Races can be decided
in the first corner by having the best machine, but more of it can be
by placing yourself to do the right move, as Lucas
di Grassi did to win the Paris
ePrix and distancing himself in the
lead of the Formula E
championship.
Green lights were on
and Lucas di Grassi and Jean-Eric Vergné
jump into a gap to pass Sam Bird,
while a bit behind Sébastien Buemi
does a good start to gain some positions.
On lap 6 positions
seemed to be settled, except for Robin
Frijns, who overtook Antônio Felix da
Costa for the eighth place, while a mechanical problem made Loïc
Duval call it a day and brought the first yellow flag of the ePrix.
It took a bit more than a minute to get back to green when Buemi
resumed his chase for better positions as he tried to find a way to
pass Oliver Turvey, which he achieved in the only clear overtaking
point of the street circuit in the end of the main straight. Turvey
also lost position to Frijns, while da Costa and Nelson Piquet were
lurking behind the Englishman.
Past the first third
of racing, Buemi passed Stéphane
Sarrazin for fifth place, starting now
the chase for the leaders. DS Virgin
and Renault e.DAMS
had their cars at a close range, meaning a four-way French pursuit to
di Grassi. And while the Brazilian was confortably in the lead, the
four cars behind him had to deal with their team battles as Buemi
passed Nicolas Prost and
Bird was excessively forceful into Vergné’s car.
The pit stops did
nothing to change the order of the race, and also did nothing to cool
Bird’s desire to go past Vergné while Buemi took distance from
Prost. With open way after getting out of Prost’s clutches, Buemi
started the chase to the DS Virgin duo, with the Swiss driver getting
gradually closer and closer even though Vergné and Bird were a bit
settled. What was a second place battle became then the defense of
the third place for Bird, a thing that he was succeeding even though
Buemi was on Fan Boost mode.
Buemi tried to lure
Bird by playing with some late brake moves on the inside line of turn
1, but it was when Buemi took the outside line that finally got his
overtake, as on lap 40 Bird exaggerated in the brakes, the rear ones
locked up and the Englishman went straight to the runoff area.
Although he got back quickly, the podium was already lost for him, in
the same fashion of the Long Beach ePrix.
Debuting in Formula
E, Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua
got overly sideways and crashed in the outside wall of the main
straight, bringing the Safety Car on lap 41. It was expected that the
last four laps could be a fortune changer for Vergné and even Buemi,
the race director opted to end the race behind the Safety Car, saving
di Grassi of a late fight and giving his third victory in the season,
the second in a row.
With today’s
results, di Grassi’s lead goes to eleven points, as he now has 126
against 115 from Buemi, in what seems to be a more than consolidated
two-way battle for the drivers title, as Sam Bird is way behind in
third, with 82 points. Between the teams we also go to a two-way
fight as Renault e.DAMS still leads with 165 points against 158 from
ABT Audi, while Dragon Racing comes in third with 112 points.
The Formula E action
resumes in a month, as the Berlin ePrix
will be held in May 21st
in a different place than the Tempelhof Airport.
PHOTO: FIA
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