2015 Buenos Aires ePrix

Argentina  2015 Buenos Aires ePrix
Race details
Race 4 of 11 of the 2014–15 Formula E season

Layout of the Puerto Madero Street Circuit
Date 10 January 2015
Official name 2015 FIA Formula E Buenos Aires ePrix
Location Puerto Madero Street Circuit, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Course Street circuit
Course length 2.407 km (1.495 mi)
Distance 35 laps, 84.245 km (52.347 mi)
Pole position
Driver e.dams-Renault
Time 1:09.134
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Sam Bird Virgin Racing
Time 1:11.540 on lap 29
Podium
First Amlin Aguri
Second e.dams-Renault
Third China Racing
Puerto Madero Street Circuit, previous to the 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix.

The 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix, formally the 2015 FIA Formula E Buenos Aires ePrix was a Formula E motor race held on 10 January 2015 at the Puerto Madero Street Circuit in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was the first edition of the Buenos Aires ePrix and the fourth championship race of the single-seater, electrically powered racing car series' inaugural season. The race was won by António Félix da Costa.

Report

Background

Nick Heidfeld, Jean-Éric Vergne, and Bruno Senna were voted to receive the FanBoost (an extra 30 kWh for five seconds per car).

Race

Sébastien Buemi started on pole position, with Jaime Alguersuari and Nick Heidfeld behind him. Going into the first hairpin, Heidfeld managed to brake later and overtake Alguersuari on the outside. The field seemed to be free of incidents throughout the first couple of laps, but Michela Cerruti was seen entering the pits, possibly after making contact with Bruno Senna. Meanwhile, championship leader Lucas di Grassi overtook Sam Bird for fourth position and Heidfeld deployed his FanBoost at the main straight, but he failed to take the lead from Buemi. On lap 7, di Grassi passed Alguersuari and moved up to third, and passed Heidfeld in turn five, on lap 14. Heidfeld fell further down the order when he had to use the run-off area at turn 8 and was overtaken by both Virgin drivers.

The first major incident of the race happened on lap 16, when Karun Chandhok's right-rear suspension broke and he hit the wall. Just before the race was neutralised, Heidfeld managed to take his position back from Bird, and Alguersuari was seen entering the pits with five others. Those who waited a lap to come in, including Buemi and di Grassi, were stuck behind Cerruti, because overtaking was not permitted under yellow flags. Because the safety car picked up the leader at the moment Buemi was in the pits, there was much confusion about who was in the lead. However, it was still Buemi, di Grassi, and Heidfeld at the top of the standings, so on lap 21, every driver not in the lead lap was told to pass the safety car and catch up with the rest of the field.

Green flags showed with thirteen laps to go. Almost immediately, however, the leader Buemi hit the wall on the inside of turn 8, broke his suspension and had to retire. The top three was now filled by di Grassi, Heidfeld, and Bird, but the latter quickly received a drive-through penalty for ignoring the red lights at the end of the pit lane. On lap 26, di Grassi's suspension broke in the same fashion as Chandhok's had done, sending another race leader into retirement. The safety car was not deemed to be required, because both Buemi and di Grassi had managed to park their cars safely.

The last three laps saw Jean-Éric Vergne aggressively overtaking Alguersuari for third place and Nick Heidfeld being given a drive-through penalty for going over the pit lane speed limit, making António Félix da Costa, who had been relatively invisible throughout the race, the fourth race leader in ten laps. Meanwhile, Alguersuari was being attacked by Nicolas Prost, Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Daniel Abt. Vergne joined them when he missed his braking point twice and fell back from second to fifth. Abt tried to overtake Prost on the dirtier side of the track, but ended up hitting the back of Alguersuari instead and retiring with one lap to go. Félix da Costa took victory, with Prost second, Piquet third, Alguersuari fourth, and Senna fifth; Vergne had had to slow down to save energy.

Results

Qualifying

Pos. No. Driver Team Time Gap Grid
1 9 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Renault 1:09.134 - 1
2 3 Spain Jaime Alguersuari Virgin Racing 1:09.161 +0.027 2
3 23 Germany Nick Heidfeld Venturi 1:09.367 +0.233 3
4 2 United Kingdom Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1:09.388 +0.254 4
5 11 Brazil Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT 1:09.521 +0.387 5
6 27 France Jean-Éric Vergne Andretti 1:09.527 +0.393 6
7 8 France Nicolas Prost e.dams-Renault 1:09.636 +0.502 7
8 55 Portugal António Félix da Costa Amlin Aguri 1:09.658 +0.524 8
9 99 Brazil Nelson Piquet, Jr. China Racing 1:09.742 +0.608 9
10 5 India Karun Chandhok Mahindra Racing 1:09.875 +0.741 10
11 30 France Stéphane Sarrazin Venturi 1:10.165 +1.031 11
12 66 Germany Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT 1:10.329 +1.195 12
13 6 Spain Oriol Servià Dragon Racing 1:10.588 +1.454 13
14 28 United States Marco Andretti Andretti 1:10.713 +1.579 14
15 88 China Ho-Pin Tung China Racing 1:11.049 +1.915 15
16 23 Mexico Salvador Durán Amlin Aguri 1:11.331 +2.197 16
17 18 Italy Michela Cerruti Trulli 1:11.785 +2.651 17
18 7 Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 1:12.239 +3.105 18
19 21 Brazil Bruno Senna Mahindra Racing 1:13.209 +4.075 19
20 10 Italy Jarno Trulli Trulli No time 20

Race

Pos. No. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 55 Portugal António Félix da Costa Amlin Aguri 35 48:52.100 8 25
2 8 France Nicolas Prost e.dams-Renault 35 +5.354s 7 18
3 99 Brazil Nelson Piquet, Jr. China Racing 35 +8.552s 9 15
4 3 Spain Jaime Alguersuari Virgin Racing 35 +11.148s 2 12
5 21 Brazil Bruno Senna Mahindra Racing 35 +11.535s 19 10
6 27 France Jean-Éric Vergne Andretti 35 +13.319s 6 8
7 2 United Kingdom Sam Bird Virgin Racing 35 +13.617s 4 82
8 23 Germany Nick Heidfeld Venturi 35 +15.464 3 4
9 6 Spain Oriol Servià Dragon Racing 35 +19.334 13 2
10 30 France Stéphane Sarrazin Venturi 35 +28.973 11 1
11 88 China Ho-Pin Tung China Racing 35 +37.858 15
12 28 United States Marco Andretti Andretti 34 +1 lap 14
13 66 Germany Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT 34 +2 laps 12
14 7 Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 33 +2 laps 18
Ret 10 Italy Jarno Trulli Trulli 30 Mechanical 20
Ret 11 Brazil Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT 26 Suspension 5
Ret 9 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Renault 23 Suspension 1 31
Ret 18 Italy Michela Cerruti Trulli 20 Mechanical 17
Ret 5 India Karun Chandhok Mahindra Racing 15 Suspension 10
DSQ 77 Mexico Salvador Durán Amlin Aguri 35 +14.724s3 16

Notes:

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Brazil Lucas di Grassi 58
2 United Kingdom Sam Bird 48
3 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi 43
4 France Nicolas Prost 42
5 Brazil Nelson Piquet, Jr. 37

Teams' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 France e.dams-Renault 85
2 United Kingdom Virgin Racing 74
3 Germany Audi Sport ABT 62
4 United States Andretti 41
5 United States Dragon Racing 38

References

External links

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FIA Formula E Championship
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