Di Grassi tops the time sheets in FP1

The Brazilian Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler) was quickest in the first session of the day at the ‘Hermanos Rodríguez’ circuit in Mexico City, ahead of ABB FIA Formula E Championship’s fifth round. He was followed by Edoardo Mortara of Venturi and Jean-Eric Vergne of Techeetah.

Jerome D’Ambrosio (Dragon Racing) was the first to take advantage with 1:06.443 after the field completed their first laps, but shortly after he was beaten by Mortara. Later, Felix Rosenqvist (Mahindra) went quicker with 1:03.873, visibly raising the benchmark, followed by di Grassi and d’Ambrosio. The Brazilian jumped to the top with 1:03.805 right after five minutes were completed in the first 45-minute session.

The first critmoment came up reaching 10 minutes, where Alex Lynn (DS Virgin Racing) ran a bit wide exiting Turn 3, while Oliver Turvey (NIO) moved to the top with 1:03.052. A few minutes later Jerome D’Ambrosio was the first to break into 1:02 range, the Belgian driver set 1:02.840 in car number 7.
Maro Engel improved for Venturi, setting 1:02.639, as the track conditions and grip were visible getting better. But Di Grassi improved pole to 1:02.294 toward the first half of the session.

At that point, Audi was leading as Daniel Abt was following teammate di Grassi, ahead of Engel, José María López (Dragon Racing) and Vergne on the top five. Just a few moments later, Abt (Audi Sport) moved his car to the top after he set 1:02.202 on car number 66. Then, Buemi jumped to third, followed by Lynn and Engel. DS Virgin had their moment of joy when Lynn beat Abt’s time and moved up to first place with 1:02.009, approaching 1:01.

When entering the last third of the session, López moved up to second, just 0.162 behind Lynn, on his 200 kW lap. Di Grassi did the same and smashed the Briton’s time, climbing up to first place with 1:01.158.
Even though di Grassi seemed unbeatable, Vergne, López and Rosenqvist managed to stay within a second to the Brazilian. The Frenchman got second place by 0.472 second, until Mortara slipped between Di Grassi and Vergne. Mitch Evans managed to move up to fourth towards the end of the session.

In the end, nobody was able to beat the Brazilian’s time and he finished the session on top, followed by Mortara and Vergne. Evans was fourth quickest ahead of Lynn, López, and Rosenqvist. Meanwhile, Abt, Bird, and Buemi completed the top 10.