2014 Beijing ePrix

2014 Beijing ePrix
The 2014 Beijing ePrix circuit around the Olympic Park.
Race Information
Date	13 September 2014
E-Prix No.	1
Official Name	2014 FIA Formula E Evergrande Spring Beijing ePrix
Location	Beijing Olympic Green Circuit, Beijing, China
Format	{{{format}}}
Lap length	3.453 km (2.146 mi)
Distance	25 laps / 86.325 km (53.640 mi)
Support Race	{{{support}}}
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Nicolas Prost
Team	e.dams-Renault
Time	1:42.200
Fastest Lap
Driver	Takuma Sato
Team	Amlin Aguri
Fastest Lap	1:45.101 on lap 21
ePrix Result
First	Second	Third
Lucas di Grassi	Franck Montagny	Sam Bird
Winner Team	Audi Sport Abt
Time	52:23.413
ePrix Guide
Previous		Next
None		2014 Putrajaya ePrix
Post-Race Test	{{{test}}}

The 2014 Beijing ePrix, officially known as the 2014 Evergrande Spring FIA Formula E Beijing ePrix, was the opening round of the 2014/15 FIA Formula E Championship, staged at the Beijing Olympic Green Circuit on the 13 September 2014. The race would be renowned as the first ever ePrix to be staged, and would be fondly remembered for its dramatic conclusion.

Qualifying would see Nicolas Prost become the first ever pole position starter in FE history, the Frenchman clinching FE's first pole by a quarter of a second. Lucas di Grassi completed the front row ahead of his teammate Daniel Abt, while Karun Chandhok and Franck Montagny completed the top five.

Prost would ace the first FE start to streak away with the lead off the grid, with di Grassi and Abt leading the chase from behind. Sam Bird and Montagny, whom had been penalised after qualifying, would make quick progress up the field, while Nelson Piquet Jr. faded early on.

Prost's lead would survive through the pit window, with drivers physically swapping cars, although Bird managed to gain a position by staying out an additional lap. Nick Heidfeld, meanwhile, would be the big winner from the car swap, leaping ahead of the two Audi Sport ABT cars to challenge Prost for the lead.

It was to be a tense conclusion to the first race, with Heidfeld inching ever closer to Prost, dragging the rest of the top seven with him as he did so. Ultimately, the German would wait until the final lap to finally make a move, sending a lunge inside Prost as the pair came towards the final corner.

Prost, however, would make a late move to block the German, resulting in a huge accident as the pair hit the brakes for the final corner of the race. Heidfeld's car was pitched into a mid-air roll, landing upside down, with Prost's ruined car skating to a stop alongside. Both scrambled clear uninjured, while di Grassi swept past to claim the first ever ePrix victory ahead of Montagny and Bird.

Background

Beijing was to be the first ePrix to be held, with the field having only completed a full race distance once during the final Donington Test in July. e.dams-Renault and Audi Sport Abt came into the first ePrix weekend as favourites, with Sébastien Buemi having set the fastest time in testing.

Late changes to the entry list meant that several drivers would get their first taste of Formula E in the first ePrix. Among these were Charles Pic, who signed for Andretti Autosport a few days before the ePrix, with Matthew Brabham joining as a reserve driver there. Takuma Sato was another late call up at Amlin Aguri, the Formula F1 star having to stand in for António Félix da Costa (although Sato had run at the final test for the team).

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2014 Beijing ePrix is displayed below:

2014 Beijing ePrix Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Car
2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
3	Jaime Alguersuari	Virgin Racing	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
5	Karun Chandhok	Mahindra Racing	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
6	Oriol Servià	Dragon Racing	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
8	Nicolas Prost	e.dams-Renault	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
9	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Renault	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
10	Jarno Trulli	Trulli Formula E Team	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
18	Michela Cerruti	Trulli Formula E Team	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
23	Nick Heidfeld	Venturi Formula E Team	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
27	Franck Montagny	Andretti Autosport	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
28	Charles Pic	Andretti Autosport	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi Formula E Team	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
55	Takuma Sato	Amlin Aguri	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
77	Katherine Legge	Amlin Aguri	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
88	Ho-Pin Tung	China Racing	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	China Racing	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
Source:

Practice

FP1

The first Formula E free practice session was topped by Lucas di Grassi for the Audi Sport ABT team. Di Grassi went fastest with a 1:41.937, half a second up on Sébastien Buemi's second best time in the E. dams Renault car. Sam Bird in the Virgin Racing car was a further four tenths down on Buemi in third.

