Report 2016 Berlin ePrix

1 report

1.1 background
1.2 practice , qualifying
1.3 race
1.4 post-race

report
background

strausberger platz, part of race held.

the berlin eprix confirmed part of formula e s 2015-16 series schedule in october 2015 fia world motor sport council. eighth of ten scheduled single seater electric car races of 2015-16 season, second running of event, , held on 21 may 2016 @ berlin street circuit in berlin, germany. eleven-turn track 2.030 kilometres (1.261 mi) long, pit lane on karl-marx-allee , goes around strausberger platz , alexanderplatz. race contested 9 teams 2 drivers each. teams nextev, e.dams-renault, audi sport abt, dragon, virgin, andretti, aguri, mahindra , venturi.

before race, audi sport abt driver lucas di grassi led drivers championship 126 points, eleven ahead of nearest rival sébastien buemi in second, in turn, further 33 points in front of third-placed sam bird. jérôme d ambrosio fourth on 64 points , stéphane sarrazin sixth points behind in battle position. e.dams-renault leading teams championship 165 points, 7 in front of audi sport abt in closely fought battle championship. dragon , virgin (on 112 , 106 points) contended third place , mahindra rounded out top 5 on 65 points. e.dams-renault , audi sport abt had dominated season, bird winning buenos aires eprix , d ambrosio securing victory in mexico city. jean-Éric vergne , bird had each finished in second once, , nick heidfeld, robin frijns , daniel abt had secured third-place results.

in november 2015, reported berlin tempelhof airport highly unlikely hold race because facility being used shelter refugees. after series received official confirmation not use tempelhof s facilities, formula e s chief operating officer alejandro agag sought hold event @ norisring street circuit in nuremberg alternatives munich , berlin. negotiations norisring s management ended when decision had not been made 15 january deadline. announced 1 month later german race held in downtown berlin pended approval city authorities , motorsport s governing body, fédération internationale de l automobile. race came under disapproval mayors of friedrichshain , berlin-mitte districts monika herrmann , christian hanke both stated did not want hold event in city centre. although motor racing forbidden in germany s public roads, senate of berlin granted dispensation formula e hold race on berlin s streets in march. construction of track started on 9 may, twelve days prior race.

after finishing in third in preceding paris eprix, buemi confident chances berlin race, saying plan qualify in higher starting position , attempt race @ front of field: know can in paris car super-quick; started far behind able better. abt said while not interested in drivers standings, wanted finish home event on podium. wished celebrate achievement german spectators, , best method in helping teammate di grassi in championship battle. after winning season s previous 2 races, di grassi stated team s objective win title , aimed continue recent momentum berlin: our car winner, our team keeps cool , stays focused when pressure on – in way can win home race.”

there 1 driver change heading race. having been in 1 of aguri cars since first round of season in beijing, antónio félix da costa missed eprix because of deutsche tourenwagen masters commitment @ red bull ring , replaced endurance racing driver rené rast. deal confirmed in week before race , slated world endurance championship driver adam carroll agreement fell apart. marked rast s first participation in single-seater machinery since formula bmw adac in 2004 , practised on team s simulator familiarise himself car. oliver turvey set replaced formula renault 3.5 driver ben hanley because of super gt commitment @ autopolis circuit, race postponed because of kumamoto earthquakes, , formula e seat reinstated.

practice , qualifying

two practice sessions—both on sunday morning—were held before sunday late afternoon race. first session ran 45 minutes , second lasted 30 minutes. both sessions took place in dry weather conditions. buemi used full 200 kilowatts (270 hp) available him , set first practice session s fastest lap @ 57.648 seconds shortly before ended; turvey second-fastest , held fastest time until buemi s lap. di grassi ended session in third, nico prost fourth , bird fifth. loïc duval, mike conway, d ambrosio, sarrazin , abt rounded out session s top ten drivers. during session, many drivers struggled traffic, frijns swerved avoid hitting bruno senna @ turn 5 , 6 hairpin , di grassi pressed neutral button on car s steering wheel, causing him briefly stop on track.

although limited 1 timed lap missed majority of second practice session due battery failure on second car, nelson piquet jr. recorded fastest time of 57.909 seconds, 0.013 seconds faster bird in second fastest until piquet s lap. vergne , frijns third , fourth turvey fifth. duval sixth-fastest, senna seventh, abt eighth, conway ninth , heidfeld completed top ten ahead of qualifying. buemi locked tyres @ turn 5 , impacted barrier, damaging front wing. cleanup jeopardised when simona de silvestro narrowly avoided colliding buemi s car. buemi able return pit lane nose cone replacement. sarrazin pushed hard , went straight turn 11 barrier, heavily damaging car, temporarily stopping session. rast stopped in sixth turn, causing yellow flags waved.

