com/xzmz4vPqZg
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) April 11, 2021
The progress Mercedes has made in its first two seasons as a fully-fledged manufacturer outfit in Formula E is plain to see, and Wolff, pleased at the team's development, also added that Mercedes' drivers' varying fortunes in Rome highlight just how fine the margins are in Formula E.
“That you can’t really make any prediction or use your crystal ball when trying to think about what might happen makes Formula E exciting,” said Wolff.
“We saw Stoffel have a solid lead and then a bit of an optimistic manoeuvre from behind and all is lost. Then add the crash that wasn’t in their making, and Stoffel is back on top and Nyck isn’t. Drama and glory is very close together in Formula E.
“I’m really happy with the development in our second real season as Mercedes-EQ. I’m happy with the power unit functions and we had a good race weekend in terms of pace today and overall we’re progressing well."