Mercedes driver Nyck de Vries will carry a five-place grid penalty into the Valencia E-Prix following his last-lap clash with Formula E championship leader Sam Bird in ꦜRome.

The incident occurred on the last-lap dash to the finish when racing ret🎉urned to green aꦚfter Audi’s Rene Rast crashed out late on and brought out the Safety Car.

Championship frontrunner de Vries lost control of his Mercedes and slammed int♒o the back of Bird’s Jaguar on the approach to Turn 7 during a scrap over the final points-paying position.

The impact sent Bird into Oliver Rowland who was able to continue, wไhile both de Vries and Bird were eliminated on the spot.

The non-score acted as a blow for both drivers, with Bird seeing his championship lead reduced to just four points o🦂ver teammate Mitch Evans heading into𝓡 the next round at Valencia.

De Vries headed the standings going into the double-header but two DNFs have seen him slip down to fifth in the cღhampi🦋onship table, 11 points behind Bird.

Compounding a disappointing weekend for de Vries, the Dutchman will take a five-place grid penalty for th🐼e first race at the Valencia E-Prix. He also received two penalty points on his race licence.

De Vries’ Mercedes te💎ammate Stoffel Vandoorne claimed a redemptive victory in the second race at the Rome E-Prix to thrust himself into title contention, leapfrogging de Vries ܫin the standings.