2022 Seoul ePrix

The 2022 Seoul ePrix, formally known as the 2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix, was a pair of Formula E electric car races staged at the Seoul Street Circuit in the Jamsil Sports Complex, Seoul, South Korea, on 13 and 14 August 2022. They served as the fifteenth and sixteenth rounds of the 2021-22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, ^[1][2] The race was the first and only running of the Seoul ePrix after it had been postponed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was raced as the first ePrix in South Korea and fifth Asian country to host an ePrix, following China (including Hong Kong), Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia.^[3][4]

2022 Seoul ePrix
Race 15 of 16 of the 2021–22 Formula E season ← Previous race
Race details
Date	13 August 2022 (2022-08-13)
Official name	2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix
Location	Seoul Street Circuit , Seoul, South Korea
Course	Street circuit
Course length	2.618 km (1.627 mi)
Distance	30 laps, 78.540 km (48.802 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra
Time	1:35:406
Fastest lap
Driver	Jake Dennis	Andretti-BMW
Time	1:25:497 on lap 27
Podium
First	Mitch Evans	Jaguar
Second	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra
Third	Lucas di Grassi	Venturi

2022 Seoul ePrix
Race 16 of 16 of the 2021–22 Formula E season ← Previous race
Race details
Date	14 August 2022 (2022-08-14)
Official name	2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix
Location	Seoul Street Circuit , Seoul, South Korea
Course	Street circuit
Course length	2.618 km (1.627 mi)
Distance	34 laps, 89.012 km (55.309 mi)
Pole position
Driver	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah
Time	1:21:078
Fastest lap
Driver	Nick Cassidy	Envision
Time	1:22:401 on lap 24
Podium
First	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi
Second	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes
Third	Jake Dennis	Andretti-BMW

It was the first time in nine years that South Korea has hosted large motorsports events since the last Formula One Korean Grand Prix held in 2013.^[5]

History

South Korea's previous attempts at hosting motorsport events include the Korean Grand Prix situated at Yeongam, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Low attendance figures, five hours of traveling time from Seoul and unfulfilled resort facilities around the track were the main reasons for the event's short existence.^[6]

On 30 November 2018, Formula E CEO, Alejandro Agag signed an agreement with Moon Jae-sik, chairman of JSM Holdings.^[7] South Korea was given the right to hold the ABB Formula E Championship from 2020 to 2025. The aim was to expand the Asian market and provide a platform for cooperation between Formula E and South Korean automobile industrial technology and eco-friendly innovations.^[8]

The Formula E race would be served as an attraction for motor sport fans from nearby countries such as China and Japan.^[9]

Three other candidates in the Asia-Pacific region considered for hosting included Australia, Russia, and New Zealand.^[10]

The inaugural Seoul ePrix was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, then it was due to take place on 23 May 2021 as the 9th round of the 2021 Formula E season. But due to the ongoing situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the race's first running would be on the 2022 Formula E season. On 19 June 2021, Seoul city government announced that the race's first running would be set to form part of the Seoul Fest celebrations on the days of 13–14 August 2022.^[11]

The Seoul ePrix was set to return for the 2022-23 Formula E season on 20 and 21 May 2023, but renovation works to the Jamsil Stadium meant that the event would not be able to take place, and it was replaced by the Cape Town ePrix.^[12] The track was later left off the calendar for the 2023–24 Formula E season.

Background

After fourteen races in nine cities, the 2021-22 Formula E World Championship arrived in Seoul, South Korea, for its season finale. The Jamsil Sports Complex would play host to the Seoul Street Circuit, which was to stage the 99th and 100th FE races, a significant milestone in FE's history.^[2] The races were also the last of the Generation 2 era for FE, with the Spark SRT05e to be retired at the end of the race weekend having served as the series' base chassis since the 2018-19 season.^[13]

Driver changes

Sam Bird missed the season finale, after he was found to have broken his hand at the 2022 London ePrix, an injury he would carry throughout that race.^[14] Bird's streak of winning at least one race in every season was ended. Jaguar's reserve driver Norman Nato would sub for the British driver. It was Nato's first appearance since the 2021 Berlin ePrix.^[15]

Sacha Fenestraz, having been a reserve driver for Jaguar in 2021, replaced Antonio Giovinazzi and made his Formula E debut for the second round after Giovinazzi suffered a hand injury during the first event.^[16]

Championship standing before the race

58 points were available for the Drivers' Championship in the final two rounds. Stoffel Vandoorne led the championship with 36 points over Mitch Evans, 41 points over Edoardo Mortara and 57 points over Jean-Éric Vergne.

