De Vries believes Mercedes has itself to blame: 'Weren't fast enough'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Nyck de Vries had a strong start to the Formula E season by winning the opening race. In the second race in Diriyah, he also seemed to be on his way, but eventually had to settle for tenth place. The 26-year old driver from Sneek attributes a lack of speed and a late activation of the 'attack mode' to the disappointing result.
The Mercedes driver started the race from pole and initially managed to maintain his position, but was sidelined by Lucas di Grassi, who used his second attack mode relatively early.
De Vries thinks Mercedes left it up to themselves
De Vries, who resisted the urge to use his final attack mode for a few laps, fell back to tenth place towards the end of the race. "In summary, we weren't quick enough," De Vries explained.
He continued: "We might have been a little late in activating attack mode, which might also have been a factor in us dropping back a bit. It's tough when you're down on pace." In addition, the touch with Jean-Eric Vergne also played a role, according to the Dutchman. "After that I lost four of five positions which was just too bad," he added.
He does believe, however, that his team was mainly to blame. "It was down to us as I believe we simply weren't fast enough. It proves once again that things can still go wrong, even if you have had a strong weekend up to that point," De Vries said.