Evans loses Monaco E-Prix front-row start

Evans had been due to start second after finishing third in qualifying thanks to Oliver Rowland’s three-place grid penalty for causing a crash during the last race in Paris, costing the Nissan e.dams driver the top spot on the grid.

But even before Super Pole had been completed, it was announced that the Evans was under investigation for a possible procedural infraction during that phase of qualifying.

After a post-qualifying investigation, Evans was found to have “switched to maximum power prior to the last sector,” according to an FIA bulletin, which is a breach of article 33.3a of FE’s 2018/18 sporting regulations.

“The stewards received data from the technical delegate that the driver of car 20 [Evans] used up to 250kW for approximately 0.4 seconds prior to the beginning of the last sector,” the FIA document continued. “The stewards heard from the driver who explained that this was his mistake.

“The stewards understand that this regulation is in place for reasons of battery longevity on this circuit. This early usage of maximum power does not lead to a performance advantage for the car on its fastest lap. 

“Accordingly, the stewards feel that a sporting penalty is inappropriate in these circumstances.”

But this was the third time in 2018/19 that Evans has been given a reprimand, which triggered an automatic 10-place grid drop.

Evans will therefore start 12th, with Mahindra's Pascal Wehrlein promoted to second alongside polesitter Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah). Nissan driver Rowland will now start third.

Revised starting grid:

Cla	#	Driver	Team
1	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah
2	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Mahindra Racing
3	22	Oliver Rowland	Nissan e.dams
4	19	Felipe Massa	Venturi
5	23	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.dams
6	27	Alexander Sims	Andretti Autosport
7	3	Alex Lynn	Jaguar Racing
8	28	Antonio Felix da Costa	Andretti Autosport
9	7	Jose Maria Lopez	Dragon Racing
10	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	HWA AG
11	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin Racing
12	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing
13	11	Lucas di Grassi	Team Abt
14	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing
15	16	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E Team
16	66	Daniel Abt	Team Abt
17	17	Gary Paffett	HWA AG
18	64	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Mahindra Racing
19	8	Tom Dillmann	NIO Formula E Team
20	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi
21	36	Andre Lotterer	Techeetah
22	6	Maximilian Gunther	Dragon Racing
View full results