Bruno Senna who finished the session in fifteenth looked set to finish on the top of the time sheets, however a mistake at the final corner on his final lap ruined his chances of securing first place.

FP2

Jérôme d'Ambrosio was the first driver to set a time with a 1:52.849. This time was immediately bettered by Nick Heidfeld with a 1:42.779. Eight minutes into the session Sébastien Buemi hit the wall at turn 6 bringing his session to a premature end. 

Bruno Senna then went fastest with a 1:41.341, the fastest time of the weekend at that point. Senna then on another quick lap was held up by Sam Bird's Virgin Racing car, Senna angrily gesticulating at Bird as he drove past. 

With five minutes to go, the home talent Ho-Pin Tung collided with the barrier at turn 18 after out-braking himself into the corner. This brought out the red flags bringing an end to the session.

Practice Results

The full results from both practice sessions is outlined below:

• FP1 Results
• FP2 Results

2014 Beijing ePrix FP1 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap
1st	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	1:41.937	—
2nd	9	Sébastien Buemi	E.Dams	1:42.510	+0.483s
3rd	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	1:42.902	+0.965s
4th	8	Nicolas Prost	E.Dams	1:42.961	+1.024s
5th	5	Karun Chandhok	Mahindra Racing	1:43.220	+1.283s
6th	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	1:43.539	+1.602s
7th	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	1:43.626	+1.689s
8th	27	Franck Montagny	Andretti Formula E	1:44.102	+2.165s
9th	28	Charles Pic	Andretti Formula E	1:44.182	+2.245s
10th	10	Jarno Trulli	Trulli Formula E Team	1:44.520	+2.583s
11th	30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi Formula E Team	1:44.522	+2.585s
12th	88	Ho-Pin Tung	China Racing	1:44.839	+2.902s
13th	99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	China Racing	1:45.146	+3.209s
14th	55	Takuma Sato	Amlin Aguri	1:45.450	+3.513s
15th	21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	1:45.469	+3.532s
16th	3	Jaime Alguersuari	Virgin Racing	1:45.982	+4.045s
17th	23	Nick Heidfeld	Venturi Formula E Team	1:46.579	+4.642s
18th	18	Michela Cerruti	Trulli Formula E Team	1:46.778	+4.841s
19th	6	Oriol Servià	Dragon Racing	1:50.872	+8.935s
20th	77	Katherine Legge	Amlin Aguri	1:51.850	+9.913s
Source:

2014 Beijing ePrix FP2 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap
1st	21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	1:41.341	—
2nd	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	1:41.676	+0.335s
3rd	88	Ho-Pin Tung	China Racing	1:41.824	+0.483s
4th	27	Franck Montagny	Andretti Formula E	1:41.845	+0.504s
5th	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	1:42.172	+0.831s
6th	10	Jarno Trulli	Trulli Formula E Team	1:42.457	+1.127s
7th	3	Jaime Alguersuari	Virgin Racing	1:42.601	+1.260s
8th	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	1:42.720	+1.370s
9th	23	Nick Heidfeld	Venturi Formula E Team	1:42.779	+1.438s
10th	99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	China Racing	1:42.788	+1.447s
11th	28	Charles Pic	Andretti Formula E	1:42.904	+1.563s
12th	8	Nicolas Prost	E.Dams	1:42.934	+1.593s
13th	5	Karun Chandhok	Mahindra Racing	1:43.159	+1.818s
14th	30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi Formula E Team	1:43.713	+2.372s
15th	6	Oriol Servià	Dragon Racing	1:43.853	+2.512s
16th	18	Michela Cerruti	Trulli Formula E Team	1:45.489	+4.148s
17th	77	Katherine Legge	Amlin Aguri	1:46.171	+4.830s
18th	55	Takuma Sato	Amlin Aguri	1:48.499	DNF
19th	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	1:48.956	+7.615s
20th	9	Sébastien Buemi	E.Dams	2:24.162	DNF
Source:

Qualifying

Group 1

The first group of cars out on track for the qualifying were the two Trulli GP cars of Jarno Trulli and Michela Cerruti, Karun Chandhok of Mahindra Racing, Oriol Servià of Dragon Racing and Stéphane Sarrazin of Venturi Grand Prix. 

