Playa Brava Beach on the beautiful South Coast of Uruguay provided an idyllic setting for what was to be a pulsating day of racing, in round 6 of the FIA Formula E
In association with Formula E
An eventful and unpredictable season, which has seen defending champion Lucas di Grassi lose all realistic hope of retaining his title, started in the same fashion.
Audi’s di Grassi ended qualifying with the provisional pole, in controversial circumstances, after hitting an orange bollard that also caused mayhem for two other drivers. Virgin Racing’s Alex Lynn and Nio’s Oliver Turvey also fell foul to the installation, as Mitch Evans, provisionally starting in 3rd place, clipped a wall in an eventful day of qualifying.
All that was to change though, after review, the 3 drivers involved in bollard-gate were punished for hitting the now famed structure, with Evans also penalised for having an underweight car. This meant Championship leader Jean Eric Vergne was lifted to start on pole, which seemed to cause a lot of uncertainty for drivers and fans a like, as Lucas Di Grassi explained just seconds before the race began “I was on pole, now I am not, I am confused.”
Punta Del Este is famed for being one of the most exciting courses, due to its 20 tight and twisting turns and blistering heat that can cause issues with the cars batteries. The race lived up to its potential.
A fast start set the tone, as leader Vergne came flying out of the blocks and tightened his grip on pole position, but it was never going to be as easy as that for the Frenchman, as his Brazilian counterpart di Grassi was in no mood to relinquish his chance of victory without a serious fight.
The drama continued into lap 5, when Nick Heidfeld stopped and the safety car was deployed to get him off track, but some drivers, rather than observe the no over taking rule whilst the safety car is on track, used in to their advantage to manoeuvre further up the grid.
In to lap 10 di Grassi made his first play to over take Vergne, but the championship leader once again managed to halt his advances, taking tight corners with great speed and guile.
Renault e.dams driver Sébastien Buemi was the second to have his race disrupted after taking a turn too widely, and damaging his car. He wasn’t the only one having issues. Nelson Piquet had to change cars early due to drive shaft issues, and as a result he was one lap behind all other drivers, consequently he could not finish the race. It was the same story for Daniel Abt on lap 23, looking set for a podium finish, he suffered from all four of his seatbelts becoming undone, as he explained later on twitter, his life was more important.
Had to give up P3 after all 4 of my seatbelts just opened up on track for whatever reason. My life is more important to me. #AllTheWayABT ⚡️😩 pic.twitter.com/06Au2xMod1
— Daniel Abt (@Daniel_Abt) March 17, 2018
Vergne continued to push on in his conquest to retain 1st place, and strengthen his lead at the top of the standings, but it wasn’t going as swimmingly for Techeetah teammate André Lotterer, as poor energy management led to him pitting a lap early, and having to drive more conservatively in his second car.
The drama was far from over, the battle for 1st place raged on, as Alex Lynne in 4th and Mitch Evans in 5th displayed some fantastic skill resulting in a brilliant move from Evans to snatch Lynne’s spot in 4th. All the while, Sam Bird was magnificently creeping up on the two race leaders, with 4 laps to go, he had closed the gap from over 3 seconds, to just half a second and had moved up to 3rd, from a 9th place to start.
On the penultimate lap, Vergne and di Grassi were neck and neck, the packed out crowd were on the edge of their seats as there was only inches separating the race leaders as the cars brushed each other as di Grassi put everything he had in to an all or nothing attempt to take the lead. Sam Bird toyed with the idea of joining the party, but his engineer on the team radio advised him to manage the car and secure a spot on the podium, much to Bird’s frustration. Only ferocious driving from the championship leader could hold off di Grassi’s final shot at victory, and it proved to be enough, as Vergne crossed the line, winning his second race of the season, and increasing his lead at the top of the standings to 30 points.
Both drivers showed great respect for one another, discussing each others marvellous race, which proved once again that Formula E is one of the most exciting forms of racing on the planet.
Attention now turns to April 14th for round 7 in Rome, where all the drivers will once again go head to head, and Jean Eric Vergne will look to make it back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
