drivers concertina, running within two seconds of one another with little change to the order, the Mexico track proving itself as a tricky place to execute a pass.
A cunning use of energy management saw the pivotal moment for Di Grassi's winning strategy. The Mahindra team of Heidfeld and Senna introduced the pit stops, attempting an undercut by pitting a lap earlier than the rest of the pack, while NEXTEV ran their well-tested strategy, leaving Piquet and Turvey out for an extra lap as the rest of the cars began to file in.
Diving down the inside of Prost just moments before the pack pitted, saw Di Grassi move into P2. While the Renault e.dams teammates switched positions, promoting Buemi into third, Di Grassi retained his second place, lining himself up to attack race leader D'Ambrosio. Using the Fanboost granted to him in the second car, Di Grassi pounced immediately, speeding down the straight and passing D'Ambrosio in a nail-biting move into T1.
The new race leader was afforded slight respite in the second half of the race, as tempers flared in the cockpits of D'Ambrosio and Buemi, in P2 and P3 respectively. As the drivers settled into their second cars, Buemi's attempt at an overtake was met with a last-second defensive manoeuvre from D'Ambrosio.
This led to an expletive-laden radio transmission from Buemi, clearly unhappy at D'Ambrosio's change in line. Rattled, Buemi tried to pass D'Ambrosio again, but was denied in another on-the-limit defensive move. Buemi's determination saw an overtake attempt on Lap 29, as the cars came out of the long straight into T1, but this time neither came away unscathed. As D'Ambrosio ducked left, Buemi ploughed into the rear of the Dragon car, leaving neither severely damaged, but D'Ambrosio angered.
Lining up for another pass on Lap 35, Buemi overshot the first chicane, cutting the corner and leaving him no choice but to hand back the place. As Buemi slowed, D’Ambrosio could not find space to pass, leading Prost to attempt to take third. This prompted an irate D’Ambrosio to deliberately cut the final chicane to re-take second, ahead of Buemi. With all positions seemingly agreed, and no change to the order, Prost was given with a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release from the pits, after an earlier investigation, shattering his hopes of a podium.
In the closing laps, D'Ambrosio and Buemi were too caught up in their own battle to bother the race leader. As he crossed the line, a highly emotional Di Grassi performed victory donuts in front of the delighted crowds, leaving D'Ambrosio and Buemi to tear down the finish straight, crossing the line with one hundredth of a second between them, to remain in their respective positions.
Dragon Racing's Loic Duval enjoyed good fortune, finishing the race in fourth, with Nico Prost's drive through penalty seeing him home in fifth. It was a race of mixed fortune for Andretti, with Robin Frijns finishing in a healthy P6, ahead of Sam Bird, but Simona de Silvestro dropped down the order after a start in a promising P10, to finish outside of the points in fifteenth. Daniel Abt did not fare as well as his teammate; despite qualifying strongly, a visit into the wall on the final lap saw him drop from fourth, to finish the race in eighth.
Mahindra's Nick Heidfeld and Venturi's Stephane Sarrazin rounded out the point scorers, with Heidfeld's teammate Bruno Senna, narrowly missing out in P11. Despite showing some pace in practice, the NEXTEV pair of Turvey and Piquet, finished P12 and P14, while Mike Conway's second ever Formula E race saw him finish one place ahead of the current champion. It was a poor home race for Salvador Duran, making up the rear of the pack in P16, ahead of the problem-stricken cars of Jean-Eric Vergne, and Antonio Felix da Costa.
Formula E returns on April 2, 2016, when the drivers take on the streets in Long Beach, USA.