How de Vries claimed Formula E title glory as Mercedes exit bombshell looms

By:

Matt Kew

Aug 16, 2021, 2:10 PM

As Formula E lined up to complete its seventh season at Berlin's Tempelhof Airport, all eyes were on who would be its first official FIA world champion. Despite Nyck de Vries' title lead heading into the weekend looking all but secure, the Dutchman held on - and enjoyed a good dollop of fortune - to secure a championship double for Mercedes

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An FIA world championship. A drivers’ and teams’ title double for Mercedes. It’s a phenomenon that has become almost commonplace in motorsport since 2014. But none of the manufacturer’s commanding Formula 1 achievements have arrived in quite the same dramatic fashion as that of Nyck de Vries sealing the 2021 Formula E crown last weekend.

This was a driver whose pre-event six-point cushion atop the standings looked perilously slender when he qualified only 19th for the first race of the Berlin E-Prix double-header season finale. But even de Vries, who has beaten Max Verstappen to become the first-ever Dutch FIA world champion, would “not deny that the picture could have been worse” when he emerged at Tempelhof Airport still holding a three-point advantage after a round won by Lucas di Grassi.

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Matt Kew

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Matt Kew is Autosport's F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 after stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham's banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing is undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.