.jpg)
It seems as if it was only yesterday. An early start to the morning saw rain drench the streets of Hong Kong, creating the overcast backdrop for what was Formula E’s landmark 50th race.
After taking our first podium of Season 5 only weeks beforehand in Mexico City, we headed to the Central Harbourfront Circuit with renewed optimism.
The venue is one we have traditionally performed well at and Edoardo Mortara – who would go on to take our maiden victory later that weekend – vividly remembers the mood within Venturi:
“We were coming from difficult race weekends and the Mexico City podium was our first good race finish of the season,” recalls the Swiss-Italian driver, reflecting on the run-up to a race that would go down in our history books.
“We weren’t really expecting it. A lot of things happened during the race but we managed to benefit from other people’s mistakes.”
After making his Formula E debut in Hong Kong some 15 months earlier, a heartbreaking baptism for Edo in the all-electric championship still produced silverware.
From this disappointment, however, lessons were learned and after spinning from the lead in Season 4, Edo was refreshed for the impending challenge:
“I was pretty disappointed with what happened on my first race weekend in Formula E,” he explains, “but you need to move on and try to forget what happened. Obviously, remember the mistakes that you did and from there, learn from it.”
While wet conditions in Formula E typically make driving trickier, it only added to Edo’s confidence when practice arrived with our experience shining through.
“In the 2019 race weekend in Hong Kong it was raining quite a lot so I had nothing to compare with my first season in Formula E,” he explains.
“All I knew was that we’re normally quite competitive in wet conditions and of course, the driver can make a big difference. The car was always quite quick in wet conditions so I was looking forward to it.”
Placing inside the top 10 in both practice sessions, Edo continued to showcase impressive pace, qualifying in P3.
A grid penalty demoted Edo to P6 for the impending race but this didn’t phase Formula E’s next winner in-waiting.
“When you receive a penalty, you just have to deal with these things. You need to try to move on. When it’s happening, it’s happening – there’s nothing you can do about it. You need to try and do the best with what you have.”
When the race arrived and the lights went out, an optimum getaway for Edo saw him hold P6 on the first lap but when Felipe Nasr, Pascal Wehrlein and Jerome d’Ambrosio tangled in Turn 2, the safety car was deployed.
This halted the race but when action resumed, Edo quickly cleared Oliver Rowland and Gary Paffett to move into P4, next passing Stoffel Vandoorne for a place on the podium.
“At that point in the race, I was trying not to make any mistakes and trying to benefit from the mistakes of others,” remembers Edo.
“The track was extremely slippery so at that point I was just trying to survive and I was hoping just to finish.
“For us, we were coming from Mexico and already finishing inside the top five would have been great. So I was just trying to finish inside the top five.”
Closing in on the duel for the win, with Sam Bird fighting Andre Lotterer for the top spot, Edo was in the perfect position to capitalise.
As the battle boiled over, with Bird tapping the right-rear of Lotterer and the DS Techeetah driver picking up a puncture, Edo shot up to second and after taking the chequered flag, felt something momentous waiting in the wings.
When Bird’s penalty had come through, we were already on the trail to the next race of the season in Sanya, with victory falling into our clutches for the first time in five seasons.
History had been made for Monaco’s only racing team.
“I was very happy and to me, it was very important,” added Edo with fond memories radiating through. “It was the first victory for Venturi and to be the driver to score that first victory was very special, especially since I’ve been with the team since Season 4.”
.png)
.png){kind=spacer}
