Tag Archives: Formula E

Formula E – Sebastien Buemi wins in Uruguay

Punta del Este – Saturday’s FIA Formula E Uruguay ePrix was exciting to the last. The race started with former Toro Rosso driver Jean-Éric Vergne taking pole in his Formula E debut. He was joined on the front row by Brazilian Nelson Piquet, Jr. Vergne’s fellow Frenchman Nicolas Prost started in 3rd alongside Switzerland’s Sebastien Buemi in 4th. Spain’s Jamie Alguersuari started in 5th just ahead of the winner of Beijing, Brazilian Lucas di Grassi in 6th. Behind di Grassi in 7th was former Formula 1 Italian driver Jarno Trulli, alongside a fellow F1 veteran, Nick Heidfeld of Germany. Behind them, Heidfeld’s countryman Daniel Abt stated in 9th, with India’s Karun Chandhok starting in 10th.

Behind Chandhok in 11th was Spain’s Oriol Servia and in 12th Portugal’s Antonio Felix da Costa. France’s Stephane Sarrazin and Spain’s Antonio Garcia started on Row 7 in 13th and 14th. They were followed by Mexican Salvador Duran and Italian Michela Cerruti on Row 8 in 15th and 16th. Row 9 saw Belgian Jérôme d’Ambrosio start in 17th alongside Malaysia’s winner Sam Bird start in 18th with American Matthew Brabham starting in 19th. Brazilian Bruno Senna started with a penalty from the pits, droping down from his 8th place qualification.

Vergne was quickly overtaken by Piquet, on the opening lap, staying behind the Brazilian until Lap 13 of 31. Vergne was able to hold his lead for only a few laps, as his power was significantly reduced by the time he had overtaken Piquet, Meanwhile, Buemi was continually held up by Piquet, which in turn held up the rest of the field. Vergne pitted on Lap 16. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, his first pitstop in Formula E lost him the lead of the race to Buemi.

At the same time, Sarrazin, who had been driving quite aggressively in the preceding laps, hit the kerb on Lap 17 before coming into contact with Brabham, launching the Frenchman into the barrier and forcing his retirement. Brabham likewise ran into the same trouble with the kerbs, retiring on Lap 27.

Vergne continued to fight for first place throughout the race until his untimely retirement after a safety car period to remove Brabham’s damaged car. Buemi quickly seemed to have some sort of break issue, cutting the chicanes, leading to Vergne to deploy his fan boost, which soon thereafter drained his power, ending Vergne’s race 1 lap early.

Buemi charged into the final lap of the race, completing the circuit in first, winning e.dams Renault’s first victory in Formula E. Buemi was followed across the line by Nelson Piquet, Jr (2), and Lucas di Grassi (3).

The full results of the 2014 FIA Formula E Urugray ePrix are:

  1. Sebastien Buemi, Switzerland, e.dams Renault, 49:08.990
  2. Nelson Piquet, Jr., Brazil, China Racing, +00:00.732
  3. Lucas di Grassi, Brazil, Audi Sport ABT, +00:02.365
  4. Jarno Trulli, Italy, Trulli, +00:04.163
  5. Jamie Alguersuari, Spain, Virgin Racing, +00:04.698
  6. Bruno Senna, Brazil, Mahindra Racing, +00:05.197
  7. Nicolas Prost, France, e.dams Renault, +00:06.514
  8. Jérôme d’Ambrosio, Belgium, Dragon Racing, +00:07.567
  9. Oriol Servia, Spain, Dragon Racing, +00:08.646
  10. Nick Heidfeld, Germany, Venturi, +00:10.563
  11. Antonio Garcia, Spain, China Racing +00:10.594
  12. Michela Cerruti, Italy, Trulli, +00:19.617
  13. Karun Chandhok, India, Mahindra Racing, +00:54.175
  14. Daniel Abt, Germany, Audi Sport ABT, lapped
  15. Matthew Brabham, United States, Andretti Formula E, retired
  16. Stéphane Sarrazin, France, Venturi, retired
  17. Antonio Felix da Costa, Portugal, Amlin Aguri, retired
  18. Sam Bird, Great Britain, Virgin Racing, retired.

Formula E: Sam Bird coasts to victory in Putrajaya ePrix

Putrajaya – Saturday’s second instalment to the inaugural Formula E season began a full two hours early, preempting an oncoming rain shower. The grid was set with e.dams-Renault’s Nico Prost taking pole and Dragon Racing’s Oriol Servia starting from second. The second row was filled by Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird and Audi Sport ABT’s Daniel Abt. Row 3 consisted of Trulli’s Jarno Trulli and Mahindra’s Karun Chandhok. China Racing’s Nelson Piquet and Venturi’s Nick Heidfeld started on Row 4, followed by Mahindra’s Bruno Senna and Andretti’s Matthew Brabham on Row 5. Antonio da Costa of Amlin and Stephane Sarrazin of Venturi started on Row 6. Row 7 consisted of Andretti’s Franck Montagny and Trulli’s Michela Cerruti. Row 8 was made up of China’s Ho-Ping Tung and Amlin’s Katherine Legge. Jaime Alguersuari of Virgin and Lucas di Grassi of Audi Sport ABT started on Row 9. The back row was filled by e.dams-Renault’s Sebastien Buemi and Jerome d’Ambrosio of Dragon.

