Sébastien Buemi (Renault e.Dams) is done with the victory in the Beijing ePrix, with a great advantage over Lucas Di Grassi (Schaeffler Audi Sport ABT) who was second and Nick Heidfeld, who took the first podium of history for Mahindra Racing.
The tension was bubbling just under the surface before the first ePrix of the 2015-2016 season, Sébastien Buemi was on pole position. The Swiss driver managed to keep first place in output despite the attacks of Nick Heidfeld, who overtook Nico Prost for second place. Prost also committed another mistake under braking, which made him drop to fourth place, and this mistake benefited Di Grassi, climbing to third place.
Behind, Jean-Eric Vergne who started fifth lost that position with Bruno Senna and he suffered pace problems when he was attacked strongly by Loïc Duval and his mate Sam Bird in the team Virgin DS.
The French could breathe easy at the poster Full Course Yellow (FCY), caused by an accident of Simona de Silvestro (Andretti Autosport) appear. This new way to keep the pace of the race to benefit the safety when removing, in this case, the car of Simona de Silvestro, all cars must go 50 kph throughout the circuit. Following the radio message from race director on Lap 5, indicating that the situation of FCY was over, Sam Bird took advantage of it to overtake Duval (Dragon Racing) for seventh place, but brake problems DS Virgin, They did leave track and down to eleventh place.
Bird then looked in need to overcome, and did. Then he got rid of Daniel Abt (Schaeffler Audi Sport ABT) to enter the points, do the same with D’Ambrosio (Dragon Racing) and Bruno Senna (Mahindra Racing), who lost time and positions because of his management power. The British got rid of Sarrazin (Venturi Racing) and Vergne, who would lose positions.
On lap 8, the batteries of all the cars were around 50% of their capacity. At this point of the race, we’ve already known who are the drivers who have the Fan Boost: Bird, Piquet Jr. and Turvey.
Therefore, before the pit stops, Buemi was leading, followed by Heidfeld, Di Grassi, Prost, Duval, Bird, Senna, Da Costa and D’Ambrosio, while Vergne was suffering with battery management in the end of the standings.
On lap 13 Buemi, Heidfeld, Di Grassi, Prost, Sarrazin, Senna, Bird, Abt, Da Costa, Frijns, Vergne, Villeneuve entered the garage. This change benefited Lucas Di Grassi who managed to overtake Prost and Heidfeld.
On the next lap, the other competitors stopped, but an accident between Da Costa (Team Aguri) and Villeneuve (Venturi Racing), in which the Portuguese driver, who had allegedly been at fault, while his race was finished, the Formula 1 champion in 1997 can continue racing. This action caused the FCY, which benefited drivers were later stoped as D’Ambrosio, Turvey, Berthon and Piquet Jr. that were between the sixth and ninth.
On leaving the FCY, Prost (Renault e.dams) getting beat Heidfeld (Mahindra Racing) to clinch third place, and when the son of four-time Formula 1 world champion was catching Di Grassi, Prost saw his rear wing was broken and then, the marshals showed him the black flag with an orange circle, which indicates the obligation to stop in the box because of damages or technical reasons.
Meanwhile, Nelson Piquet (NEXTEV TCR) lost the points because of mechanical problems.
The race drew to a close, and the fight for the podium was open between Heidfeld, Duval and D’Ambrosio. That despite the many attacks Duval, Heidfeld could well cover the Belgian.
Victory for Sébastien Buemi finally reaching the Grand Chelem and all possible points of the day, with the pole, victory and fastest lap. Di Grassi and Heidfeld completed the podium of the Dragon followed Duval and D’Ambrosio who complete the top 5. Sixth place for Turvey, who has benefited from the FCY. Seventh after an incredible comeback is over Sam Bird has overtaken Nathanaël Berthon, who also has benefited by FCY. Daniel Abt and Stephane Sarrazin completed the points.
The next race of the championship will be in Putrajaya on November 7.
