 2015 Monaco ePrix
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|---|---|---|
 The Monaco ePrix Circuit in 2015. | ||
| Race Information | ||
| Date | 9 May 2015 | |
| E-Prix No. | 7 | |
| Official Name | 2015 FIA Formula E Monaco ePrix | |
| Location | Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco
| |
| Lap length | 1.765 km (1.097 mi) | |
| Distance | 47 laps / 82.955 km (51.546 mi) | |
| Qualifying Result | ||
| Pole Sitter |  Sébastien Buemi
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| Team |  e.dams-Renault
| |
| Time | 0:53.478 | |
| Fastest Lap | ||
| Driver | Jean-Éric Vergne
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| Team |  Andretti Autosport
| |
| Fastest Lap | 0:55.157 on lap 32 | |
| ePrix Result | ||
| First | Second | Third |
| Sébastien Buemi
|
 Lucas di Grassi
|
Nelson Piquet, Jr.
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| Winner Team | e.dams-Renault
| |
| Time | 0:48:05.225 | |
| ePrix Guide | ||
| Previous | Next | |
| 2015 Long Beach ePrix
|
 2015 Berlin ePrix
| |
The 2015 Monaco ePrix, otherwise officially known as the 2015 FIA Formula E Monaco ePrix, was the seventh round of the 2014/15 FIA Formula E Championship, staged at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on 9 May 2015.[1] Using a shortened version of the legendary Monte Carlo circuit, the 2015 Monaco ePrix was the first ePrix to be held in Europe.[1]
Sébastien Buemi claimed pole position during the first FE qualifying session in Monte Carlo, beating Lucas di Grassi by almost two tenths.[2] Jérôme d'Ambrosio was third ahead of Long Beach winner Nelson Piquet Jr., with Loïc Duval in finishing the session in fifth as the fastest Frenchman.[2]
Buemi duly streak clear at the start of the race, leaving di Grassi to lead the rest of the pack into the narrow first corner.[3] The inevitable squeeze duly happened, with Jaime Alguersuari the biggest loser, taking substantial damage in the middle of the pack.[3]
Moments later and the Spaniard would be joined on the sidelines by Daniel Abt, Bruno Senna, Loïc Duval, Salvador Duran, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jean-Éric Vergne as the field piled into one-another down JFK Avenue.[3] Most managed to extract themselves and limp their ruined cars back to the pits, although Senna's car needed to be removed via the marshals under the protection of the BMW Qualcomm i8 safety car.[3]
The restart came and went without issue, with Buemi and di Grassi sprinting clear of d'Ambrosio in third.[3] The Belgian became something of a slow moving chicane over the following laps, with Piquet the first to elbow his way past the Dragon before charging off after the lead duo.[3]
With a stalemate at the head of the field di Grassi decided to gamble on making an earlier stop to try and pass Buemi, only for the Swiss racer to emerge ahead.[3] Piquet, meanwhile, would inch marginally closer, while Sam Bird, whom had survived the first lap chaos, moved up into fourth and began to harass the NextEV TCR driver as the laps ticked away.[3]
Yet, in spite of Bird, and later Piquet's, attempts to pass those ahead there was no change to the order, meaning Buemi became the first driver to achieve two wins in FE history.[3] di Grassi came home second ahead of Piquet and Bird, while Vergne used FanBoost to claim the fastest lap in his second car, but failed to finish.[3]
Background[]
Formula E made its European debut during the seventh round of the 2014/15 campaign, landing at the legendary Circuit de Monaco in mid-May.[1] The circuit itself was heavily revised from its Formula One layout, with the run between Sainte Devote and the Tunnel completely removed.[1] Instead, the ePrix circuit would run down JFK Avenue from the start/finish straight, and rejoin the Grand Prix circuit at the Tunnel Chicane.[1]
In terms of the Championship, Lucas di Grassi held a one-point lead over Nelson Piquet Jr., with Piquet's victory in Long Beach meaning there were six different winners from the first six ePrix. Nicolas Prost, Sébastien Buemi, Sam Bird and António Félix da Costa were the other winners, and completed the top six in the standings with 32 points between.
