ERN’s moments of the race – Mexico City

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After a fantastic race from Lucas Di Grassi, a shock disqualification gifted Jerome D’Ambrosio a well deserved win. Deputy editor in chief Topher Smith and senior editor Bethonie Waring discuss the moments of the race.

Driver of the day

TS: It’s always easy enough to go for the winner as Driver of the Day, but personally I’m going to give this one to Jerome d’Ambrosio. Before the weekend started, people were talking about the likes of e.dams and Abt Schaeffler being in contention, which they were, but for d’Ambrosio to effectively come from nowhere, take pole and hold off the advances of Buemi deserves my vote.

BW: D’Ambrosio did a fantastic job in qualifying and nobody really expected him to be ahead of e.dams and Abt. He did a brilliant job keeping Buemi behind him and – who knows – if Di Grassi hadn’t had FanBoost, he might have even been able to keep the Brazilian behind him too. Dragon Racing have really been the surprise of the season, for me, and d’Ambrosio definitely deserves driver of the race.

Best start of the race

TS: Best start of the race: This one isn’t so clear-cut for me, as many of the drivers held station through the first chicane. Given that many people were expecting chaos at the start of the race, I’m thinking I might have to give this accolade to the entire grid for keeping it so clean!

BW: The way the practice starts had gone, it seems a miracle there was no contact at the beginning of the race! Nothing stands out for me, though. Congratulations to everyone.

Overtaking move of the race

TS: A decisive move from Lucas di Grassi to take a lead he would never relinquish gets my vote on this one. Opportunistic driving from the Brazilian.

BW: I would have to say Di Grassi’s move on Nico Prost just ahead of the pit stops. It was fantastic. That is my favourite moment of the race. Just so unexpected. We’ve been talking about how dominant e.dams is compared to the Abt car all season and then Di Grassi goes and makes a move like that. Fantastic.

Surprise of the race

TS: To be honest it was quite surprising how d’Ambrosio was able to keep Buemi at bay for so long, especially considering the fightback Buemi put on in Buenos Aires!

BW: Besides Di Grassi’s disqualification… Virgin. Virgin had a tough race this weekend and that just was not expected. The track didn’t suit their car at all, but just how much was shocking. Sam Bird won last time out and he couldn’t even make it into the top ten of qualifying. I wasn’t expecting that.

Unlucky driver of the race

TS: Definitely Antonio Felix da Costa! Not only did the Portuguese driver have a ten place grid drop, he was also involved in an incident which left his front wing hanging by a thread and given a penalty! A day to forget for the Aguri driver!

BW: Da Costa for sure. It was just one thing after another for him. Grid penalty, then wobbly front wing, ten second penalty, and a drive through. It seemed like we couldn’t go five laps without the Aguri driver getting a penalty. It just was not his day.

Best battery management

TS: Once again the NEXTEV boys easily had the best battery management, it’s just a shame the car isn’t fast enough for them to utilise it in the race!

BW: Can’t say anything other than NEXTEV. If there’s one thing Piquet and Turvey can do, it’s manage their batteries.

Best rookie performance

TS: Definitely Robin Frijns for me. Almost anonymously the Dutch driver snuck through the field to claim sixth place and my best rookie.

BW: Frijns. Besides the pack at the front, there wasn’t much to be heard from the rest of the grid, but Frijns improved the most from the start to the end of the race and outshone his team mate once again.

e-racing.net

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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