Buemi tops busy FP1 in Paris

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The two championship leaders came to the fore in the first free practice session around the streets of Paris, as Renault e.Dams’ Sebastien Buemi set the quickest time, just 0.140 seconds ahead of championship leader Lucas di Grassi (ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport). However as Buemi’s lap was the only 200kW full power lap set during the session, di Grassi will be happy with his position.

With the lack of a shakedown at the track yesterday, all the drivers sampled the track for the first time today, with the opening minutes of the session proving to be extremely busy as all 18 competitors started to learn the circuit around the streets of the French capital. Some drivers locked up and went off track early on, with Simona de Silvestro (Amlin Andretti) causing a brief yellow flag period but then rejoining soon afterwards.

Team Aguri struggled to get both their cars on track, with Antonio Felix da Costa and rookie Ma Qing Hua combining for a total of just 7 laps in the early stages while their competitors were able to get far more running.

Throughout the session, the places at the top of the timesheets were traded between Stephane Sarrazin (Venturi), looking rapid once again at his home race, Buemi, di Grassi, Amlin Andretti’s Robin Frijns and the DS Virgin duo of Sam Bird and Jean-Eric Vergne. The session was red flagged with 21 minutes left when Jerome d’Ambrosio’s Dragon Racing machine broke down, and after a lengthy delay while it was recovered by the marshals, the green flag waved again with only 14 minutes remaining.

The majority of the cars charged straight back out onto the track at this point, leading to some tight moments as some drivers got very close to each other. However everyone was well-behaved and there were few incidents. Nicolas Prost (Renault e.Dams) went off track and was able to rejoin, while a few laps later Daniel Abt (ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) went off track himself, and when rejoining very nearly hit Prost who was passing by. Luckily no contact was made and both drivers could continue.

With just a few minutes left in the session, Sebastien Buemi attempted a 200kW qualifying simulation lap, but found some traffic so was not able to show his full pace. A time of 1:02.841 put him quickest in the session, but this was only 0.140 seconds ahead of championship rival di Grassi, who set his time without the full 200kW being used. The session ended with Buemi and di Grassi at the front, closely followed by Sarrazin, Bird and Venturi’s Mike Conway. Rounding out the top 10 were Loic Duval (Dragon Racing), Abt, Mahindra duo Bruno Senna and Nick Heidfeld, and reigning champion Nelson Piquet Jr, hoping to make a step forward with the NEXTEV TCR squad this weekend, in P10.

You can find full timings here.

Free Practice 2 starts at 10:30 local time.

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Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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