Buemi and Prost's combined tally meant e.dams-Renault held a relatively comfortable 27 point lead at the summit of the Teams' Championship, with Audi Sport ABT leading the charge behind. Virgin Racing were next with a two point gap over Andretti Autosport, while the newly renamed NextEV TCR effort were fifth. The Venturi Formula E Team, meanwhile, would arrive at the foot of the table, and were the only team not to have finished in the top five at any ePrix.
Voting for FanBoost opened on the 27 of April, just under two weeks before the Monaco ePrix.[4] The entry list was also confirmed the following day, remaining unchanged since the Long Beach ePrix a month before.[5]
Entry List[]
The full entry list for the 2015 Monaco ePrix is displayed below:
Practice[]
FP1[]
FP2[]
Practice Results[]
The full results from both practice sessions is outlined below:
Qualifying[]
The usual qualifying format was followed at the Monaco ePrix, with the groups announced shortly after the conclusion of second practice.[7] It was also revealed that Jaime Alguersuari, Karun Chandhok and Loïc Duval would all receive ten place grid penalties for changing their RESS systesm for a second time.[8]
Group 1[]
Jarno Trulli's guide to the Monaco ePrix
Trulli's Monaco guide
The penalised Chandhok was to be joined by championship leader Lucas di Grassi, title challengers Nelson Piquet Jr. and Sam Bird, and double pole sitter Jean-Éric Vergne.[7] Vergne, as ever, went into the session as one of the favourites, with di Grassi, Bird and Piquet all hoping to use previous experience at the Monaco circuit to their advantage.[7]
After each driver did their two 200 kw/h, full power laps, di Grassi emerged on provisional pole, although Piquet, whom was immediately behind his compatriot on track and in the timings, stated that di Grassi had blocked him deliberately.[2] Further down in the group, Bird and Vergne were left with disappointing times, while Chandhok looked destined to start from the very back after his time was over a second off di Grassi's.[2]
Group 2[]
Nicolas Prost and Daniel Abt were the standout names in group two, joined by Bruno Senna, Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Stéphane Sarrazin.[7] Prost was expected to take pole based on his pace in practice, although Senna was also in serious contention after topping P2.
The stand out performer, however, from the group was d'Ambrosio, whom set the second fastest time of the session to that point to split di Grassi and Piquet.[2] Prost beat the rest of the group one times to take fifth provisionally, while Senna was relatively close behind in sixth for the time being.[2] Abt looked set to provide di Grassi support with the fourth best time, sneaking ahead of Prost, with Sarrazin looking to hold on to get into the lower orders of the top ten once the session ended.[2]
Group 3[]
Scott Speed and Sébastien Buemi were expected to be the top drivers in their group, joined as they were by Charles Pic, Salvador Duran and the hampered Duval.[7] Duran and Duval had the least amount of experience around Monte Carlo's streets, having competed only once (each) in race at Monaco, so were expected to struggle in the session.[7]
Buemi was to come out on top from group three, setting a time good enough to demolish di Grassi's pole hopes and take it for himself.[2] Speed, however, was disappointed to fail to beat his Andretti Autosport team mate Vergne, ending up outside the top ten.[2] He was beaten by a good lap from Duran, while Duval stunned the field to set the fifth fastest time of the session, although he was to plummet due to his earlier grid penalty.[2]
Group 4[]
The group with the most experience of the Monaco circuit, however would be group four, with a grand total of 32 Grand Prix entries and one victory between the five drivers. Only António Félix da Costa had not competed at Grand Prix level in Monaco, while Jarno Trulli accounted for 14 of those entries, and won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix.[7] Alugersuari, Nick Heidfeld and Vitantonio Liuzzi completed the group.[7]
Despite the experience in the final group, however, the session finished with an anti-climax, with none of the final group setting times good enough to distort the other times particularly.[2] The only major piece of drama was for da Costa, who lost the back of his Spark-Renault SRT_01E into Tabac, throwing him into the wall and out of qualifying.[2] He will line up at the back of the grid, although repairs to that car may mean he is forced to start in the pitlane if at all.[2]
Post Qualifying[]
The final qualifying results for the 2015 Monaco ePrix are outlined below:
| 2015 Monaco ePrix Qualifying Result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Time | Gap | Grid | Group |
| 1st | 9 | Sébastien Buemi
|
e.dams-Renault
|
0:53.478 | — | 1 | G3 |
| 2nd | 11 | Lucas di Grassi
|
Audi Sport ABT
|
0:53.669 | +0.191s | 2 | G1 |
| 3rd | 7 |  Jérôme d'Ambrosio
|
Dragon Racing
|
0:53.702 | +0.224s | 3 | G2 |
| 4th | 99 | Nelson Piquet Jr.