Chandhok set the first time with a 1:43.531, Servia then went slightly slower with a 1:43.780 whilst then Cerruti then went much slower with a 1:46.170. Whilst Sarrazin was on his flying lap, he suffered a mechanical failure being forced to pull off the circuit and withdraw from qualifying. Whilst Trulli was on his flying lap he went wide at one of the chicanes, hit a bump and went partially airborne, with the rear of his car clouting the barrier. Trulli was forced to pull off the circuit and withdraw from qualifying as well. 

On Chandhok's second lap he was able to improve to a 1:42.461. Servia was unable to better Chandhok's time after a major lock-up on his second flying lap, yet improved to a 1:42.847. Cerruti, however failed to better her time. 

Group 2

The second group consisted of Sam Bird from Virgin Racing, Charles Pic of Andretti Autosport, Takuma Sato of Amlin Aguri and Jérôme d'Ambrosio of Dragon Racing and Ho-Pin Tung of China Racing.

Sato was the first driver to set a time with a 1:44.129, Tung then set a time of 1:45.282. Bird then went fastest of the group with a 1:42.936. Both Sato and Tung had made mistakes on their laps, both nearly clipping the barriers. Pic then put in a time of 1:42.461 to go fastest of the group. Sato was unable to improve his time whilst Bird improved to do a 1:42.918. D'Ambrosio was unable to improve on his 1:44.056 whilst Tung spun on his final flying lap.

Pic went fastest of the group, yet none of the drivers were able to surpass Karun Chandhok's time.

Group 3

The third group consisted of Nicolas Prost of e. dams Renault, Lucas di Grassi of Audi Sport ABT, Daniel Abt of Audi Sport ABT, Katherine Legge of Amlin Aguri and Sébastien Buemi of e. dams Renault.

Di Grassi set the first flying lap with a 1:42.308, taking provisional pole away from Chandhok. Teammate Abt then set a time of 1:43.043. Buemi then was able to set a lap-time of 1:42.746. Prost then went faster to set the fastest time of the session with a 1:42.200. Legge was an uncompetitive twelfth after her first lap.  

Di Grassi only slightly improved his second lap to a 1:42.306, but was unable to beat Prost whilst Abt improved to a 1:42.454. There was problems for the two e. dams Renault cars, Prost ran wide off the circuit and landed in the barrier, causing him to end his session whilst Buemi also tapped the barriers, damaging the rear of his car causing him to stop on track. 

Group 4

Jaime Alguersuari of Virgin Racing, Bruno Senna of Mahindra Racing, Nick Heidfeld of Venturi Grand Prix, Franck Montagny of Andretti Autosport and Nelson Piquet, Jr. of China Racing made up the final qualifying group.

Senna was unable to leave the pits to set a lap due to a mechanical issue that kept his car grounded. Heidfeld was the first driver to set a lap with a 1:42.579. Montagny could only manage a 1:42.530 after running wide at the chicane. Piquet similarly was finding his car a handful and could not set a competitive lap-time. Alguersuari's first time was only good enough for eleventh. 

Piquet's second time was a 1:42.785 whilst Alguersuari improved for a 1:42.683. Both Heidfeld and Montagny failed to improve their time on their second run.

Post-Qualifying

The final qualifying result for the 2014 Beijing ePrix are outlined below:

2014 Beijing ePrix Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid	Group
1st	8	Nicolas Prost	e.dams-Renault	1:42.200	—	1	G3
2nd	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	1:42.308	+0.106s	2	G3
3rd	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	1:42.454	+0.254s	3	G3
4th	5	Karun Chandhok	Mahindra Racing	1:42.461	+0.261s	4	G1
5th*	27	Franck Montagny	Andretti Autosport	1:42.530	+0.330s	8	G4
6th	23	Nick Heidfeld	Venturi Formula E Team	1:42.579	+0.379s	5	G4
7th	3	Jaime Alguersuari	Virgin Racing	1:42.683	+0.483s	6	G4
8th	28	Charles Pic	Andretti Autosport	1:42.726	+0.526s	7	G2
9th†	9	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Renault	1:42.746	+0.546s	18	G3
10th	99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	China Racing	1:42.785	+0.585s	9	G4
11th	6	Oriol Servià	Dragon Racing	1:42.847	+0.647s	10	G1
12th	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	1:42.918	+0.718s	11	G2
13th	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	1:44.056	+1.856s	12	G2
14th	55	Takuma Sato	Amlin Aguri	1:44.129	+1.929s	13	G2
15th†	88	Ho-Pin Tung	China Racing	1:45.282	+3.082s	17	G2
16th	77	Katherine Legge	Amlin Aguri	1:45.369	+3.169s	14	G3
17th†	18	Michela Cerruti	Trulli Formula E Team	1:46.170	+3.970s	16	G1
107% Time: 1:52.420
NC§	10	Jarno Trulli	Trulli Formula E Team	—		20	G1
NC‡	21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	—		15	G4
NC§	30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi Formula E Team	—		19	G1
Source:

