Buemi wins Berlin ePrix to spice up season finale

Renault e.Dams driver Sebastien Buemi has won the FIA Formula E Berlin ePrix, leaving Abt Schaeffler’s drivers Daniel Abt and Lucas di Grassi on 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Brazilian driver could be penalized after the race what will cause change in the top of he standings. Di Grassi has 141 points while Buemi has 140 but that can change when the stewards made final decision.

Sebastien Bumi was the fastest in qualifying, but the super pole battle won Jean-Eric Vergne and that was first pole position for the DS Virgin Racing driver. Renault e.Dams driver was only 0.016s slower while Daniel Abt clinched third starting position. For the first time in the history of the series, both Mahindra cars managed to get in the Super pole battle – Bruno Senna took fourth and Nick Heidfeld fifth place, but they were pulled back at the starting grid due to inappropriate tyre pressure. Unfortunately, Stephane Sarrazin started from pit because of the crash he had during qualifying.

Detail from Berlin e.Prix

Buemi had a perfect start and took the reigns before the first turn but the Frenchman quickly bounced back. Those two continued their battle and Buemi retook the lead on lap 6 but that meant nothing as the gaps between top 6 were really small. Abt took second place from Vergne, Nico Prost moved up to fourth after Sam Bird suffered some technical problems with his car while championship leader Lucas di Grassi was in the fifth position. Just before the pit, Vergne lost a front wing and allowed Prost to take the third position.

After pit was completed, the only change was that di Grassi and Vergne swapped their positions. In lap 28 full course yellow was announced due to slippery part of the track but that hasn’t changed anything. Buemi was well ahead of his rivals and had opened the path to the victory. In lap 39 di Grassi did nice move to overtake Prost for the third position while on lap 43 safety car was deployed again because of Loic Duval’s crash.

Safety car went in with two laps to go but Buemi was calm enough to retain top spot and to score the third victory this season and to take championship lead over Lucas di Grassi. Daniel Abt finished second, what is his best result this year, and di Grassi was third but he is under investigation because of speeding under the yellow flag.

Berlin ePrix podium – Abt, Buemi and di Grassi

Nico Prost finished fourth, Vergne took fifth place while Robin Frijns, Nick Heidfeld, Mike Conway, Simona De Silvestro and Stephane Sarrazin also scored points in Berlin.