|
 NextEV TCR
|
0:53.712 | +0.234s | 4 | G1 |
| 5th* | 6 | Loïc Duval
|
Dragon Racing
|
0:53.804 | +0.326s | 14 | G3 |
| 6th | 66 | Daniel Abt
|
Audi Sport ABT
|
0:53.891 | +0.413s | 5 | G2 |
| 7th | 8 | Nicolas Prost
|
e.dams-Renault
|
0:53.909 | +0.431s | 6 | G2 |
| 8th* | 3 |  Jaime Alguersuari
|
 Virgin Racing
|
0:54.021 | +0.543s | 17 | G4 |
| 9th | 21 | Bruno Senna
|
 Mahindra Racing
|
0:54.035 | +0.557s | 7 | G2 |
| 10th | 30 | Stéphane Sarrazin
|
Venturi Formula E Team
|
0:54.133 | +0.655s | 8 | G2 |
| 11th | 77 |  Salvador Duran
|
 Amlin Aguri
|
0:54.175 | +0.697s | 9 | G3 |
| 12th | 2 | Sam Bird
|
Virgin Racing
|
0:54.253 | +0.775s | 10 | G1 |
| 13th | 27 | Jean-Éric Vergne
|
Andretti Autosport
|
0:54.260 | +0.782s | 11 | G1 |
| 14th | 10 |  Jarno Trulli
|
Trulli Formula E Team
|
0:54.339 | +0.861s | 12 | G4 |
| 15th | 28 | Scott Speed
|
Andretti Autosport
|
0:54.347 | +0.869s | 13 | G3 |
| 16th | 18 | Vitantonio Liuzzi
|
Trulli Formula E Team
|
0:54.462 | +0.984s | 15 | G4 |
| 17th† | 23 | Nick Heidfeld
|
Venturi Formula E Team
|
0:54.502 | +1.024s | 16 | G4 |
| 18th | 88 | Charles Pic
|
NextEV TCR
|
0:54.652 | +1.174s | 18 | G3 |
| 19th* | 5 | Karun Chandhok
|
Mahindra Racing
|
0:54.858 | +1.380s | 20 | G1 |
| 20th | 55 |  António Félix da Costa
|
Amlin Aguri
|
0:56.938 | +3.460s | 19 | G4 |
| 110% Time: 0:58.826[6] | |||||||
| Source:[6] | |||||||
- * Duval, Alguersuari and Chandhok handed ten place grid penalties for changing their RESS systems.[8]
- † Heidfeld had his fastest qualifying time deleted due to excessive power use.[8]
Race[]
Before the start of the Monaco ePrix, the FanBoost result was announced, revealing that Salvador Duran, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Jean-Éric Vergne granted the five-second power boost.[9] With no further changes to the grid after qualifying (despite Piquet's protests), the ePrix was set to start at 16:00 local time.[9]
Report[]
Sébastien Buemi made the cleanest start off the line, streaking ahead at the front of the field from Lucas di Grassi.[3] Braking into the first corner saw a large concertina effect, which caused Jaime Alguersuari, stuck in the middle of the pack after his relegation from qualifying, to lose his front wing and retire.[3] But, it was about 20 metres further round the circuit where the drama was unfolding.
