Energy roulette: Bird handled the pressure best

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After a once again chaotic Buenos Aires ePrix, Sam Bird celebrated his third Formula E victory ahead of Sebastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi. Last year’s winner Antonio Felix da Costa was forced to retire after passing Nicolas Prost for P2.

After an eventful qualifying session, DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird had a clear view heading into the race as the Briton secured his maiden Formula E pole-position. Nicolas Prost out qualified his team-mate and championship leader Sebastien Buemi who had to take on the race from last position following an error in qualifying and was therefore able to secure P2. Last year’s winner Antonio Felix da Costa put his Team Aguri car into third on the grid, followed by Stephane Sarrazin and Formula E rookie Mike Conway. Lucas di Grassi was not able to benefit from Buemi’s unlucky qualifying as much as expected, as the Brazilian only positioned his Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport car on P7.

As the red lights went out, Bird and Prost had a short battle for the lead but the pole-sitter managed to keep his position going into the first corner. Behind the leading duo the majority of the field kept their starting position regardless of the wheel-to-wheel action of the inaugural minutes of the ePrix. First to charge through the madness was NEXTEV TCR driver Oliver Turvey who made his way up to P9 alongside his team-mate and reigning champion Nelson Piquet Jr before the Brazilian dropped down the order.

Further down the field, Buemi was able to use his car’s advantages as he worked his way up to the top-ten. Following an incredible overtaking manoeuvre against Turvey on lap nine, the Swiss Renault e.dams driver secured P9 already before taking on Dragon Racing ace Loic Duval whom he passed only a few laps later. Duval’s team-mate Jerome d’Ambrosio suffered from massive problems with his rear wheels forcing him to drop down the order and then pulling into the pits for an unscheduled tyre change.

Further up the order, Bird led the race comfortably ahead of Prost and da Costa, while both Venturi cars had to give way to di Grassi who was slowly making his way to the podium positions. Sarrazin then had to defend his fifth position against Robin Frijns (Andretti Formula E) but could catch up with the top-four again after the Dutch had to go into defensive-mood as he had to take on Conway for the battle for 6th. The tight fight between Frijns and Conway was then transformed into an entertaining three-way battle as Buemi followed the duo’s tail. The Swiss then first overtook rookie Conway before bringing Frijns into a position in which he was able to pass the Andretti driver as well.

While going into the pits, Prost ran into massive energy management problems as he had barely enough energy left to keep his car going. Following these problems, the Frenchman had to lower his speed drastically, holding up di Grassi right behind him as a consequence. Pulling a typical “Nelson”, Piquet Jr stayed out one lap more than his opponents, rejoining the race in P14 after his stop. He could then profit from Conway who lost the back of his car and unfortunately dropped down to P15. The Briton was not the only driver to lose positions, as Prost ran into problems again, losing control of his car and going wide consequently, putting his car into P8.

Bird was still in the lead after the stops, closely followed by di Grassi while Sarrazin had to fight off Buemi. The two were involved in a very close battle when race control released the Safety Car to safely remove da Costa’s car. Due to miscommunication, Sarrazin held up Buemi massively as the Frenchman raced according to full-course-yellow regulations. The issue was then resolved but the duo had built up quite a gap to Bird and di Grassi in the lead. Bird’s restart put him into a strong position then, as he pulled away from di Grassi quite early and the pole-sitter was therefore able to keep di Grassi behind him. Meanwhile Buemi overtook Sarrazin and closed the gap to di Grassi. On lap 28, he was then able to pass his championship rival di Grassi who seemed slightly startled by issues when using FanBoost therefore leaving a gap for the Frenchman who used his chance and secured P2. The fight between Bird and Buemi was therewith on, as they could easily pull away from di Grassi when their duel heated up.

Their intense fight lasted till the very last moments of the race as Buemi ran into slight energy management problems just like di Grassi, giving Sam Bird a comparably comfortable gap to secure his third Formula E victory. Di Grassi crossed the line four seconds later with 0% of energy remainng, while Sarrazin secured P4, followed by Prost, Duval, Heidfeld, Frijns, Turvey and Senna.

Once again, the Buenos Aires ePrix was a real nail-biter from the first till the last minute and proved just how exciting electric cars really are. His pole-position and victory allowed Bird the jump from P4 to P3 in the standings, gaining solid points on the leading duo Buemi and di Grassi. The now threeway fight for the championship will resume in Mexico City, Mexico on March 12.

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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