2015 Berlin ePrix

2015 Berlin ePrix
Berlin Formula E Circuit
Race Information
Date	23 May 2015
E-Prix No.	8
Official Name	2015 DHL Berlin ePrix
Location	Tempelhof Airport Circuit, Templelhof Airbase, Berlin, Germany
Format	{{{format}}}
Lap length	2.470 km (1.535 mi)
Distance	33 laps / 81.510 km (50.648 mi)
Support Race	{{{support}}}
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Jarno Trulli
Team	Trulli Formula E Team
Time	1:21.547
Fastest Lap
Driver	Nelson Piquet Jr.
Team	NextEV TCR
Fastest Lap	1:24.435 on lap 20
ePrix Result
First	Second	Third
Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Sébastien Buemi	Loïc Duval
Winner Team	Dragon Racing
Time	48:26.566
ePrix Guide
Previous		Next
2015 Monaco ePrix		2015 Moscow ePrix
Post-Race Test	{{{test}}}

The 2015 Berlin ePrix, otherwise known as the 2015 DHL Berlin ePrix, was the eighth round of the 2014/15 FIA Formula E Championship, held on 23 May 2015. The circuit was carved onto the apron at Tempelhof Airport in the heart of Berlin, scene of the infamous Berlin Airlifts in 1948.

Jarno Trulli claimed a surprise pole position for his self-entered team during qualifying, the Italian racer beating Lucas di Grassi by a tenth of a second. Sébastien Buemi was third ahead of Nick Heidfeld, while title protagonist Nelson Piquet Jr. was a lowly thirteenth.

Trulli recaptured the pace of his younger years to sprint ahead at the start, leaving di Grassi to fend off the field behind for second. Elsewhere, Sam Bird and Jean-Éric Vergne made good progress, while Piquet could only just hold onto his grid position through a clean turn one.

Daniel Abt would be the big loser on the first lap, throwing himself into a spin in the middle of the pack, almost wiping out Piquet. Out front, meanwhile, Trulli's pace would dramatically fade during the early stages, effectively gifting the lead to di Grassi on lap five.

Indeed, Trulli proceeded to tumble down the order, providing little resistance to those behind. One of those to take him was Jérôme d'Ambrosio, whose pace was so strong that he even managed to take second away from Buemi, and close onto the back of di Grassi ahead of the car swap.

The stops would see Piquet make tremendous ground, the Brazilian racer staying out a lap longer than everyone else to leap into the top five. di Grassi, meanwhile, managed to extend his lead, and duly eased away in a quiet second half of the race to claim victory from d'Ambrosio and Buemi.

After the race, however, it was found that di Grassi had used a modified front wing, effectively making his car illegal. The Brazilian racer, in spite of some brief protests by Audi Sport ABT, was duly disqualified, handing d'Ambrosio a maiden victory, and his Dragon teammate Loïc Duval a first podium.

Background

Berlin would play host to Formula E's eighth race of the 2014/15 campaign, with the apron of the legendary Tempelhof Airport providing ample room for the series. The circuit itself was one of the more complicated on the calendar, with rough concrete and multiple corners ensuring that drivers would have to fight their cars throughout the lap. In terms of the entry list there were no major changes between Monaco and Berlin, despite a number of other events happening on the same weekend.

Heading into Berlin, Lucas di Grassi held a four point lead in the Drivers' Championship, in-spite of Sébastien Buemi's second victory of the season in Monaco. The Swiss racer himself was up to third, with ten points separating him from the Brazilian, with Nelson Piquet Jr. sat in second, four behind his compatriot. Nicolas Prost and Sam Bird round out the top five in the Championship ahead of the Berlin ePrix, with another potential 30 points on offer for the driver who has the perfect weekend.