jean-Éric vergne had fourth pole position of formula e career.

saturday afternoon s qualifying session ran 60 minutes , divided 4 groups. each group determined lottery system , permitted 6 minutes of on-track activity. drivers limited 2 timed laps 1 @ maximum power. fastest 5 overall competitors in 4 groups participated in super pole session 1 driver on track @ time going out in reverse order. each of 5 drivers limited 1 timed lap; starting order determined participants fastest times. driver , team recorded fastest time awarded 3 points towards respective championships. qualifying took place in dry , warm weather conditions.

in first group, despite making small errors shortly before completed lap, turvey paced session, seven-hundredths of second faster di grassi in second struck kerbs @ first chicane. frijns damaged car s front-left tyre in contact barrier , third-quickest, ahead of sarrazin lost control of vehicle @ turn ten, causing session stopped short period. vergne fastest driver in second group, two-tenths of second quicker abt. bird third-fastest, ahead of prost lost time after went deep going final corner. rast completed second group s running. in third group, heidfeld quickest driver, , three-tenths of second ahead of piquet lost control of car @ track s hairpin, losing driver four-tenths of second. d ambrosio struggled locate reference points on track because of lack of running in practice sessions , third-quickest. conway , de silvestro 2 slowest drivers in third group. buemi set fastest overall fastest time of competitor in group stages in fourth group time of 57.322 seconds. 0.269 seconds faster senna in second. duval struggling tyre grip finish third. ma qinghua struggled , slowest overall driver. after group qualifying ended, buemi, senna, vergne, heidfeld , abt had fast enough lap times progress them super pole.

abt first driver attempt lap time in super pole round , made error @ final turn. recorded lap of 57.852 seconds. heidfeld went narrowly faster in first sector damaged front-left suspension in collision turn 8 barrier, restricting him fifth. vergne went quickest in track s second sector, , despite narrowly colliding senna (who leaving pit lane) took provisional pole position lap time of 57.811 seconds. senna left pit lane oversteer , one-tenth of second slower in first sector, , went half second down in following sector , ran wide in final corner, , took fourth. buemi, pole position favourite, slower vergne in first sector, , had similar results in remainder of track qualify in second. meant vergne took first pole position of season, fourth of formula e career, , team s third consecutive of year. after qualifying ended, mahindra drivers senna , heidfeld demoted 15th , 16th on grid because of irregular tyre pressures, while sarrazin , d ambrosio penalised , started of field.

race

a special feature of formula e fan boost feature, additional 100 kilowatts (130 hp) of power use in driver s second car. 3 drivers allowed use boost determined fan vote. berlin race, buemi, sarrazin , heidfeld handed power. weather conditions @ start of race dry , sunny air temperature ranging between 23.5–24.05 °c (74.30–75.29 °f) , track temperature of 24 °c (75 °f). 15,000 people attended race. race started @ 16:00 central european summer time (utc+2). chassis damage sarrazin s car meant team announced miss event, repairs vehicle completed in time, allowing him start race. on grid, buemi accelerated faster distracted vergne off line , passed him lead heading towards first turn, , used turn s braking zone keep position. di grassi overtook nextev drivers piquet , turvey move sixth. piquet lost grip in first turn; began slide regained control of car , continued. error senna saw him collide back-end of rast s car, causing bodywork damage both cars.

at start of second lap, vergne braked later buemi heading first corner , positioned himself on inside line reclaim lead latter in near carbon-copy manoeuvre had been subjected buemi on previous lap. top 6 concertinaed together, damage cars of rast, piquet , turvey prompted officials show trio black flag orange circle meant had enter pit lane repairs. vergne began open small advantage on buemi, latter had elected hold off in making move on vergne until lap six. buemi retook lead vergne passing him around inside driving towards tenth turn , 2 narrowly avoided contact. vergne s exit out of corner compromised , forced defend heavily abt. @ front of eprix, buemi pulled away rest of field. on eleventh lap, abt executed similar manoevure buemi on first lap , passed vergne third @ turn 1 hairpin. bird had been pressuring abt third earlier in race ordered enter pit lane took kerb fast , resulted in loosening of front wing end-plate. bird emerged in 14th, , protested penalty on radio.

