Mercedes driver Stoffel Vandoorne says he is at a loss over his lack of pace at last weekend’s Marrakesh E-Prix.
Vandoorne started Formula E’s Season 6 campaign in strong fashion, taking back-to-back podiums for Mercedes EQ in Diriyah.
Capitalising in Santiago, the Belgian recorded sixth place, however, this points-scoring run came to an end in the barriers at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Formula E’s most recent race in Marrakesh didn’t buck this trend, with the former leader of the Drivers’ Championship finding himself off the pace in Morocco.
In practice, Vandoorne failed to place higher than 20th and produced a lap time that was worthy of only 17th in qualifying.
This emerging pace problem continued into the race, with the former McLaren F1 driver taking 15th at the chequered flag.
This directly contrasted the race of team-mate Nyck de Vries who, after running inside the podium positions, was demoted to the back of the field following a drive-through penalty, displaying strong pace to fight through the field, taking 11th.
“I’ve been down on pace all weekend,” said Vandoorne after the fifth race of the season. “We had a couple of issues in FP1, but the car felt much better [on race day].
“However, my confidence was still not all there and I didn’t quite string things together properly in Group 1 of qualifying, unfortunately. All in all, it’s been a very tough weekend for me.
“I really struggled in every session and was never really on the pace at all, not even a little, which is very strange, because this is the first time that’s ever happened to me.
“I need to understand why. I don’t really know the reason. We tried everything possible with the car but never really managed to get more out of it.
“The good thing is that Nyck’s pace was more normal and solid this weekend. Fortunately, we’ve got quite a long break ahead of us now and can analyse everything in detail.”