Prost and Buemi's three combined wins, and monumental points total of 160 points meant e.dams-Renault held a clear lead over the rest of the field in the Teams' Championship. Audi Sport ABT were the only other team in treble figures for the season, while NextEV TCR's meteoric rise through the table over the last two rounds had seen them close to within a point of Virgin Racing in third. Venturi were off the foot of the table for the first time since Punta del Este, having overtaken the Trulli Formula E Team last time out.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2015 Berlin ePrix is displayed below:

2015 Berlin 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	Loïc Duval	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	Vitantonio Liuzzi	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	Jean-Éric Vergne	Andretti Autosport	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
28	Scott Speed	Andretti Autosport	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi Formula E Team	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
55	António Félix da Costa	Amlin Aguri	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
77	Salvador Duran	Amlin Aguri	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
88	Charles Pic	NextEV TCR	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	NextEV TCR	Spark-Renault	SRT_01E
Source:

Practice

Practice Results

The full results from both practice sessions is outlined below:

• FP1 Results
• FP2 Results

2015 Berlin ePrix FP1 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap
1st	9	Sébastien Buemi	E.Dams	1:23:158	—
2nd	23	Nick Heidfeld	Venturi Formula E Team	1:23.158	+1.573s
3rd	3	Jaime Alguersuari	Virgin Racing	1:24.782	+1.624s
4th	27	Jean-Éric Vergne	Andretti Formula E	1:24.870	+1.712s
5th	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	1:25.017	+1.859s
6th	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	1:25.021	+1.863s
7th	28	Scott Speed	Andretti Formula E	1:25.105	+1.947s
8th	6	Loïc Duval	Dragon Racing	1:25.123	+1.965s
9th	30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi Formula E Team	1:25.127	+1.969s
10th	8	Nicolas Prost	E.Dams	1:25.135	+1.977s
11th	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	1:25.183	+2.025s
12th	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Trulli Formula E Team	1:25.269	+2.111s
13th	99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	China Racing	1:25.342	+2.184s
14th	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	1:25.370	+2.212s
15th	88	Charles Pic	China Racing	1:25.442	+2.284s
16th	55	António Félix da Costa	Amlin Aguri	1:25.448	+2.290s
17th	10	Jarno Trulli	Trulli Formula E Team	1:25.465	+2.307s
18th	21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	1:25.474	+2.316s
19th	77	Salvador Duran	Amlin Aguri	1:25.648	+2.490s
20th	5	Karun Chandhok	Mahindra Racing	1:25.814	+2.656s

2015 Berlin ePrix FP2 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap
1st	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	1:22.032	—
2nd	8	Nicolas Prost	E.Dams	1:22.192	+0.160s
3rd	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	1:22.197	+0.165s
4th	3	Jaime Alguersuari	Virgin Racing	1:22.255	+0.223s
5th	27	Jean-Éric Vergne	Andretti Formula E	1:22.260	+0.228s
6th	28	Scott Speed	Andretti Formula E	1:22.308	+0.276s
7th	99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	China Racing	1:22.416	+0.384s
8th	9	Sébastien Buemi	E.Dams	1:22.452	+0.420s
9th	55	António Félix da Costa	Amlin Aguri	1:22.584	+0.552s
10th	6	Loïc Duval	Dragon Racing	1:22.601	+0.569s
11th	88	Charles Pic	China Racing	1:22.763	+0.731s
12th	23	Nick Heidfeld	Venturi Formula E Team	1:22.820	+0.788s
13th	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	1:22.856	+0.824s
14th	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Trulli Formula E Team	1:22.977	+0.945s
15th	21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	1:22.982	+0.950s
16th	30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi Formula E Team	1:23.315	+1.283s
17th	5	Karun Chandhok	Mahindra Racing	1:23.342	+1.310s
18th	77	Salvador Duran	Amlin Aguri	1:23.452	+1.420s
19th	10	Jarno Trulli	Trulli Formula E Team	1:23.882	+1.850s
20th	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	1:24.773	+2.741s

Qualifying

Qualifying in Berlin was to use the familiar four group format used throughout the season, with the draw for the groups made just after Practice Two. Qualifying commenced at 12:00 local time, with each group getting 10 minutes to post a competitive time.

Group 1

The Trulli duo of Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jarno Trulli were to lead out Group One and open qualifying, joined by Nelson Piquet Jr., Bruno Senna and António Félix da Costa. Current form suggested that Piquet should emerge from the session near the front row of the grid, if not on it, with the rest of the Group set to be in a battle to get into the top ten.

Yet, flying in the face of form, it was the two Trulli machines that ended the 10 minute session on top, with Trulli himself almost half a second quicker than team mate Liuzzi in second. Pole favourite Piquet found himself trailing by over eight tenths of a second, with Senna and da Costa rounding out the group, and looking set (like Piquet) to tumble down the order.