In the Teams' Championship, 94 points were still available. Mercedes held a 36-point lead over ROKiT Venturi, a 47-point lead over DS Techeetah and a 91-point lead over Jaguar Racing.

Race 1

Qualifying

Oliver Rowland took the pole position in the wet condition, defeating Lucas di Grassi in the final by 0.623s.^[17]

Group draw
Group A	VAN	MOR	DAC	FRI	DEN	LOT	BUE	ASK	TUR	SET	GIO
Group B	EVA	JEV	DIG	DEV	WEH	CAS	SIM	ROW	GUE	TIC	NAT

Qualifying duels

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

B4

Mitch Evans

A1

Edoardo Mortara

Mitch Evans

Lucas di Grassi

B3

Lucas di Grassi

A2

Jake Dennis

Lucas di Grassi

Oliver Rowland

A3

Sérgio Sette Câmara

B2

Oliver Rowland

Oliver Rowland

Pascal Wehrlein

A4

Stoffel Vandoorne

B1

Pascal Wehrlein

Overall Classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	A	B	QF	SF	F	Grid
1	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra	—	1:30:345	1:32:590	1:34:880	1:35:406	1
2	11	Lucas di Grassi	Venturi-Mercedes	—	1:30:726	1:31:735	1:35:692	1:36:029	2
3	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	—	1:30:755	1:31:293	1:35:884	—	3
4	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	—	1:30:321	1:35:117	1:36:517	—	4
5	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti-BMW	1:22:441	—	1:32:424	—	—	5
6	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes	1:22:397	—	1:32:442	—	—	6
7	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1:22:542	—	1:35:401	—	—	7
8	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon-Penske	1:22:477	—	—	—	—	8
9	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-DS	—	1:30.811	—	—	—	9
10	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	1:22:732	—	—	—	—	10
11	10	Norman Nato	Jaguar	—	1:30:943	—	—	—	11
12	13	António Félix da Costa	Techeetah-DS	1:22:793	—	—	—	—	12
13	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO	—	1:31:577	—	—	—	13
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Dragon-Penske	1:22:837	—	—	—	—	14
15	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	—	1:31:704	—	—	—	15
16	4	Robin Frijns	Envision-Audi	1:23:057	—	—	—	—	16
17	22	Maximilian Günther	e.dams-Nissan	—	1:31:840	—	—	—	17
18	3	Oliver Turvey	NIO	1:23:214	—	—	—	—	18
19	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision-Audi	—	1:32:387	—	—	—	19
20	36	André Lotterer	Porsche	1:23:331	—	—	—	—	20
21	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra	—	1:33:592	—	—	—	21
22	28	Oliver Askew	Andretti-BMW	1:50:546	—	—	—	—	22
Source:[18]

Race

Report

The circuit was very damp at the start of the race. Di Grassi and Evans passed pole sitter Rowland in the first corner. Evans then overtook di Grassi to claim the lead, before di Grassi dropped behind Rowland.^[19]

Eight cars ended up in the barriers at turns 20 and 21 at the end of the opening lap which caused a red flag, due to the damp conditions and the changing surfaces. Norman Nato and Nick Cassidy both rejoined the race and had the race cars repaired.^[19] The accident had been cleared after 45 minutes.

Edoardo Mortara weaved around in the braking zone in front of Jean-Éric Vergne, causing a collision between the two. The incident allowed Vergne and Vandoorne to pass Mortara before Mortara had a 5-second penalty added for the overly aggressive defending. Mortara would make more aggressive defensive manoeuvres trying to hold off Wehrlein, before his race came to an end with a right-rear puncture.

