Controlled chaos: Buemi wins ahead of di Grassi

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Sebastien Buemi (Renault e.dams) secured his fifth Formula E victory in Punta del Este with Lucas di Grassi (ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) and Dragon Racing’s Jerome d’Ambrosio completing the podium. Sam Bird’s unfortunate premature end to the race nearly decided the victory as the resulting full course yellow caused confusion.

Following an eventful qualifying session, Dragon Racing’s Jerome d’Ambrosio could start the final race of Formula E in 2015 from the pole-position just ahead of his team mate Loic Duval. The pole-position had been moved to the right ahead of the first practice session following the better track conditions on the right. That was clearly visible during the start as d’Ambrosio could easily defend his inaugural pole-position while Duval lost his second place to Sam Bird (DS Virgin Racing). Just behind the leading trio, Lucas di Grassi (ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) was defeated by Sebastien Buemi (Renault e.dams) as the latter could benefit from the clean side of the grid. Just like Bird, di Grassi’s team mate Daniel Abt made up two places during the start, coming out in fifth after the first corner.

The first driver to report problems was Mahindra Racing’s Bruno Senna who was slowed down by a flat rear right tyre. Thus the popular Brazilian had to make an unscheduled trip to the pits to change his tyre hence recording the first ever tyre change in Formula E. Only mere minutes after Senna’s hitch, Abt went back down to P8 after first passing his team mate for P5 but then being overtaken by di Grassi, Nicolas Prost (Renault e.dams) and Antonio Felix da Costa (Team Aguri).

Up in front, Buemi was charging up through the order, first demoting Duval to P4 and then taking Bird for P2. The Swiss runner-up in last year’s championship lined himself up right behind race leader d’Ambrosio, preparing to challenge the Dragon Racing driver for the top position. Just a few moments later Buemi raced past d’Ambrosio and therefore taking over the control of the race. A few places behind the leading duo, championship leader di Grassi brought himself back into the race for victory, overtaking Bird for P4.

Meanwhile the three FanBoost winners have been announced with the two DS Virgin Racing drivers Jean-Eric Vergne und Sam Bird receiving the chance to use the extra boost as well as Stephane Sarrazin (Venturi). At the same time, Team Aguri’s rookie Nathanael Berthon spun and hit the wall in turn 19 just like Senna three laps later as the Brazilian was still suffering from technical difficulties. On lap 17, Abt, Sarrazin and NEXTEV TCR’s Oliver Turvey opened the pit stop-window with the top seven following one lap later.

Buemi left the pits ahead of his chasers with di Grassi following him ahead of d’Ambrosio, Bird and Duval. The ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport driver whose pit stop was precisely the minimum of 59 seconds could benefit from both Dragon Racing drivers losing time within the pits. During his outlap, Bird was visibly slowed down before informing the team of a loss of power. The Brit was therefore told to restart his car which he wasn’t able to thus parking his car just on the end of the start-finish-straight and ending his race early. Bird’s stranded car then caused a full course yellow which nearly caused Buemi to lose his lead as miscommunication concerning the start of the full course yellow meant losing nearly three seconds to di Grassi in P2.

On lap 21 drivers were able to continue the race at full speed with the close battle between the two Dragon Racing drivers entertaining the fans in the top-5 – with the better end for d’Ambrosio – as the duel for the lead was quickly silenced as Buemi could pull away again from di Grassi. Further down the field, Vergne was able to move up the order, benefiting from Turvey who had to complete a drive-through penalty due to his pit-stop being less than the minimum of 59 seconds.

On the last lap the Frenchman took on reigning champion Nelson Piquet Jr who had good points in sight after a less successful qualifying session. After passing Piquet Jr, Vergne went side-by-side with the Brazilian who squeezed himself past the DS Virgin man again. The contact obviously caused some damage to Piquet Jr’s car, as he lost control going into the next corner, therefore hitting the wall hard sideways – putting him out of the points and ending his race. Vergne then ended his race in P7 as he could overtake Daniel Abt who had to carefully look after his battery. The Amlin Andretti duo Robin Frijns and Simona de Silvestro were able to secure P10 and P11 thus collecting one point. The Punta del Este ePrix marks de Silvestro’s best result in Formula E, posing the question when the only female driver on the grid will score her first championship points.

The current championship standings show that the fight between Renault e.dams and ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport is on. The two teams are only two points apart in the constructors’ championship while Buemi is one point ahead of di Grassi in the fight for this year’s drivers’ championship crown. 34 points behind current championship leader Buemi with 28 points is Dragon Racing’s Jerome d’Ambrosio.

Formula E returns on February 6, 2016 in Buenos Aires, marking the fourth round of this year’s championship.

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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