Group 2

Headlining Group Two were the Andretti Autosport aces in Scott Speed and Jean-Éric Vergne, particularly as Vergne had already taken two pole positions so far. Jaime Alguersuari, Stéphane Sarrazin and Salvador Duran also found themselves in the second group, although they were expected, like most of the first group, to be battling for the lower end of the grid.

But, again, the twisty nature of Tempelhof's new circuit threw the form book away, with none of Group Two able to beat Trulli's time. Vergne only just beat Liuzzi's time, (a feat that Speed could not achieve), and found himself behind Sarrazin as well. A disappointing session was rounded out by Alguersuari and Duran, who both managed to beat the times of da Costa and Senna.

Group 3

Action looked to be on the horizon in Group Three, as two title contenders in Lucas di Grassi and Nicolas Prost looked set to do battle for pole. Nick Heidfeld (at his home race) and Jérôme d'Ambrosio were also considered to be dark horses for the top end of the grid, while Charles Pic would hope to beat his best qualifying position since joining NextEV TCR four rounds earlier.

Form seemed to have found a foothold in Group Three, although di Grassi still fell short of Trulli's time, almost a tenth slower. Heidfeld slotted in immediately behind di Grassi, as did d'Ambrosio, both ahead of Prost who was disappointed in fifth as it stood. Pic, as predicted, found himself in the second half of the standings, and looked set to fall even further after Group Four got their turn.

Group 4

Rounding out qualifying in Berlin were three drivers who had experienced either pole or victory (or both) during the season. Sébastien Buemi had the winds of history behind him after his Monaco performance, while Sam Bird and Daniel Abt would have to call on earlier promise to aid their ole bids. Loïc Duval and Karun Chandhok would round out the group, with both looking to have a good session to get higher into the points.

Buemi fell short of his pole goal, ending the session in third after being unable to beat di Grassi's time as well. Abt slotted into fifth (like Heidfeld, enjoying his home race), while Duval earned himself eighth after a strong lap. Drama for Bird saw him throw away one of his full power laps with a spin at the very first corner, meaning he only managed fifteenth, with Chandhok well down the order in last.

Post Qualifying

The final qualifying results for the 2015 Berlin ePrix are outlined below:

2015 Berlin ePrix Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid	Group
1st	10	Jarno Trulli	Trulli Formula E Team	1:21.547	—	1	G1
2nd	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	1:21.623	+0.076s	2	G3
3rd	9	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Renault	1:21.685	+0.138s	3	G4
4th	23	Nick Heidfeld	Venturi Formula E Team	1:21.710	+0.163s	4	G3
5th	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	1:21.754	+0.207s	5	G4
6th	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	1:21.861	+0.314s	6	G3
7th	8	Nicolas Prost	e.dams-Renault	1:21.911	+0.364s	7	G3
8th	6	Loïc Duval	Dragon Racing	1:21.917	+0.370s	8	G4
9th	30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi Formula E Team	1:21.978	+0.431s	9	G2
10th	27	Jean-Éric Vergne	Andretti Autosport	1:22.015	+0.468s	10	G2
11th	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Trulli Formula E Team	1:22.032	+0.485s	11	G1
12th	28	Scott Speed	Andretti Autosport	1:22.096	+0.549s	12	G2
13th	99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	NextEV TCR	1:22.310	+0.763s	13	G1
14th	3	Jaime Alguersuari	Virgin Racing	1:22.395	+0.848s	14	G2
15th	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	1:22.437	+0.890s	15	G4
16th	77	Salvador Duran	Amlin Aguri	1:22.444	+0.897s	16	G2
17th	88	Charles Pic	NextEV TCR	1:22.464	+0.917s	17	G3
18th	21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	1:22.575	+1.028s	18	G1
19th	55	António Félix da Costa	Amlin Aguri	1:22.586	+1.039s	19	G1
20th	5	Karun Chandhok	Mahindra Racing	1:22.803	+1.256s	20	G4
110% Time: 1:29.702
Source:

Race

No changes were made to the grid order after qualifying, despite Stéphane Sarrazin's complaints over Jaime Alguersuari. The results of the FanBoost vote were released two hours before the race began, with Nelson Piquet Jr., Sébastien Buemi and Charles Pic given an extra 30kw/h of boost for five seconds.

