Di Grassi kept the lead of the race for less than four laps, when Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne managed to find a way past him. Throughout the stint Di Grassi fell further and further back through the top ten, whilst championship leader Buemi overtook Vergne for the race lead.
The Brazilian spent the majority of the first stint in the four-way battle for third. As Buemi and Vergne got further and further away ahead, Oliver Turvey was having to defend hard against Nico Prost, Di Grassi, and Nelson Piquet, which cut the life of his battery power short. The Brit had to pit a lap earlier than the majority of the field, dropping him from third to sixth during the mid race car swap.
Mahindra, on the other hand, proved the best on energy management, with both Felix Rosenqvist and Nick Heidfeld managing to stay out an extra lap. That should have meant both drivers had more usable energy to fight in the second stint, but a problem with Rosenqvist’s pit stop effectively ended his race. The rookie was able to get back out, but had dropped down to seventeenth. He managed to take the fastest lap, earning a single point for his effort. Heidfeld too had a pit stop problem. The German’s pit stop had been less than the minimum pit stop time (55 seconds) and he was forced to serve a drive through penalty later in the race.
The second half of Di Grassi’s race went a lot smoother than the first as the Brazilian began to make up the places he had lost in the first stint. Though Di Grassi was investigated for an unsafe release in the pits, when he came very close to Piquet, at the time of writing no action has been taken. He managed to get up to third, behind Vergne and Buemi, but could never get close enough to challenge the Frenchman.
The race ended with Bird colliding with the wall. The Brit’s day had gone from bad to worse when, towards the start of the race, he suffered damage on his DS Virgin and was forced to swap cars early. That meant he was effectively running to take the fastest lap, which he held for most of the second half of the race before Rosenqvist snatched it in the dying laps.
Di Grassi’s teammate, Daniel Abt, had a better race than his teammate. After crashing during qualifying, the German started sixteenth on the grid, but a well fought first stint brought him up through the field. Though he did spend the majority of the second half of the race fighting off the advances of those in the train behind him, Abt defended well and finished the race seventh.
Home favourite Jose Maria Lopez’s recovery drive also gets an honorary mention. The Argentinian enjoyed a fairly quiet race, until the final few laps when he was stuck in a battle with Stephane Sarrazin and Antonio Felix Da Costa. After starting eighteenth, Lopez managed to get up to tenth by the chequered flag.
Buemi’s win makes him the first driver to take wins at three consecutive ePrix. The Renault e.dams driver extends his lead over Di Grassi in the championship to 32 points after three races. Vergne makes history by taking Techeetah’s first Formula E podium, whilst Prost continues his streak of fourth places finishes.
The next race is in Mexico on the first of April.
Full results below:
1 – Sebastien Buemi – Renault e.dams
2 – Jean Eric Vergne – Techeetah
3 – Lucas Di Grassi – ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
4 – Nico Prost – Renault e.dams
5 – Nelson Piquet – Nextev NIO
6 – Loic Duval – Faraday Future Dragon Racing
7 – Daniel Abt – ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
8 – Jerome D’Ambrosio – Faraday Future Dragon Racing
9 – Oliver Turvey – NextEV NIO
10 – Jose Maria Lopez – DS Virgin Racing
11 – Antonio Felix Da Costa – MS Amlin Andretti
12 - Stephane Sarrazin - Venturi
13 – Mitch Evans – Panasonic Jaguar Racing
14 – Robin Frijns – MS Amlin Andretti
15 – Nick Heidfeld – Mahindra Racing
16 – Ma Qing Hua – Techeetah
17 – Adam Carroll – Panasonic Jaguar Racing
18 – Felix Rosenqvist – Mahindra Racing
19 – Maro Engel – Venturi
20 – Sam Bird – DS Virgin Racing
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Can anybody bring the fight to Buemi? Do you think this season’s going to be as close as last? Let us know in the comments below!
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