With five minutes to go, Alexander Sims put himself into the barriers in the Stadium and was out of the race. The safety car made its second appearance of the day to lead the field past the chequered flag. Evans claimed the victory to keep his title hopes alive. Rowland and di Grassi finished on the podium. Dennis claimed the bonus point for fastest lap in fourth. Vandoorne finished in fifth to maintain a 21-point lead over Evans in the Championship heading into the final race. Vergne, Wehrlein, Robin Frijns, António Félix da Costa and Cassidy secured the remaining points. Evans would become the only championship contender to Vandoorne after the race.

Result

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	30	1:29:55.478	3	25
2	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra	30	+0.820	1	18+31
3	11	Lucas di Grassi	Venturi-Mercedes	30	+1.393	2	15
4	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti-BMW	30	+1.902	5	12+12
5	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	30	+2.470	7	10
6	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	30	+3.957	9	8
7	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	30	+4.149	4	6
8	4	Robin Frijns	Envision-Audi	30	+4.508	16	4
9	13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	30	+4.970	12	2
10	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision-Audi	30	+5.325	19	1
11	22	Maximilian Günther	e.dams-Nissan	30	+5.610	17
12	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon-Penske	30	+6.121	8
13	10	Norman Nato	Jaguar	30	+57.545 [a]	11
Ret	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra	26	Accident	21
Ret	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Dragon-Penske	24	Retired	14
Ret	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes	20	Puncture	6
Ret	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO	0	Accident	13
Ret	3	Oliver Turvey	NIO	0	Accident	18
Ret	28	Oliver Askew	Andretti-BMW	0	Accident	22
Ret	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	0	Accident	15
Ret	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	0	Accident	10
Ret	36	André Lotterer	Porsche	0	Accident	20
Source:[20]

Notes:

• ^1  – Pole position.
• ^2  – Fastest lap.

Standings after the race

Stoffel Vandoorne had failed to secure the Championship in the first Seoul E-Prix. Mitch Evans had to win the final race with Vandoorne retiring to take the title. A sixth-place finish would be enough for Vandoorne to claim the title, regardless of where Evans would finish. Evans could also win the Championship with Vandoorne failing to score and him finishing in second with pole position.

Mercedes' still held a 31-point lead over ROKiT Venturi Racing, their closest challenger and the only other team that could take the title mathematically. Venturi would require a double podium to win the Team' Championship. DS Techeetah could theoretically tie with Mercedes on 301 points with a maximum score on the final day, but Mercedes would still take the title, as they would hold three victories to DS Techeetah's two victories in theory.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Stoffel Vandoorne 195 2 Mitch Evans 174 3 Edoardo Mortara 144 4 Jean-Éric Vergne 136 1 5 Lucas di Grassi 126

Teams' Championship standings Pos Team Points 1 Mercedes 301 2 ROKiT Venturi-Mercedes 270 3 DS Techeetah 254 4 Jaguar 225 5 Envision-Audi 177