As the track narrowed to run down JFK Avenue, Daniel Abt was squeezed into the wall, putting him out of the race.[3] With no where to go, Bruno Senna went over the back of the wounded Audi Sport ABT machine and almost rolled over, landing with a ruined Mahindra.[3] Avoiding action also cost body work, and eventual finishes, for Salvador Duran, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Vergne and Loïc Duval, with the BMW Qualcomm i8 safety car emerging almost immediately.[3]
With many years of practice under their belt, however, the marshals were quick to clear away the remains, however, and many of the drivers left stranded managed to get back on track in their second Spark-Renault SRT_01Es.[3] The restart came just a few laps later, and Buemi and di Grassi soon pulled a gap, with Piquet eventually forcing his way past Jérôme d'Ambrosio for third.[3] Monaco's narrow nature, however, prevented a lot of potential overtakes, however, with the race becoming tactical as pitstops approached.
Di Grassi gambled on an earlier stop, hoping to gain an overlap out of the traffic.[3] Buemi and company were in within a lap, however, although di Grassi and Buemi met each other into the first corner as Buemi left the pits.[3] Sam Bird leapt from sixth to fourth (having been battling with Nicolas Prost and Stéphane Sarrazin before the stops), and clung to the back of Piquet, while di Grassi and Buemi (who held the lead), pulled away.[3]
Piquet looked to be on for second after shaking his Bird-tail, as di Grassi fell away from the back of Buemi over the middle half of the stint.[3] An attempt into the harbour hairpin (turns three, four and five) cost Piquet time, however, after almost running into the back of the ABT machine.[3] Piquet was soon left fending off Bird, while di Grassi reeled Buemi back into his sights.[3] Scott Speed, meanwhile, was making a charge though the field, overtaking António Félix da Costa and Charles Pic on his way through to eighth.[3]
Meanwhile, Vergne took fastest lap after re-emerging from the pits in his second car, using his FanBoost to take the two points by over a second.[3] Back at the front, however, Buemi was successful in his defence, becoming the first man to both win from pole, and win two ePrix in 2014/15.[3] Simultaneously, Piquet held off Bird for third, with the Brit weaving either side of the NextEV TCR car over the start/finish straight to get past.[3] Ultimately, 13 cars survived the race, with Nick Heidfeld claiming the final points in tenth at Venturi's home race.[3]
Result[]
The final classification of the 2015 Monaco ePrix is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold.
| 2015 Monaco ePrix Race Result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Laps | Race Time | Fastest lap | Pts. |
| 1st | 9 | Sébastien Buemi
|
e.dams-Renault
|
47 | 48:05.225 | 0:56.100 | 28 |
| 2nd | 11 | Lucas di Grassi
|
Audi Sport ABT
|
47 | +2.154s | 0:56.056 | 18 |
| 3rd | 99 | Nelson Piquet Jr. 
|
NextEV TCR
|
47 | +4.634s | 0:55.657 | 15 |
| 4th | 2 | Sam Bird
|
Virgin Racing
|
47 | +4.801s | 0:56.286 | 12 |
| 5th | 7 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio
|
Dragon Racing
|
47 | +5.881s | 0:56.067 | 10 |
| 6th | 8 | Nicolas Prost
|
e.dams-Renault
|
47 | +11.032s | 0:56.389 | 8 |
| 7th | 30 | Stéphane Sarrazin
|
Venturi Formula E Team
|
47 | +26.472s | 0:56.586 | 6 |
| 8th | 88 | Charles Pic
|
NextEV TCR
|
47 | +49.538s | 0:56.761 | 4 |
| 9th | 55 | António Félix da Costa
|
Amlin Aguri
|
47 | +52.658s | 0:56.972 | 2 |
| 10th | 23 | Nick Heidfeld
|
Venturi Formula E Team
|
47 | +52.936s | 0:56.528 | 1 |
| 11th | 10 | Jarno Trulli
|
Trulli Formula E Team
|
47 | +58.984s | 0:57.214 | |
| 12th* | 28 | Scott Speed
|
Andretti Autosport
|
47 | +1:14.138 | 0:56.091 | |
| 13th | 5 | Karun Chandhok
|
Mahindra Racing
|
46 | +1 Lap | 0:56.531 | |
| NC† | 18 | Vitantonio Liuzzi
|
Trulli Formula E Team
|
36 | +11 Laps | 0:57.218 | |
| NC† | 27 | Jean-Éric Vergne
|
Andretti Autosport
|
33 | +14 Laps | 0:55.157 | 2 |
| NC† | 77 | Salvador Duran
|
Amlin Aguri
|
28 | +19 Laps | 0:56.426 | |
| Ret | 6 | Loïc Duval
|
Dragon Racing
|
24 | Damage | 0:55.891 | |
| Ret | 66 | Daniel Abt
|
Audi Sport ABT
|
14 | Damage | 0:56.956 | |
| Ret | 3 | Jaime Alguersuari
|
Virgin Racing
|
0 | Accident | — | |
| Ret | 21 | Bruno Senna
|
Mahindra Racing
|
0 | Accident | — | |
| Source:[6] | |||||||
Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race.- * Speed handed a 33 second penalty for exceeding the maximum power usage.[3]
- † Liuzzi, Vergne and Duran were all unable to be classified despite passing the chequered flag as they failed to complete 90% of the race distance.