Report

Jarno Trulli's years of Grand Prix racing from pole flooded back to him off the line, as he immediately swept into the lead of the race, ahead of Lucas di Grassi. It was also a clean run behind through turn one, with Sam Bird and Jean-Éric Vergne in particular making good progress in the middle of the pack. Yet, while the race got off to a fairly even tempo, the rest of the opening lap would be somewhat more spectacular.

First, Trulli locked up his right rear brake, send him out wide and almost into a spin, the result of which gave di Grassi a clear gap to take the lead, with Trulli slotting back into second. His slide caused the pack to brake heavier than expected, a fact which caught Daniel Abt out as he locked up his entire rear axle, throwing himself into a spin. Everyone behind him did manage to avoid his car, although Nelson Piquet Jr. did get pushed slightly into the wall by Bird when they went to the inside of the corner to avoid the Audi Sport ABT machine.

It soon became clear that di Grassi had the pace to win the ePrix with ease, as he set four fastest laps on the trot, with Trulli an increasingly distant second. Buemi had a queue of cars behind him, although excessive energy use for Trulli hampered his pace, meaning the Buemi backlog were soon on his tail. Buemi used FanBoost to take second away, with Nick Heidfeld following him through, before the Italian really started to plummet down the order.

As Trulli fell down the order, so did Nicolas Prost, as he was mugged by Sam Bird and António Félix da Costa in short order, before the Portuguese man pulled an impressive move on the Brit for ninth place. D'Ambrosio found himself in third after a speculative dive down the inside of Heidfeld at turn nine, before the pair, along with Buemi, came into the pits. Only Piquet and Pic stayed out longer than the majority of the field, a fact that would come to the fore over the second half of the race.

As d'Ambrosio jumped Buemi in the pits, Amlin Aguri fell foul of the minimum pitstop time, releasing both da Costa and Salvador Duran too early. The resulting drive through penalties arguably cost da Costa some solid points, while Duran slipped into a battle with Trulli and Karun Chandhok at the back of the field. Meanwhile, at the front, Piquet was a man on a mission, with FanBoost and an extra seven percent of energy available to push further into the top ten.

As d'Ambrosio set about trying to eat into di Grassi's ten second lead, Buemi and Heidfeld were locked into a duel for third, soon joined by Loïc Duval and Stéphane Sarrazin. This allowed Piquet, who had quickly got past Vergne and Bird who had been in an increasingly physical battle for seventh, to catch up to the final podium spot. Heidfeld looked to have taken third into turn nine, but tactical driving by Buemi allowed him to slot back into the position out of the corner.

That allowed Buemi to pull a small gap to the rest, while Heidfeld got caught off guard twice in the space of two laps. First, Duval caught the German sleeping into turn three, just three laps before the end, before Piquet, who had swept past Sarrazin with the aid of FanBoost a lap earlier, pulled exactly the same move into turn nine. He now had two laps to take Duval and attack Buemi to get onto the podium, while Heidfeld was left to fend off his team mate for sixth.

Back at the very front, di Grassi calmly crossed the line with a 7.5 second lead over d'Ambrosio, taking his second win of the season. Piquet failed to get past Duval, meaning he finished fifth, behind the Frenchman (who took his best finish) and third placed Buemi. Heidfeld held off Sarrazin for sixth, while Liuzzi claimed the final point for Trulli, after a promising day four hours earlier was wiped out with Trulli entering the pits two laps from the end.

However, after the race, the FIA disqualified di Grassi, excluding him from the race result, meaning d'Ambrosio was handed the victory. The front wing on the Brazilian's car had been modified, illegally, by the Audi Sport ABT team, although they claimed that the modifications were repair scars. The FIA disagreed, although the team opted not to appeal the decision.

Result

The final classification of the 2015 Berlin ePrix is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold.