The race began in a wild way, with Servia taking off from the starting grid, having inherited pole from Nico Prost who started in 11th after inheriting a 10 spot grid penalty from causing the spectacular crash with Nick Heidfeld on Lap 25 in Beijing. Heidfeld’s fellow countryman, Daniel Abt fell back significantly from his 4th place start, seemingly due to a power issue.

The first retirement came on Lap 7 when Legge collided with Cerutti, ending the Italian’s race earlier than she, or her team, would have preferred. Cerutti was followed 7 laps later by Germany’s Nick Heidfeld, who collided with Andretti’s Frank Montagny at Turn 5, leaving the German to exit the race on Lap 14, a stark difference from his sudden crash on the final lap one month ago in Beijing.

Sam Bird of Virgin Racing undoubtedly had the best racing strategy, conserving his batteries enough  to allow him to pit at just the right time, after the majority of the field had already switched to their second cars, and later maintain enough power to finish a full 43.663 seconds faster than Daniel Abt, who finished in 10th. Lap 30 was marked by Bruno Senna crashing at the hairpin.

With his victory in Malaysia, Bird now stands comfortably in 2nd in the Drivers’ Standings with 40 points just behind Beijing’s winner Lucas di Grassi who came in 2nd in Putrajaya on Saturday. e.dams-Renault’s Sebastien Buemi finished out the podium, finishing 5.739 seconds behind Bird.

Formula E returns on 13 December in the Uruguayan resort city of Punta del Este. The race will be broadcasted live in the United States, Canada, and Australia by Fox Sports, in the United Kingdom live on ITV4. Full broadcasting information has yet to be released.

FIA launches Formula E in Beijing

Beijing – Saturday marked the inaugural FIA Formula E race. Formula E is the FIA’s attempt at expanding international motor sport into the up and coming world of electric cars. The 2014-2015 Formula E season has 10 rounds, with races announced to be run in China, Malaysia, Uruguay, Argentina, the United States, Monaco, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Saturday’s opening round featured 10 teams of 2 drivers each. Among the drivers and teams are a fair number of famous names from Formula 1, including former Formula 1 drivers Charles Pic, Nelson Piquet, Jr., Lucas di Grassi, Franck Montagny, Karun Chandhok, Jérôme d’Ambrosio, Stéphane Sarrazin, Jamie Alguersuari, Nick Heidfeld, Takuma Sato, Sébastien Buemi, Jarno Trulli, and Bruno Senna. Of the drivers yet to enter Formula 1 on the Formula E grid, perhaps the most notable is Nicolas Prost, whose father is 4-time Formula 1 world champion Alain Prost, and two female drivers, Briton Katherine Legge and Italian Michela Cerruti.

Formula E differs from Formula 1 in many other ways. To begin, Formula E is entirely run by electricity rather than by petrol as F1. Likewise, FE requires that drivers remain in the pits for a minimum pit-stop time. That being said, FE drivers have to switch cars at their pit stops, reentering the field in a newly charged car.

The two elements of the race that I found most frustrating were 1. the Beijing street circuit was too narrow in most places for passing, and 2. the FE cars sounded like a cross between a jet engine and a child’s remote controlled car. At first annoying, I found myself drowning out the buzzing of 20 electric cars through paying closer attention to the beauty of their design, the fine curvature of the fuselages.

The race finished with a dramatic crash between then 1st place Nicolas Prost and 2nd place Nick Heidfeld, resulting in the latter being valuted by a kerb into a set of high barriers at the last corner, flipping his car upside-down, leaving the German finishing the race on his head. The race was won by Brazilian Lucas di Grassi of Audi Sport ABT. The Brazilian finished the 25 lap race with a time of 53:23.413.

The first retirement of the race came from one of the biggest names in motor sport, Bruno Senna, nephew of Formula 1 legend Aryton Senna. Bruno collided with another car on Lap 1, forcing his early retirement.

Another difference from Formula 1 is the awarding of points for earning pole, and driving the fastest lap, given to Nicolas Prost and Takuma Sato respectively. Likewise, according to the Formula E website, Daniel Abt, Jamie Alguersuari, and Katherine Legge were handed 57-second penalties for exceeding the allowed battery usage limit of 28kW.

In general, I do recommend Formula E to my Formula 1 readers. It is quite a spectacle to see. And considering that this sport is in its infancy, I’d watch just to be a part of history. Formula E is broadcast in the United States on Fox Sports 1, in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland on ITV 4 and BT Sport. Television coverage will be provided in 80 territories including Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia by Fox Sports. Canal + diffuse la Formule E en France.

The 2014-2015 inaugural Formula E calendar is as follows:

  1. China – Beijing ePrix – 13 September 2014.
  2. Malaysia – Putrajaya ePrix – 22 November 2014.
  3. Uruguay – Punta del Este ePrix – 13 December 2014.
  4. Argentina – Buenos Aires ePrix – 10 January 2015.
  5. TBA – TBA – 14 February 2015.
  6. United States – Miami ePrix – 14 March 2015.
  7. United States – Long Beach ePrix – 4 April 2015.
  8. Monaco – Monte Carlo ePrix – 9 May 2015.
  9. Germany – Berlin ePrix – 30 May 2015.
  10. United Kingdom – London ePrix – 27 June 2015.