Frijns: Final safety car ended Rome E-Prix chances of beating Vergne

The Dutchman enjoyed a sterling weekend in which he collected two podium finishes, which lifted him to second in the drivers' championship - two points behind Vergne - and continued his ever-presence in the new qualifying duels format.

Frijns led both races in Rome for a spell, battling with polesitter Stoffel Vandoorne in the early stages of the first before the two were cleared by double winner Mitch Evans, and faced up against Andre Lotterer and Vergne in the second before Evans cleared them all once more.

He was pleased to come away from Rome with a "lot of points in the bag", but reckoned he could have been on for a repeat second place in Race 2 had the final safety car ahead of a one-lap showdown to the finish not intervened.

"Yeah, I finished third. I could have finished second if it wasn't for the last safety car," Frijns asserted.

"I had 1% more [energy] than JEV and was quite close and ready to overtake him. But at the end, you know, I'm happy to be in a podium again."

"We had a definitely good weekend, double podium, the car has been working pretty well.

"We just missed out on the Jaguar's pace really, but yeah I'm quite happy how the two races went, and just stayed out of trouble."

Race winner Mitch Evans, Jaguar Racing on the podium with Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Techeetah, 2nd position, Robin Frijns, Envision Racing, 3rd position

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Frijns admitted that it was "odd" that there were relatively few signs of a formbook in the early rounds of the championship, and that each circuit has played in favour of a different team each time.

The Envision driver explained that consistency would be important in deciding his fortunes, and conceded that he would have to "settle" if the car