Milestones[]
- Monte Carlo hosted its first FIA Formula E ePrix.
- Also the first ePrix to be staged in Europe.
- Second pole position for Sébastien Buemi.
- Also the fourth pole set by a e.dams-Renault entry.
- Second victory for Buemi.
- The Swiss racer therefore became the first repeat winner in FE history.
- Third victory for e.dams-Renault as an entrant.
- Maiden fastest lap to be recorded by Jean-Éric Vergne.
- Also the first fastest lap to be recorded by Andretti Formula E as an entrant.
Standings[]
Lucas di Grassi had remained at the top of the table after the Monaco race, increasing his lead over Nelson Piquet Jr. to four points. Race winner Sébastien Buemi, meanwhile, was the man on the move, now ten behind the leading Brazilian, while Nicolas Prost and Sam Bird remained in the hunt on 77 and 64 points respectively. Jérôme d'Ambrosio was another to gain a place at the expense of António Félix da Costa, although the Portuguese ace had recovered very well after a poor qualifying session to score two points.
Audi Sport ABT had joined e.dams-Renault as the only teams to break the 100 point tally in the Teams' Championship, although Daniel Abt's retirement meant they left Monaco 45 points behind. Virgin Racing were seriously in trouble of going behind NextEV TCR after Piquet's strong form continued, while Andretti Autosport and Dragon Racing were slowly heading back towards each other in the standings. Venturi, meanwhile, were finally off the foot of the table, overtaking Trulli to take ninth.
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Only point scoring drivers are shown.
References[]
Videos and Images:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 'Track layout revealed for Monaco ePrix', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 28/03/2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/march/track-layout-revealed-for-monaco-eprix.aspx, (Accessed 25/04/2015)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 'Buemi takes pole in heated Monaco qualifying', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 09/05/2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/buemi-takes-pole-in-heated-monaco-qualifying.aspx, (Accessed 09/05/2015)
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 3.23 3.24 3.25 3.26 3.27 3.28 'Poleman Buemi doubles up', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 09/05/2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/poleman-buemi-doubles-up.aspx, (Accessed 09/05/2015)
- ↑ 'FanBoost open for Monaco ePrix', fiafomulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 27/04/2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/april/fanboost-open-for-monaco-eprix.aspx, (Accessed 27/04/2015)
- ↑ 'Driver line-up the same for Monaco ePrix', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 29/04/2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/april/driver-line-up-the-same-for-monaco-eprix.aspx, (Accessed 29/04/2015)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 'Round 7 - Monaco ePrix: Results Booklet', fiaformulae.alkamelsystems.com, (FIA Formula E, 2015), http://fiaformulae.alkamelsystems.com/Results/00_2014-15/08_Monaco/62_FIA%20Formula%20E%20Championship/201505092105_Monaco_Booklet.pdf, (Accessed 30/07/2018)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 'Monaco ePrix: Qualifying groups', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 09/05/2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/monaco-eprix-qualifying-groups.aspx, (Accessed 09/05/2015)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 'Alguersuari, Chandhok and Duval handed 10-place penalty', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 09/05/2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/alguersuari-chandhok-and-duval-handed-10-place-penalty.aspx, (Accessed 09/05/2015)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 'Duran, Vergne and Piquet win FanBoost vote', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 09/05/2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/bird-vergne-and-piquet-win-fanboost-vote.aspx, (Accessed 09/05/2015)