Vandoorne had built up a strong lead from pole position, keeping reigning champion de Vries at bay and ensuring an ample gap between the two in the opening salvo of laps.
Following a safety car brought out for Oliver Rowland’s stranded Mahindra after a skirmish with Robin Frijns, Vandoorne caught the rest of the field napping on the restart and continued to forge a lead over de Vries at the front.
But Vandoorne hit trouble taking attack mode for the second time, proving unsuccessful in activating the 30kW power boost which handed the lead to de Vries.
The Belgian accepted the blame for the mistake and explained that the third loop in the attack mode zone proved problematic, costing him time “for nothing” and leaving him to settle for second.
“I missed the third attack loop on on my second activation, which meant I just lost one-and-a-half, two seconds for nothing, basically,” he said.
“And there’s only myself to blame for that.
“Everything before that [in] the race was was going…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Autosport.com – All – Stories…