Seb turns the screws on Nelson and Lucas
by Bunmi Ade
The Swiss driver took a lights to flag victory to jump within five points of championship leader Nelson Piquet on a day when his rivals took the defensive route and inevitably found themselves off the podium.
Provisional Grid for Race 1 of London ePrix weekend was BUE DAM DIG PIQ VER PRO TUR SEN BIR DUR DUV HEI ABT SAR TRU* CHA SIL YAM FON LEI. Trulli carried over a 5 place grid penalty so started in 20th place; the starting Grid order was BUE DAM DIG PIQ VER PRO TUR SEN BIR DUR DUV HEI ABT SAR CHA SIL YAM FON LEI TRU. Yamamoto, Turvey and Piquet Jr got FanBoost.
The Race started behind the Qualcomm Safety Car because of the bumpy section at the first corner at which protective TecPro barriers were installed before the race.
On pole position was Buemi – he followed the safety car as the race started but once the grid went green, Buemi pulled away from D’Ambrosio and the rest of the grid kept their order behind the leader.
Piquet Jr’s unsuccessful attempt on Di Grassi lost him a position to Vergne on lap 4. The NEXT EV driver was now down to 5th place but still had FanBoost in his pocket.
The fastest driver on Lap 5 was Vergne who began crowding Di Grassi for 3rd place and put himself in contention to mix up the Championship fight. Di Grassi had a challenge keeping Vergne behind him and ensure his car stayed in one piece for a chance to fight for the championship. Vergne on the other hand, had nothing to lose and lunged past Di Grassi on lap 7, scorching his tyres during the successful overtake. Once past the Brazilian, he set
about reeling in D’Ambrosio ahead of him.
On Battery management, the most efficient drivers were Senna, Bird, Heidfeld and Trulli in the first part of the race so it was no surprise that Bird stayed out for an extra lap when the leaders pitted and therefore momentarily led his home race.
Formula E rookie Turvey used his FanBoost to defend his position and then overtook Daniel Abt who seemed to have an issue with his steering wheel. The young German later tangled with Salvador Duran and the Mexican gained 13th place. Abt eventually went into a wall with 13 laps to go leaving with his car at precarious angle as other cars went past him.
Under normal circumstances, Abt’s position on track would instantly trigger a safety car deployment but on this occasion, there seemed to be delay. However one was deployed when Yamamoto became stranded at the pit exit.
The top five with 9 laps to go were Buemi, D’Ambrosio, Vergne, Di Grassi and Piquet Jr (who was rapidly closing up to his compatriot ahead of him). De Silvestro was up to 14th but didn’t get much air time given the close racing at the front of the pack. At this point, Bird and Turvey were running 10th and 11th respectively – both hoping for a British points-finish at the London ePrix.
Di Grassi locked up several times as he defended hard against Piquet Jr – the latter deployed Fan Boost to get past, but Di Grassi showed his experience by defending fiercely. In the meantime, Prost patiently bid his time behind the squabbling Brazilians hoping to capitalise on any mistakes. Oddly enough, Di Grassi found some speed in closing stages to set fastest lap (1min28.229) and gain 2 extra valuable points.
Bruno Senna got a Drive Through penalty for speeding in the pitlane and relegated to last on the grid (17th) after serving his penalty.
Duval was up to 8th continuing with the tradition of performing better during the race than in qualifying though Bird overtook him by Lap 26 and was bearing down on Piquet. Unfortunately for the Brit, he ran out of laps to mount a challenge.
Buemi maintained the lead of the race and won Race 1 of London ePrix which helped to secure the Constructor’s championship for eDams Renault. PodiumLondon
Final classification was: BUE DAM JEV DIG PIQ BIR PRO DUV TUR SAR SIL CHA HEI LEI TRU SEN DUR (Fontana, Abt and Yamamoto were unclassified, Duran had a time penalty and was demoted to 17th)
Notable rookie performances were Turvey who scored 2 points on his first outing with NEXT EV racing, and de Silvestro for keeping her nose clean and finishing in a respectable 11th place for Andretti.
London Saturday Race