2015 Berlin ePrix Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	33	48:26.566	1:25.150	25
2nd	9	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Renault	33	+2.433s	1:25.122	18
3rd	6	Loïc Duval	Dragon Racing	33	+3.508s	1:24.762	15
4th	99	Nelson Piquet Jr.	NextEV TCR	33	+3.975s	1:24.435	14
5th	23	Nick Heidfeld	Venturi Formula E Team	33	+13.046s	1:25.439	10
6th	30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi Formula E Team	33	+13.335s	1:25.138	8
7th	27	Jean-Éric Vergne	Andretti Autosport	33	+13.678s	1:25.063	6
8th	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	33	+14.055s	1:25.166	4
9th	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Trulli Formula E Team	33	+15.636s	1:25.517	2
10th	8	Nicolas Prost	e.dams-Renault	33	+16.602s	1:25.342	1
11th	55	António Félix da Costa	Amlin Aguri	33	+16.797s	1:24.758
12th	3	Jaime Alguersuari	Virgin Racing	33	+20.594s	1:25.029
13th	28	Scott Speed	Andretti Autosport	33	+21.149s	1:25.204
14th	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	33	+23.688s	1:24.909
15th	88	Charles Pic	NextEV TCR	33	+25.491s	1:25.100
16th	77	Salvador Duran	Amlin Aguri	33	+44.157s	1:25.532
17th	21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	33	+46.257s	1:25.203
18th	5	Karun Chandhok	Mahindra Racing	33	+46.257s	1:25.136
DSQ*	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	33	Disqualified	1:25.391
19th	10	Jarno Trulli	Trulli Formula E Team	31	+2 Laps	1:25.452	3
Source:

• Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race.
• * di Grassi disqualified from the race result for an illegal front wing.

Milestones

• First ePrix to be staged in Berlin.
• Jarno Trulli claimed his first, and only, pole position.
  • Also the first and only pole for the Trulli Formula E Team.
• Maiden victory for Jérôme d'Ambrosio.
• Dragon Racing claimed their first victory as an entrant.
• Loïc Duval earned his first podium finish.
• Maiden (and only) points finish for Vitantonio Liuzzi.
  • This was also the last points finish for Trulli as an entrant.

Standings

Lucas di Grassi's post race disqualification had a dramatic effect on the Championship, with the Brazilian tumbling to third, and fellow countryman Nelson Piquet Jr. taking the lead. Sébastien Buemi split the two South American racers, trailing Piquet by two, while severe damage was done to most of the other potential title contenders. Nicolas Prost now found himself with a 25 point shortfall to the top (bearing in mind he effectively lost that number at the first race), while Sam Bird actually fell behind race winner Jérôme d'Ambrosio, with the Belgian taking over Bird's position as the dark horse for the title.

There was also a seismic shift in the Teams' Championship, as Dragon Racing leapt up to second from sixth, now a point ahead of Audi Sport ABT. NextEV TCR remained in fourth as Virgin Racing fell to fifth, with the former also making it past to 100 point mark for the season. But, out front, e.dams-Renault still proved to be the class of the field, now just 21 points away from the 200 point barrier, and over 60 points ahead.

2014/15 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Nelson Piquet Jr. 103 ▲1 2nd Sébastien Buemi 101 ▲1 3rd Lucas di Grassi 93 ▼2 4th Nicolas Prost 78 ◄0 5th Jérôme d'Ambrosio 77 ▲1 6th Sam Bird 68 ▼1 7th António Félix da Costa 45 ◄0 8th Jean-Éric Vergne 40 ◄0 9th Jaime Alguersuari 30 ◄0 10th Bruno Senna 28 ◄0 11th Loïc Duval 23 ▲8 12th Daniel Abt 22 ▼1 13th Scott Speed 18 ▼1 14th Franck Montagny 18 ▼1 15th Karun Chandhok 16 ▼1 16th Stéphane Sarrazin 16 ▲2 17th Charles Pic 16 ▼2 18th Nick Heidfeld 16 ▲2 19th Oriol Servià 16 ▼3 20th Jarno Trulli 15 ▼3 21st Vitantonio Liuzzi 2 ▲6 22nd Takuma Sato 2 ▼1 23rd Salvador Duran 1 ▼1

2014/15 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st e.dams-Renault 179 ◄0 2nd Dragon Racing 116 ▲4 3rd Audi Sport ABT 115 ▼1 4th NextEV TCR 107 ◄0 5th Virgin Racing 98 ▼2 6th Andretti Autosport 88 ▼1 7th Amlin Aguri 48 ◄0 8th Mahindra Racing 46 ◄0 9th Venturi Formula E Team 34 ◄0 10th Trulli Formula E Team 17 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers are shown.

References

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