Jean-Eric Vergne complains about standard suspension component: "A general problem"
Timo Pape

Shiv Gohil / Spacesuit Media
Jean-Eric Vergne was one of the strongest drivers at the Berlin E-Prix a week ago. On Sunday, the two-time Formula E champion secured his second podium of the season from 18th on the grid and climbed to sixth place in the overall standings. And a trophy would probably have been possible on the rainy Saturday too. Had it not been for a surprising incident with a standard component...
After the accident between Sergio Sette Camara and David Beckmann, the safety car was sent onto the track. This was actually a breather for most of the other drivers. But before the green flag was waved again, Vergne - who was running in a promising third position at the time! - dropped back with a technical problem.
"Something broke on the front suspension - a screw or something", he recalls in an interview with e-Formula.news. "My wheel then moved back and forth a lot. I didn't touch anyone and it even happened during the safety car phase. If it had been at race pace, I would certainly have ended up in the wall."
3 incidents in 3 weeks
As strange as the incident sounds: There were already two very similar cases at the Jakarta E-Prix in June. In the first free practice session, Robin Frijns (Envision) hit a bump on the approach to turn 7, damaging the right front suspension. He then slid into the wall, skidded along it and finally crashed head-on into the TecPro barrier.
Only one day later, in the second free practice session, Nick Cassidy suffered a similar fate. The Jaguar driver also had to come into the pits with a broken front right suspension without being hit. "That is really strange", said Jaguar team principal James Barclay at the time, also referring to the incident on the Envision customer Jaguar the previous day. "This is actually a standard component. We need to look at that."
"There is nothing we can do about it"
The problem occurred again in Berlin, this time affecting Vergne's DS Penske. "This seems to be a general problem lately", the Frenchman notes. "Jaguar had it in the last race as well, and I think Robin. It is one of the standard parts, so there is nothing we can do about it. That's a shame - we were in a good position to finish on the podium."
FIA and Formula E should take a closer look at the standard suspension of the Gen3 Evo car during the season break at the latest and improve its stability if necessary. Otherwise, there is a risk of another accident like the one Frijns suffered in Jakarta. Vergne was lucky in his actually unlucky incident in Berlin.
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