• * Montagny pushed back three places for a pitlane infringement.
• ^† Tung, Cerruti and Buemi all handed ten place penalties for gearbox changes
• ^‡ Senna would race at the steward's discretion after failing to set a time.
• ^§ Sarrazin and Trulli served ten place grid penalties for changing their gearboxes, and would race at the stewards' discretion.

Race

Prior to the start of the first ever ePrix, the three driver's to be given the "FanBoost" were identified as Katherine Legge, Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna. Penalties were given to numerous drivers, with Franck Montagny demoted three for entering the fast lane before the track had been opened, while Sarrizan, Tung, Buemi and Cerruti all dropped ten places through gearbox changes.

Report

With grid lined up, the 2014 Beijing ePrix, the first of race of it's kind saw the grid stream away virtually in grid order, apart from Ho-Pin Tung, whose car failed to get off the line at the start (he later rejoined a lap later). Montagny's penalty put him below his team mate on the grid, the result of which meant that Charles Pic nearly hit the wall at the second corner as his team mate snuck through on the inside. Their slower speed bunched up the pack, with contact between Bruno Senna and the Amlin Aguri duo of Legge and Sato putting the Brazilian out of the race.

Sebastien Buemi's day could have gone better.

At the front, Nicolas Prost slowly pulled away, with the Audi Sport Abt cars attempting to stay with him at the front. Sam Bird and Montagny, meanwhile, were battling through the field, both slipping past Jaime Alguersuari in the space of two corners, while the groups of cars behind them saw Nelson Piquet drop from tenth to twelfth in the same spot. At the very back of the field, Jarno Trulli pulled off with a technical issue, with Buemi joining him on the list of retirements on lap 14.

Attention turned to the pitstops as the race approached half distance, with the majority of the top ten coming in on lap 13. The only driver to stay out, on what looked to an inspired decision was Bird, who gained one place through his extra lap, and would have a fresher car under him in the latter part of the race. Apart from Bird, the only other change in the top ten was for Nick Heidfeld , whose quick stop put him ahead of the Abt cars, and just outside striking distance of Prost. With the pitstops completed, the race became a waiting game, as gaps across the field closed.

But then again, so could Nick Heidfeld's.

Heidfeld dragged the rest of the top seven behind him as he slowly closed on Prost, with the leading seven split by 8.7 seconds at the start of the final lap. Heidfeld himself was within striking distance, and waited patiently for his opportunity to arise. With the final corner approaching, Heidfeld, who got a good drive out of the previous corner and easily pulled behind Prost, swung to the inside as Prost looked for him in the opposite mirror. With the braking zone fast approaching, Prost moved to the inside, straight into the path of the oncoming Heidfeld whom he had not seen in the mirror. Prost's front wheel was hit, smashing the suspension, while Heidfeld was sent into a slide. Unfortunately for the German, however, his slide carried him into a kerb, which put the car into a roll in the air, meaning he hit the barrier on the outside of the final corner upside down. Both were out of the race, but, more importantly, both walked away unharmed.

Their crash promoted Lucas di Grassi to first, as he claimed the first ever ePrix for Audi Sport Abt, leading home the improving Montagny and team mate Daniel Abt over the line, with Bird a few seconds behind. Abt was demoted shortly after the conclusion of the race (a 57 second time penalty for exceeding the maximum energy use of 28kWh) promoting Bird to the podium. Legge and Alguersuari would also suffer from the energy use penalty, while Prost was handed a ten place grid penalty for the next race in Putrajaya for causing the accident. Takuma Sato was awarded the two available points for fastest lap, despite a disappointing day which left him 17th in the race.

Results

The final classification of the 2014 Beijing ePrix is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold.

