Nico Müller was in an understandably defiant mood following Saturday’s Monaco E-Prix, with the Swiss driver having come incredibly close to claiming points at a second consecutive race.
Since Berlin, Müller has turned a significant corner, with the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team driver having carried his momentum into the Circuit de Monaco. Whilst qualifying wasn’t great, the Swiss driver worked his way through the field from seventeenth, into the points places. He was looking set to finish either ninth or tenth as he started the penultimate lap, where his race took a heartbreaking turn.
Sam Bird dived up the inside of Müller as they entered the first corner, with the ABT CUPRA driver having been forced into the barrier and out of the race as a result. Bird was awarded a five-second time penalty for the incident; however, it didn’t change the fact that Müller was so close to another points finish.
He was understandably devastated to have been taken out given how big a points finish in Monaco would’ve been to the team; however, he remained full of spirit and determined to not let the late retirement “get us down”.
“We definitely deserved points today and were also very close, but unfortunately a competitor obviously had other plans. But we’re not letting that get us down. It was a great race day with lots of fans and it was fun to drive the new GEN3 car here in Monaco.”
“We didn’t find the perfect set-up” – Robin Frijns
Whilst Müller came agonisingly close to a points finish, Robin Frijns never looked like a top ten contender, with the Dutchman having “struggled a bit with blunt weapons”.
After qualifying eighteenth, Frijns failed to make much ground during the race, with the experienced driver having admitted to having not found “the perfect set-up all day”. He ultimately crossed the line in thirteenth.
“We didn’t find the perfect set-up all day and therefore struggled a bit with blunt weapons,” Frijns said after the race. “We now have a lot of work ahead of us to analyze all the data and set ourselves up for Jakarta. The team showed today what’s possible – that’s exactly what we’ll be building on.”
Credit: ABT CUPRA Formula E Team