Formula E 3rd Round Race Report Punta del Este, Uruguay
2014-12-15 06:18:44
In the third race of the inaugural Formula E-prix season, Sebastien Buemi has become the third winner in an action-packed race which saw the Safety Car deployed four times, the last of which led to a two-lap challenge for the top-spot. Buemi had started fourth on the grid in the all-electric single-seater series’ third round in Punta del Este, Uruguay but got away ahead of e.dams team-mate, Nico Prost, to take third off the grid.
Formula E debutant and Formula 1 convert, Jean-Eric Vergne, started on pole position and was one of the three drivers to win the FanBoost alongside Nick Heidfeld and fellow Formula E debutant, Salvador Duran. But the Frenchman’s remarkable good fortune didn’t hold out as he spun the wheels off the line and lost the dash down into Turn 1 to China Racing’s Nelson Piquet Jr., who had started in second on the cleaner side of the beach-side circuit.
The first twist of many came on lap 2 when Daniel Abt’s Audi Sport ABT suffered mechanical issues meaning he slowed down before continuing. Further up the field, both Piquet and Vergne were wringing as much juice as they could from their batteries – an issue which was eventually going to cost Vergne dearly further on in the race – as they constantly battled with each other in the opening laps. As some stages, they were using 10% more energy than the rest of the racing field, the e.dams RENAULT’s of Buemi and Prost in particular.
The first Safety Car deployment happened on Lap 4 after the winner of the 2nd round Malaysian Formula E race, Sam Bird got cut across into the Turn 1 chicane, mounted the curbing, captured air beneath the car and hit the barrier hard to put him out of the race. This incident marked the end of a rough day and a disastrous weekend for the British driver who had earlier crashed in qualifying.
Racing resumed on lap 7. Vergne continued to pile on the pressure for the lead, and attempted to utilise his FanBoost to get past Piquet. But he radioed through to his team that he was having problems deploying it.
Then Antonio da Costa’s car became stricken on the grid and the second Safety Car deployment was initiated on lap 10 so that the Amlin Aguri car could be recovered. The green light signalled the restart of the race and finally, on lap 12, Vergne managed to find a draft on Piquet, dived down the inside and out-braked him at the hairpin to take the lead at lap 13.
But Vergne’s reign at the top was short-lived. His power usage had been high and he was forced to pit early from the lead a lap earlier than his rival on lap 16.
As Vergne was doing this, the hat trick deployment of the Safety Car was triggered as Stephane Sarrazin crashed out having slammed his Venturi car over the sausage kerbs at the quick chicane, breaking his car’s suspension in the process.
This signalled to everyone else that they should bring their cars into the pits and initiate the swaps.
Heidfeld emerged from the pit lane rush in the lead but then almost immediately had to serve a drive-through penalty for not taking the allotted time for his car swap.
The e.dams-RENAULT of Buemi took advantage of Heidfeld’s woe and took the lead.
Piquet was running third, ahead of Prost – who was also then given a drive-through penalty as his car had been detected over its power limit. Michela Cerruti was also penalised, but this time for speeding in the pit lane.
But with just four laps to go, American Matthew Brabham spun out whilst running in the points having impressively charged up to sixth from 19th impressing in a wheel-to-wheel battle with Trulli GP’s Jarno Trulli who held 5th. This led to the fourth deployment of the Safety Car. It proved to be a bitter and disappointing end for the youngster. He departed from the track, devastated.
The Safety Car returned to the pits with just two laps of the race remaining.
Vergne pushed Buemi hard from the restart and the pressure got to Buemi has he locked up and ran off the track at the second chicane as he was being hotly pursued by Vergne. Somehow, he still managed to hold the lead. The French debutant voiced an objection over the radio saying that he believed Buemi should have yielded the position to him having cut the chicane.
But just as it seemed Vergne would pounce again, disaster struck for the challenger as his Andretti Formula E car began to slow with a broken front suspension. It was a heart-breaking end to what could have been a Formula E debut victory.
Buemi was left unchallenged for the remainder of the race to take victory.
Vergne’s exit had presented the runner-up position to Piquet with Lucas di Grassi taking the final position on the podium, making it three podiums out of three for him and securing his position at the top of the driver’s standings. Jarno Trulli took fourth, a huge improvement on previous races, with Jamie Alguersuari in fifth for Virgin Racing and Bruno Senna in sixth for Mahindra Racing, having first been sent to the back of the grid due to an issue with his tyres ahead of qualifying. Senna had also broken the suspension of his first car when he clipped the wall in his bid to avoid Sarrazin’s crash – but mercifully was able to immediately pit and switch to his other Spark-Renault.
For the record, Prost finish in 7th, then it was the two Dragon Racing drivers, Jerome d’Ambrosio in 8th beating team mate Oriol Servia in 9th despite a penalty, with Heidfeld securing the last of the points in 10th.
Sebastian Buemi told EcoCars4Sale: “It’s been a very difficult journey so far, because the first two races went worse than expected. But today, we did everything right, so I’m more than happy. I’m delighted for the team. It’s been very difficult, and now, we’ve won our first race.”
The fourth round of the Formula E championship takes place in Buenos Aires on 10th January.
Reported By
Andrew Merritt-Morling
Chief Electric MotorSport Editor