2014 Beijing ePrix Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	25	52:23.413	1:46.718	25
2nd	27	Franck Montagny	Andretti Autosport	25	+2.867s	1:46.640	18
3rd	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	25	+6.559s	1:46.563	15
4th	28	Charles Pic	Andretti Autosport	25	+19.301s	1:46.730	12
5th	5	Karun Chandhok	Mahindra Racing	25	+23.952s	1:45.882	10
6th	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	25	+31.664s	1:47.313	8
7th	6	Oriol Servià	Dragon Racing	25	+41.968s	1:47.361	6
8th	99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	China Racing	25	+43.896s	1:47.819	4
9th	30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi Formula E Team	25	+43.975s	1:47.832	2
10th*	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	25	+1:02.507	1:46.551	1
11th*	3	Jaime Alguersuari	Virgin Racing	25	+2:00.613	1:47.914
12th†	8	Nicolas Prost	e.dams-Renault	24	Collision	1:46.227	3
13th	23	Nick Heidfeld	Venturi Formula E Team	24	+1 Lap	1:46.214
14th	18	Michela Cerruti	Trulli Formula E Team	24	+1 Lap	1:49.469
15th*	77	Katherine Legge	Amlin Aguri	24	+1 Lap	1:48.753
16th	88	Ho-Pin Tung	China Racing	23	+2 Laps	1:48.793
NC‡	55	Takuma Sato	Amlin Aguri	21	+4 Laps	1:45.101	2
Ret	9	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Renault	14	Damage	1:45.874
Ret	10	Jarno Trulli	Trulli Formula E Team	2	Damage	1:52.596
Ret	21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	0	Accident	—
Source:

• Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race.
• * Abt, Alguersuari and Legge were all given 57 second penalties for exceeding the maximum energy use limit (28 kW/h)
• ^† Prost was awarded a ten place grid penalty for the 2014 Putrajaya ePrix for causing a collision.
• ^‡ Sato was not classified as he had failed to complete 90% of the race distance.

Milestones

• First ePrix to be held.
• First race for all drivers and teams.
• Maiden pole position for Nicolas Prost.
• First pole for e.Dams as an entrant.
• Lucas di Grassi claimed his first ePrix victory.
• ABT Sportsline secured their maiden win.
• Maiden podium finishes for Franck Montagny and Sam Bird.
  • Also the first podia for their respective teams Andretti Formula E and Virgin Racing.
• Maiden points finishes for Charles Pic, Karun Chandhok, Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Oriol Servià, Nelson Piquet Jr., Stéphane Sarrazin, Daniel Abt, Prost and Takuma Sato.
• First, and only, fastest lap to be recorded by Sato.

Standings

The historic victory for Lucas di Grassi ensured that the Brazilian racer left Beijing in-charge of the Drivers' Championship, holding a seven point gap over Franck Montagny. Sam Bird showed he could be a potential title contender with a strong display to end the day third, while Takuma Sato took the points for fastest lap to leave him in eleventh. Nicolas Prost had made history by claiming pole, but his last-lap drama meant that he was ninth in the table.

Andretti Autosport had started the season as the strongest team mathematically, leaving the Chinese capital with a four point advantage over Audi Sport ABT. Virgin Racing held a one point lead over Dragon Racing in third, with the Venturi Formula E Team and Amlin Aguri tied on points in eighth and ninth. At the back, meanwhile, would be the Trulli Formula E Team, which was the only team not to register a point at the opening round.

2014/15 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Lucas di Grassi 25 ◄0 2nd Franck Montagny 18 ◄0 3rd Sam Bird 15 ◄0 4th Charles Pic 12 ◄0 5th Karun Chandhok 10 ◄0 6th Jérôme d'Ambrosio 8 ◄0 7th Oriol Servià 6 ◄0 8th Nelson Piquet Jr. 4 ◄0 9th Nicolas Prost 3 ◄0 10th Stéphane Sarrazin 2 ◄0 11th Takuma Sato 2 ◄0 12th Daniel Abt 1 ◄0

2014/15 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Andretti Autosport 30 ◄0 2nd Audi Sport ABT 26 ◄0 3rd Virgin Racing 15 ◄0 4th Dragon Racing 14 ◄0 5th Mahindra Racing 10 ◄0 6th China Racing 4 ◄0 7th e.dams-Renault 3 ◄0 8th Venturi Formula E Team 2 ◄0 9th Amlin Aguri 2 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

Videos and Images:

• Buemi damage: http://www.reddit.com/r/FormulaEPorn/comments/2gcfuu/
• Heidfeld Smash: http://f1grandchelem.forumcommunity.net/?t=56814888

References: