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Flag of Mexico 2017 Mexico City ePrix
Mexico City Layout 2017
Race Information
Date 1 April 2017
E-Prix No. 25
Official Name 2017 FIA Formula E Julius Baer Mexico City ePrix
Location Flag of Mexico City Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico
Format {{{format}}}
Lap length 2.092 km (1.299 mi)
Distance 45 laps / 94.140 km (58.496 mi)
Support Race {{{support}}}
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter Flag of the United Kingdom Oliver Turvey
Team Flag of the United Kingdom NextEV NIO
Time 1:02.867
Fastest Lap
Driver Flag of Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
Team Flag of France Renault e.Dams
Fastest Lap 1:03.102 on lap 40
ePrix Result
First Second Third
Flag of Brazil Lucas di Grassi Flag of France Jean-Éric Vergne Flag of the United Kingdom Sam Bird
Winner Team Flag of Germany ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
Time Unknown
ePrix Guide
Previous Next
Flag of Argentina 2017 Buenos Aires ePrix Flag of Monaco 2017 Monaco ePrix
Post-Race Test {{{test}}}

The 2017 FIA Formula E Julius Baer Mexico City ePrix, otherwise known as the 2017 Mexico City ePrix, was the fourth round of the 2016/17 FIA Formula E Championship, held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico, on 1 April 2017.[1] It was to be the first race of the season to be staged on a purpose built circuit, with the layout unchanged from 2016.[2]

There was a rather jumbled order to the grid after qualifying, as Oliver Turvey inherited pole position after Daniel Abt was excluded from the result for using illegal tyre pressures.[3] Elsewhere, Championship leader Sébastien Buemi would start from seventh, title rival Lucas di Grassi was down fifteenth, while Abt would start from eighteenth, ahead of the two Faraday Future Dragon Racing cars which had been excluded with the same issue.[3]

36,000 fans arrived to watch the ePrix later that afternoon, in time to witness pole sitter Turvey sprint into an early lead.[4] José María López moved into second after swatting away a challenge from Jean-Éric Vergne, while di Grassi fell further down the order by being pushed wide in the first corner.[4]

There would be a lot of drama in the opening laps, with Maro Engel losing his front wing in the concertina at the first chicane, while António Félix da Costa slid down an escape road on the brakes at turn one.[4] Jérôme d'Ambrosio then tagged the back di Grassi, forcing the ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport driver into the pits for a new rear wing, before a safety car was called due to the large pieces of carbon fibre littered around the chicanes.[4]

A couple of laps later and the BMW Qualcomm i8 was back in the pitlane, with Turvey back in charge of the race.[4] Buemi, meanwhile, was beginning to climb for the order, picking off back markers one-by-one, while di Grassi was doing likewise at the very back of the field.[4] Yet, the safety car was never too far away, and when race leader, and birthday boy Turvey rolled to a stop partway round turn two, the i8 appeared for a second time.[4]

It was during this phase that the race was turned on its head, for di Grassi and d'Ambrosio decided to gamble on switching to their second cars, some five laps earlier than expected.[4] They duly inherited when the rest stopped eight laps later, having saved energy during the safety car periods only to stop after the second intervention.[4] Di Grassi then established a sizeable lead over d'Ambrosio, before both focused on saving energy to try and make it to the flag.[4]

Unfortunately for those two a third appearance by the safety car destroyed their advantage over third placed López, called to pull Loïc Duval's powerless car from the back of the track.[4] d'Ambrosio, by this stage, was drastically short on energy, and when the race restarted he was having to drive incredibly conservatively.[4] That bunched López, Vergne, Sam Bird and the rest of the top ten behind him, and duly allowed di Grassi to escape up the road.[4]

It took several laps for López to finally try and pass the Belgian, only to misjudge his braking into turn one and send himself into a spin.[4] Buemi joined him in performing a pirouette, having made a similar mistake just a few seconds later, with both re-joining outside of the points.[4] This gave d'Ambrosio a little bit of room, but it was not long before he had Vergne's Techeetah throwing itself at the back of his Dragon.[4]

Three laps from the end and Vergne's numerous aborted attempts through turn three finally paid off, for d'Ambrosio locked up badly into turn one and ran wide.[4] Then, half a lap later, Nicolas Prost misjudged a move on Nick Heidfeld and pitched the Mahindra into a spin.[4] Next on the scene was Mitch Evans, who just managed to glance off the back of the spinning German, before an unsighted Felix Rosenqvist slammed into Heidfeld, fatally wounding both Mahindras.[4]

Into the penultimate lap and Bird pulled a sensational move around the outside of d'Ambrosio through turn three, while Vergne had halved the gap to di Grassi out front.[4] Moments later and the d'Ambrosio was out, running out of energy at the start of the final tour before beginning a plummet down the order.[4]

With that, the race was run, with di Grassi just saving enough energy to defend his four second lead to the chequered flag.[4] Vergne was left to lament d'Ambrosio's defensive drive as he cruised to second, while Bird still had more than a laps worth of energy in third.[4] Evans survived his impact with Heidfeld to claim a best ever finish for himself and Jaguar Racing, while Buemi gained some small consolation in setting the fastest lap.[4]

Background[]

The big news ahead of the 2017 Mexico City ePrix would be the announcement of Esteban Gutiérrez as a driver for Techeetah in time for his home race, after establishing his interest earlier in the season.[5] A Formula One refugee after a difficult 2016 season, the Mexican racer managed to secure a seat at Techeetah until the end of the 2016/17 campaign, taking over the #33 car of Ma Qing Hua.[5] The Chinese based effort were widely thought to have been let down by the form of Ma, who had spent most of the season at the back of the field, although Ma was to be retained as their third driver.[5]

City Chicanery[]

Just before the race weekend a minor revision was made to the Mexico City ePrix circuit, with the first chicane effectively removed.[6] The new layout at turn one effectively lengthened the start/finish straight, before making the field make a 90° right turn on a much wider piece of tarmac then before.[6] A small kink formed turn two that opened out to the sweeping turn three, with the rest of the circuit remaining unchanged.[6]

Argentine Adjustments[]

A third victory in a row in Buenos Aires had put Buemi on 75 points after just three rounds, leaving the Swiss racer with a huge 29 point lead. The man in second would be Buemi's arch rival di Grassi, ten points clear of the Swiss racer's teammate Prost in third. Vergne leapt into fourth with his second place finish, while Rosenqvist had been relegated to fifth.

Renault e.Dams left Argentina with 111 points to their name, Buemi's hattrick of victories combining with Prost's trio of fourth place finishes. German team ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport remained in second on 60, almost half their French rivals total, while Mahindra Racing were falling away in third. Jaguar Racing once again failed to score, as NextEV NIO and Techeetah both entered the top five after a mutually strong weekend.

FanBoost for the 2017 Julius Baer FIA Formula E Mexico City ePrix opened on the 27th of March, and would remain open until the start of the race.[7]

Entry List[]

The full entry list for the 2017 Mexico City ePrix is displayed below:

2017 Mexico City ePrix Entry List
No. Name Entrant Constructor Car
2 Flag of the United Kingdom Sam Bird Flag of the United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing DS Virgin DSV-02
3 Flag of Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. Flag of China NextEV NIO NEXTEV TCR FormulaE 002
4 Flag of France Stéphane Sarrazin Flag of Monaco Venturi Formula E Team Venturi VM200-FE-02
5 Flag of Germany Maro Engel Flag of Monaco Venturi Formula E Team Venturi VM200-FE-02
6 Flag of France Loïc Duval Flag of the United States Faraday Future Dragon Racing Penske 701-EV
7 Flag of Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Flag of the United States Faraday Future Dragon Racing Penske 701-EV
8 Flag of France Nicolas Prost Flag of France Renault e.Dams Renault Z.E. 16
9 Flag of Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Flag of France Renault e.Dams Renault Z.E. 16
11 Flag of Brazil Lucas di Grassi Flag of Germany ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler FE02
19 Flag of Sweden Felix Rosenqvist Flag of India Mahindra Racing Mahindra M3 Electro
20 Flag of New Zealand Mitch Evans Flag of the United Kingdom Panasonic Jaguar Racing Jaguar I-Type I
23 Flag of Germany Nick Heidfeld Flag of India Mahindra Racing Mahindra M3 Electro
25 Flag of France Jean-Éric Vergne Flag of China Techeetah Renault Z.E. 16
27 Dutch Flag Robin Frijns Flag of the United States MS Amlin Andretti Andretti ATEC-02
28 Flag of Portugal António Félix da Costa Flag of the United States MS Amlin Andretti Andretti ATEC-02
33 Flag of Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez Flag of China Techeetah Renault Z.E. 16
37 Flag of Argentina José María López Flag of the United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing DS Virgin DSV-02
47 Flag of the United Kingdom Adam Carroll Flag of the United Kingdom Panasonic Jaguar Racing Jaguar I-Type I
66 Flag of Germany Daniel Abt Flag of Germany ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler FE02
88 Flag of the United Kingdom Oliver Turvey Flag of China NextEV NIO NEXTEV TCR FormulaE 002
Source:[8]

