2015 Buenos Aires ePrix

CUST Race 4 of 11 of the 2014–15 Formula E season Argentina Buenos Aires ePrix Buenos_Aires_Formula_e.svg Layout of the Puerto Madero Street Circuit 10 January 2015 2015 FIA Formula E Buenos Aires ePrix 4 11 Puerto Madero Street Circuit, Buenos Aires, Argentina Street circuit 2.407 1.495 35 84.245 52.347 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Renault 1:09.134 SUI Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1:11.540 29 GBR António Félix da Costa Amlin Aguri PRT Nicolas Prost e.dams-Renault FRA Nelson Piquet Jr. China Racing BRA BUE thumb|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 kW 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. Qualifying position No. Driver Number Driver Team Time Gap Grid Final grid position 1 9 SUI Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Renault 1:09.134 - 1 2 3 ESP Jaime Alguersuari Virgin Racing 1:09.161 +0.027 23 23 GER Nick Heidfeld Venturi 1:09.367 +0.233 34 2 GBR Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1:09.388 +0.254 45 11 BRA Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT 1:09.521 +0.387 56 27 FRA Jean-Éric Vergne Andretti 1:09.527 +0.393 67 8 FRA Nicolas Prost e.dams-Renault 1:09.636 +0.502 78 55 PRT António Félix da Costa Amlin Aguri 1:09.658 +0.524 89 99 BRA Nelson Piquet Jr. China Racing 1:09.742 +0.608 910 5 IND Karun Chandhok Mahindra Racing 1:09.875 +0.741 1011 30 FRA Stéphane Sarrazin Venturi 1:10.165 +1.031 1112 66 GER Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT 1:10.329 +1.195 1213 6 ESP Oriol Servià Dragon Racing 1:10.588 +1.454 1314 28 USA Marco Andretti Andretti 1:10.713 +1.579 1415 88 CHN Ho-Pin Tung China Racing 1:11.049 +1.915 1516 23 MEX Salvador Durán Amlin Aguri 1:11.331 +2.197 1617 18 ITA Michela Cerruti Trulli 1:11.785 +2.651 1718 7 BEL Jérôme d'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 1:12.239 +3.105 PL19 21 BRA Bruno Senna Mahindra Racing 1:13.209 +4.075 1920 10 ITA Jarno Trulli Trulli No time 201 1 1 1 ㄧ Jarno Trulli has been given a 10-place grid penalty for changing the gearbox Race Pos. Position No. Car number Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 55 POR António Félix da Costa Amlin Aguri 35 48:52.100 8 25 2 8 FRA Nicolas Prost e.dams-Renault 35 +5.354s 7 18 3 99 BRA Nelson Piquet Jr. China Racing 35 +8.552s 9 15 4 3 ESP Jaime Alguersuari Virgin Racing 35 +11.148s 2 12 5 21 BRA Bruno Senna Mahindra Racing 35 +11.535s 19 10 6 27 FRA Jean-Éric Vergne Andretti 35 +13.319s 6 8 7 2 GBR Sam Bird Virgin Racing 35 +13.617s 4 6+22 2 8 23 GER Nick Heidfeld Venturi 35 +15.464 3 4 9 6 ESP Oriol Servià Dragon Racing 35 +19.334 13 2 10 30 FRA Stéphane Sarrazin Venturi 35 +28.973 11 1 11 88 CHN Ho-Pin Tung China Racing 35 +37.8583 3 15 12 28 USA Marco Andretti Andretti 34 +1 lap 14 13 66 GER Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT 33 Collision4 4 12 14 7 BEL Jérôme d'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 33 +2 laps PL Ret 10 ITA Jarno Trulli Trulli 30 Mechanical 20 Ret 11 BRA Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT 26 Suspension 5 Ret 9 SUI Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Renault 23 Suspension 1 31 1 Ret 18 ITA Michela Cerruti Trulli 20 Mechanical 17 Ret 5 IND Karun Chandhok Mahindra Racing 15 Suspension 10 DSQ 77 MEX Salvador Durán Amlin Aguri 35 +14.724s5 5 16 Notes: 3 1 – Three points for pole position. 4 2 – Two points for fastest lap. 5 4 - Ho Pin Tung has been given a drive through penalty converted into a 35-seconds time penalty for not reaching the minimum pit stop time. 6 4 - Daniel Abt has been given a drive through penalty converted into a 35-seconds time penalty for causing a collision. 7 5 – Salvador Durán finished in eighth position, but was disqualified for exceeding the maximum power usage.http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/january/post-race-penalties-buenos-aires-eprix.aspx Post-race penalties Buenos Aires ePrix - Official FIA Formula E Championship 2015-01-12 https://web.archive.org/web/20150114062623/http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/january/post-race-penalties-buenos-aires-eprix.aspx 2015-01-14 dead Lap leaders: 1-22 Buemi; 23-25 di Grassi; 26-32 Heidfeld; 33-35 da Costa Standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 BRA Lucas di Grassi 58 2 GBR Sam Bird 48 3 CHE Sébastien Buemi 43 4 FRA Nicolas Prost 42 5 BRA Nelson Piquet Jr. 37 Teams' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 FRA e.dams-Renault 85 2 GBR Virgin Racing 74 3 GER Audi Sport ABT 62 4 USA Andretti 41 5 USA Dragon Racing 38 Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References External links Official results |- style="text-align:center" |width="35%"|Previous race:2014 Punta del Este ePrix |width="30%"|FIA Formula E Championship2014–15 season |width="35%"|Next race:2015 Miami ePrix |- style="text-align:center" |width="35%"|Previous race:N/A |width="30%"|Buenos Aires ePrix |width="35%"|Next race:2016 Buenos Aires ePrix |- style="text-align:center" Buenos Aires ePrix Category:Buenos Aires ePrix Buenos Aires ePrix