Formula E points le🌸ader Jean-Eric Vergne says he was driving “completely blind” in the final sꦚtint of the Mexico E-Prix after losing all telemetry due to a systems glitch. 

Vergne made up ground early on in Mexico City and looked on cour🌞se for a podium finish, until he was passed by both Sebastien Buemi and Nelson Piquet Jr. in the closing stages of Saturday’s race and ultimately had to settle with fifth. 

But the Frenchman 🐈revealed after the race he encountered a bizarre systems glitch on hiꦦs Techeetah car which resulted in a loss of radio communications and left him with no information on his steering wheel display. 

Vergne said he was left with no option but to concede his podium position so he cou💝ld copy his rivals' strategies in order to get to the end of the race and secure important points.

“The first stint was great and I was fighting to climb up the positions, se had a really god pit-stop and I gained a position,༒" Vergne explained. 

“However, I quickly discovered that I had lost all radio, beeps an💟d steering wheel i♛nformation, so I drove my second stint completely blind. 

“In the end, I had to let Sebastien Buemi pass me so🔴 that I could copy his strategy to finish the race. Scoring points is the most important thin🎃g at this stage so when Nelson Piquet came up behind me, I didn’t want to fight him blind, so I let him pass too.”

Teammate Andre Lotterer ended a frustrating race outside of the points in 13th, after being given a drive-tౠhrough penalty for an unsafe pit release that saw him knock over one of the Techeetah mechanics while exiting the garage. 

The German, who also battled stability issues during the opening stint, confirmed his mechanic was “OK” following the inci𒅌dent.

“We had some stability issues in my first car that we need to investigate. The second car was fine and I was able to push on and climb up to seventh position. Unfortunately, we had an unsafe🏅 release from the pit-stop as one of my mechanics got brushed by the car as I was leaving.&n𝓡bsp;

“He’s🎶 been checked by the medical team and he’s ok, which is the most important thing. It’s a shame with the penalty but I understand why it was issued.”