sébastien buemi led majority of eprix , took third victory of season.

while buemi extended lead 5 seconds in front of abt, di grassi running in fifth place , in tight bunch of cars consisting of vergne , prost. di grassi s team told him attempt keep him on track 1 lap longer rivals. further down field, frijns fought way through top ten , slid , drifted through first turn in passing move on duval. heidfeld had moved through field run in top ten , later mounted kerb overtake conway ninth place. prost drew closer vergne , pressure caused vergne clout bollards @ chicane. caused front right section of vergne s front wing shatter. vergne took kerb second time driving same chicane on next lap , removed front wing. debris littered on track , prost moved ahead of vergne take on fourth position. mandatory pit stops, during drivers need change second car, began on lap 25 when leaders made stops immediately. di grassi s strategy allowed him remain on track 1 lap , made pit stop on 26th lap. after pit stops, buemi kept lead abt second, prost third , di grassi moved ahead of vergne take on fourth.

with debris vergne s car littered across track @ chicane, officials called full course yellow flag on lap 28 allow marshals clean track. racing resumed 2 laps later buemi holding eleven-second advantage on abt. bird gained 2 positions passing ma , d ambrosio move twelfth @ restart. attention focused on battle third place di grassi closing prost. di grassi had more electrical energy prost , first move on latter saw him steer onto outside line on 38th lap. di grassi got alongside prost noted lack of room available , not overtake him. following lap, di grassi feigned second overtaking manoevure on prost @ same corner , passed him around inside move third place. senna recorded race s fastest lap on 39th lap. completed circuit in 59.067 seconds , earned 2 points. shortly after, announced di grassi under investigation speeding during full course yellow flag drawing closer teammate abt.

duval lost control of car on 43rd lap , slid backwards outside barriers lining circuit @ seventh turn. incident necessitated deployment of safety car , time gaps in field neutralised. although duval s vehicle stuck in place difficult retrieve, course marshals able extract car track , allowed race restart 2 laps left. buemi kept lead @ restart abt close behind him. abt informed team teammate di grassi faster him , ordered allow latter through. abt attempted let di grassi through latter not complete manoevure. when prost drew closer, abt realised switching positions di grassi carried risk of losing podium position , no switch took place. buemi maintained lead rest of race win eprix. abt took best formula e finish in second , teammate di grassi completed podium. off podium, prost secured fourth vergne fifth , frijns. heidfeld, conway, de silvestro , sarrazin rounded out points-scoring positions. outside top ten, british duo of bird , turvey took eleventh , twelfth. ahead of piquet, ma, senna , d ambrosio last of classified finishers. buemi s (and e.dams-renault s) third victory of season.

post-race

the top 3 drivers appeared on podium collect trophies , in later press conference. buemi revealed let vergne pass him , attacked him when latter had used more electrical energy. later said went fastest lap in second car, , despite not claiming achievement, described eprix weekend overall him. second-place finisher abt stated race amazing , spoke of happiness , thanked team providing him fast car. said start race, aware perform , opposition faced strong. di grassi, finished in third position, spoke of happiness in claiming position in spite of difficulties faced vergne on in-lap , safety car being deployed in race s closing laps, managed pass prost, made difficult overtake managed podium , stay in lead 1 point. couldn’t closer going london. open. london, , london weather, decide how championship goes.

after race, di grassi revealed press not favourable towards team orders expectations season s final race in event challenging championship , remarked rather lose title because of losing points rivals driver handing them him. abt said him did not matter if finished second or third affirmed team s objective win both championships: lucas has needs win himself. s amazing racing driver. hans-jürgen abt, team owner of audi sport abt, accepted son s failure not carry out team order , agreed driver integrity important area needed protecting, if lose 3 points maybe team not enough. showed people fair motorsport , think people more. turvey , bird perplexed by amount of penalties issued drivers, turvey saying, don t know why technical flag visual damage car. s frustrating. nelson had same issue. there number of cars got technical flags, shame. don t understand why got penalty. buemi joined him in criticism, claiming safety car sent out when there no danger present.

the result of race meant di grassi s advantage @ top of drivers championship had been reduced 1 point on rival buemi. bird maintained third place despite non-points scoring finish , d ambrosio kept fourth place. prost s fourth place result enabled him overtake sarrazin fifth. e.dams-renault still led constructors championship advantage on audi sport abt had grown eleven points. virgin gained 1 position move third while dragon fell fourth place. mahindra rounded out top 5 2 races left in season.