Wild Mexico City Formula E like 'Christmas' - Venturi's Mortara
The final lap of ABB FIA Formula E's Mexico City E-Prix that took Pascal Wehrlein and both Nissan e.dams drivers out of contention was like "Christmas", said Venturi's Edoardo Mortara
Disruption to the race caused by a red flag following Jean Eric-Vergne and Nelson Piquet Jr's huge crash caused an energy management headache for some teams in the final phase of the restarted race.
Nissan miscalculated the energy required to make it to the end of the race, meaning both Oliver Rowland and Sebastien Buemi plunged out of contention, while leader Wehrlein's Mahindra ran out of energy on the start/finish line following pressure from eventual winner Lucas di Grassi.
That meant Mortara, who climbed from ninth to third before the final lap and had more energy remaining than any other driver in the top three at the end of the race, claimed a surprise first podium of the season for Venturi.
"I had a lot of energy remaining at the end of the race, enough to make a barbecue!" said Mortara.
"As soon as I reached the top group, I was already sixth and sixth for us is already a position like 'stop, let's just take it' and hope nothing is mixing up the front.
"Then it was like Christmas happened on the last lap! Two cars stopping, then one got a penalty and I was like 'yeah, Father Christmas exists!'
"I could see they [Nissan] were really struggling, which surprised me as it [the race] was easy on energy.
"The Nissans stopped in front of me and there was fighting in front and I was starting to think if it carries on this way they might crash and I'd be on the podium, and it happened!"
Asked to expand on his energy-saving tactics, Mortara told Autosport: "The secret was to do an intelligent and efficient race, staying calm.
"Being behind the others [in the leading pack], I didn't want to take too many risks. I tried to be intelligent, I only had one overtake to do against Felipe [Massa].
"It was basically timing the attack mode in the right way. For the first part of the race, when I was behind him, I had better pace so I could save energy and wait, not to take any risks as he's my team-mate.
"I timed it correctly and at the end, I didn't want to consume the energy because it implicates you're pushing more, using the tyres more and sliding.
"I was happy with the pace."
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