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Race 2

Qualifying

Group draw
Group A	VAN	MOR	DIG	FRI	DEV	CAS	ROW	SIM	TUR	SET	NAT
Group B	EVA	JEV	DAC	DEN	WEH	LOT	BUE	ASK	GUE	TIC	FEN

Qualifying duels

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

B4

Dan Ticktum

A1

Edoardo Mortara

Edoardo Mortara

Stoffel Vandoorne

B3

Jean-Éric Vergne

A2

Stoffel Vandoorne

Edoardo Mortara

António Félix da Costa

A3

Robin Frijns

B2

António Félix da Costa

António Félix da Costa

Jake Dennis

A4

Lucas di Grassi

B1

Jake Dennis

Overall Classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	A	B	QF	SF	F	Grid
1	13	António Félix da Costa	Techeetah-DS	—	1:21:718	1:20:920	1:20:925	1:21:078	1
2	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes	1:21:770	—	1:21:229	1:20:913	1:21:342	2
3	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti-BMW	—	1:21:673	1:21:035	1:21:050	—	3
4	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1:21:811	—	1:21:260	1:21:069	—	4
5	4	Robin Frijns	Envision-Audi	1:21:834	—	1:21:194	—	—	5
6	11	Lucas di Grassi	Venturi-Mercedes	1:21:895	—	1:21:209	—	—	6
7	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO	—	1:21:801	1:21:611	—	—	7
8	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-DS	—	1:21:767	1:22:642	—	—	8
9	22	Maximilian Günther	e.dams-Nissan	—	1:21:825	—	—	—	9
10	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon-Penske	1:21:989	—	—	—	—	10
11	28	Oliver Askew	Andretti-BMW	—	1:21:877	—	—	—	11
12	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	1:22:148	—	—	—	—	12
13	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	—	1:22:094	—	—	—	13
14	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision-Audi	1:22:232	—	—	—	—	14
15	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	—	1:22:114	—	—	—	15
16	10	Norman Nato	Jaguar	1:22:286	—	—	—	—	16
17	36	André Lotterer	Porsche	—	1:22:254	—	—	—	17
18	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra	1:22:323	—	—	—	—	18
19	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	—	1:22:299	—	—	—	19
20	3	Oliver Turvey	NIO	1:22:363	—	—	—	—	20
21	99	Sacha Fenestraz	Dragon-Penske	—	1:23:432	—	—	—	21
22	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra	1:23:079	—	—	—	—	22
Source:[21]

Race

Result

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes	34	53:31.680	2	25
2	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	34	+3.756	4	18
3	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti-BMW	34	+6.649 [b]	3	15
4	4	Robin Frijns	Envision-Audi	34	+7.021	5	12
5	28	Oliver Askew	Andretti-BMW	34	+7.850	11	10
6	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	34	+9.471	8	8
7	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	34	+10.243	13	6
8	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision-Audi	34	+14.208	14	4+12
9	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	34	+16.629	19	2
10	13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	34	+22.226	1	1+31
11	11	Lucas di Grassi	Venturi-Mercedes	34	+24.546	6
12	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra	34	+26.513	22
13	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon-Penske	34	+27.813	10
14	10	Norman Nato	Jaguar	34	+31.526	16
15	3	Oliver Turvey	NIO	34	+31.565	20
16	99	Sacha Fenestraz	Dragon-Penske	34	+36.270	21
Ret	22	Maximilian Günther	e.dams-Nissan	16	Accident Damage	9
Ret	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	7	Accident Damage	12
Ret	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	6		15
Ret	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO	2	Collision damage	7
Ret	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra	0	Collision	18
Ret	36	André Lotterer	Porsche	0	Collision	17
Source:[22]

Notes:

• ^1  – Pole position.
• ^2  – Fastest lap.

Standings after the race

Stoffel Vandoorne and Mercedes took the double Formula E World Championships after the race, before Mercedes withdrew from the series.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Stoffel Vandoorne 213 2 Mitch Evans 180 3 Edoardo Mortara 169 4 Jean-Éric Vergne 144 5 Lucas di Grassi 126

Teams' Championship standings Pos Team Points 1 Mercedes 319 2 ROKiT Venturi-Mercedes 295 3 DS Techeetah 266 4 Jaguar 231 5 Envision-Audi 194

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Milestones

• The only Seoul ePrix staged.
• Sixth victory for Mitch Evans.
• The eighth win for Jaguar Racing as an entrant and Jaguar as a powertrain supplier.
• Lucas di Grassi became the first driver in FE history to pass 1,000 career points.
• Fifth fastest lap recorded by Andretti as an entrant.
• Sixth and final victory for Edoardo Mortara as of July 2024.
• 100th Formula E ePrix.

Notes

1. Nato served a five second time penalty for falling more than ten car lengths behind the car ahead during a Safety Car period. The penalty made no difference as he finished the race last.
2. Dennis was given a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Félix da Costa.