Driver of the NIO333 Racing team, like the previous two stages, showed good pace of qualifying
Last weekend the streets of the Principality of Monaco hosted the activities of the ninth stage of the Formula E World Championship. Unlike the mostly monotonous races, that the F1 have presented there in recent years the race of the electrics showed that it fits increasingly to the track of Monte Carlo and offered fans a race with no less than 116 overtakes.
In his first season in NIO333 Racing and in full development of the new generation 3 car of the category, the Brazilian Sérgio Sette Câmara showed that his team is very committed to improving the performance of cars and again, managed to be a protagonist in the qualifying, as well as in free practice.
Competing on that track since 2017, when he debuted for F2, Sette is one of the great connoisseurs of the track and, therefore, managed to complete fast laps since the first free practice session. In the first practice he finished the session with the seventh time by scoring his best lap time of 1m30s893. In the second practice, again, Sergio did a great job and with the mark of 1m29s568 was placed fourth leaving him, this way, as one of the direct postulants for the definition of pole-position that would happen hours later.
Just as it happened in the stages of São Paulo and Berlin the young man from Belo Horizonte managed in the first part of the time to qualify among the four fastest of his group and, with that, went to the phase of duels. In the first clash, against the German Max Gunther, Sette won and, naturally, would follow for the next clash, already valid for the semi-final. However, due to a lack of communication with the team, the driver ended up breaking a rule in the alignment procedure for the duel and, with that, was penalized had to position the car #3 for the start in the eighth position of the grid.
In the race, starting from the fourth row, Sergio had in mind to do a recovery race and save some points for the Championship classification. However, in race conditions, the NIO team car did not show the same performance and, above all, had a much higher energy expenditure than the other teams. Thus, in order to finish the race, Sette had to save a lot of energy during all the laps and, with that, had no way to hold on to the first pack concluding the race in 14th.
“We started the weekend very well, with a car that proved fast in free practice and also in qualifying. If it were not the mistake in the dueling procedure, I had already guaranteed the start at least in the second row, and could even fight for pole. This was very good since, again, we showed that the team managed to evolve the car in pace of taking time for both me and my teammate. On the other hand, in the race, we had a pace much lower than expected and my car consumed a lot of energy. This has persisted for some races and prevents me from pursuing the positions of the first pack. I was very clear with the staff and asked them to inform me exactly what has to be done. If it’s something from the car, some adaptation to my driving style or whatever. We have to have a full focus on this improvement already for the race in Jakarta, at the beginning of next month, to be able to evolve in the leaderboard”, concluded the 24-year-old.
Pictures: NIO333 Racing – Disclosure
Press office of Sérgio Sette Câmara
Responsible journalist: Flávio Quick