ERN’s Moments of the Race – Punta del Este

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After a Punta del Este ePrix in which Sebastien Buemi claimed victory and retook the lead in the drivers’ championship, e-racing.net’s managing editor Renate Jungert and senior editor Laurence Thorn have come together to discuss their top moments from the race.

Driver of the day

LT: There were a few strong performances, with Lucas di Grassi and both Dragon Racing drivers putting in strong drives whilst Jean-Eric Vergne came up through the field and into the points well. But after rising from P5 on the grid to lead during the first stint, and maintaining that first position in the second stint despite losing time under the Full Course Yellow and having di Grassi putting him under pressure, I have to award this to our first two-time race winner of the year, Sebastien Buemi. A deserved victory which saw him retake the championship lead.

RJ: Yes, I fully agree with that. Buemi has turned his bad qualifying result around and ended the race weekend with another victory, and this time it can’t be chalked up to having the best car on the grid: with the overtaking maneuvers during the opening stint he proved excellent race craft.

Best start of the race

LT: This has to be awarded to Buemi for me too, as he instantly leapfrogged di Grassi, his title rival, to give him one less opponent to pass during the race. He was then able to focus on passing Sam Bird and both Dragon Racing drivers in the opening stint, safe in the knowledge that the championship leader had already been left behind. A key moment in Buemi’s victory.

RJ: For me, the best race start was that of Jerome d’Ambrosio. Even though he would be passed eventually by Buemi, at the start he did everything right and converted the pole position to a good lead although Buemi was eventually able to catch up and overtake the Belgian.

Overtaking move of the race

LT: I don’t want to sound like a broken record but this again has to go to Buemi – his move on lap 8 to pass Jerome d’Ambrosio for the lead of the race, a brave pass into the turns 16-18 complex, was highly impressive and showed that he is not just relying on having the quickest car on the grid. He can also race hard – when he channels his aggression, and doesn’t make silly mistakes, he is a very fine racer indeed.

RJ: I’ll go for the spectacular move… Jean-Eric Vergne on Nelson Piquet, as mentioned below. This is hard, tough racing at the edge that takes the breath away, this is what we want to see on a race track: fighting to the very limit. No more words needed.

Surprise of the race

LT: This one goes to the reigning champion Nelson Piquet Jr. Running in a solid P8 on the final lap, which would have seen him take his second points finish of the season after a difficult start to the second campaign, he touched wheels with Jean-Eric Vergne in a close battle on track and, a few corners later, lost control of his NEXTEV machine and hit the wall hard. The sheer force of the impact was shocking, and saw Piquet eliminated from the race right at the end, but fortunately the Brazilian was not injured.

RJ: My vote goes to Piquet’s crash as well. It’s a shame for the Brazilian to have his race end in this way. Even though he had lost out to Jean-Eric Vergne a few corners earlier, he took the place back and, after a rocky start to the season, four points would have been a welcome Christmas present for the Formula E champion.

Unlucky driver of the race

LT: Again Piquet gets this one. The NEXTEV team have struggled greatly with their revolutionary new power train, with poor qualifying performances in the first two rounds and only one points finish each for Piquet and Oliver Turvey in those races. Punta del Este brought a turnaround in fortunes, with qualifying going much better and both cars running in the points – until Turvey took a drive-through penalty, and Piquet had that last lap accident. For Piquet, to drive almost 33 whole laps and then lost four hard-earned points right at the end must have been hard to take, with the reigning champion enjoying little in the way of good luck this time around.

RJ: Agreed with Laurence. I would nominate the entire NEXTEV team for the reasons mentioned above, but since this category is called “Unlucky driver” I’ll have to settle for Piquet again. It had seemed as though the tide had turned for him, and to then crash out in the very last lap was a harsh plot twist.

Best battery management

LT: Unlike the first two rounds of the season, we did not see too many cases of extreme battery management in this race, with most drivers putting in roughly similar numbers. Rookies Robin Frijns and Oliver Rowland both impressed with their consumption figures, but weren’t high enough up the order to really challenge despite those numbers. One driver who did manage to effectively use his battery was Jean-Eric Vergne – the Frenchman managed to fight his way up from the back of the grid into P7 by the end without draining his battery, and he was thus able to aggressively challenge Nelson Piquet Jr for that 8th position on the final lap, and ultimately ended up taking that position after Piquet’s accident, as well as passing Daniel Abt for seventh.

RJ: Now I’m the one sounding like a broken record but have to say that I agree with Laurence again. This race was indeed not defined by battery management and most drivers were on similar strategies so that no one in particular stands out, except maybe Jean-Eric Vergne whose battery management helped him fight Piquet Jr. for eighth place.

Best rookie performance

LT: None of the four rookies in the field put in such a stunning performances as Robin Frijns did last time around in Putrajaya. Mahindra’s Oliver Rowland managed his battery well but struggled towards the back of the field, while Nathanael Berthon had a very difficult day and Jacques Villeneuve did not even start. So while Frijns did not put in such a spectacular race as he did in Malaysia, he was still the best rookie in Punta del Este – recovering from a poor qualifying lap to finish P10 and grab a point for the Amlin Andretti team.

RJ: And another agreement with Laurence… since I am not allowed to hand out the “Best Rookie Performance” award in a sarcastic manner, my vote goes to Robin Frijns with his recovery to tenth place – it was a comparatively unspectacular performance, however, with the two other rookies having a problem-ridden weekend he is still the best out of the four.

e-racing.net

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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