Practice[]

FP1[]

FP2[]

Qualifying[]

There were no changes to qualifying in Mexico City, with the now familiar setup of four groups of five drivers heading out one group at a time to set one flying lap.[8] Once everyone had completed at least one lap the top five overall went through to the Super Pole shootout, with each driver then getting one flying lap to try and claim pole.[8] The top five would go out one-by-one and get a completely empty track for their attempt, with the rest of the fifteen drivers starting in order from the overall standings.[8]

Group 1[]

The opening group of the qualifying session would see arch-rivals Sébastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi go toe-to-toe once again.[8] Joining them would be Sam Bird, an outside contender for pole, with Nick Heidfeld and Mitch Evans both expected to be also-rans.[8] There would be some concerns that the entire group would be disadvantaged by going first, with practice showing that the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez was particularly dusty.[9]

The fears about the dusty circuit were immediately proved true during the first group, as mistake filled runs saw both di Grassi and Buemi instantly drop out of contention for Super Pole.[9] Both were beaten by Heidfeld and Bird, those two just falling shy of breaking the 1:03.000 barrier.[9] Buemi was next, three tenths down, while Evans got himself in between the title rivals to leave di Grassi on the verge of missing out straight away.[9]

Group 2[]

The second quintet of the day was headlined by Daniel Abt in the second of the Abt Schaefflers, having been strong all morning.[8] Oliver Turvey was among the dark horses for the top five shootout as usual, while José María López hoped to kick start his season with a strong result after crashing in FP2.[8] António Félix da Costa and Stéphane Sarrazin completed the group for Andretti and Venturi.[8]

Abt was the man to knock his teammate out of Super Pole, although the German failed to set the quickest time in the second group.[9] That honour fell to Turvey, who beat the German to the top of the timesheets by half a tenth, while a quick lap from López knocked Buemi out of the hunt as the Argentine went third quickest.[9] Less spectacular laps saw da Costa get ahead of Buemi, the Portuguese racer three tenths shy of Bird, while Sarrazin managed to beat Evans.[9]

Group 3[]

Group three would see two more of the Renault Z.E. 16s hit the track, with the factory effort of Nicolas Prost up against the Techeetah car of Jean-Éric Vergne.[8] They were joined by Nelson Piquet Jr. in the hunt for Super Pole, while Robin Frijns and Loïc Duval would expect to qualify for the top ten.[8]

The third group of the session would start with a bang, as Duval smashed his Dragon into the barriers at turn one, relegating him to the back of the field.[9] The rest of the group got a second attempt at a quick lap when the session was restarted, but the delay was enough to allow more dust to be swept onto the circuit.[9] Vergne was the only one to trouble the Super Pole spots, claiming fourth overall, while Prost and Frijns got between Evans and di Grassi.[9] Piquet Jr. set the slowest time of the session, almost a second and a half off his teammate's effort.[9]

Group 4[]

It was the final quintet of the session that would get the home fans off their seats, for Esteban Gutiérrez would make his first competitive appearance in a Formula E car.[8] His appearance rather overshadowed that of Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Felix Rosenqvist, two who had threatened Super Pole throughout the season.[8] Completing the fourth quintet were Adam Carroll and Maro Engel, although they were instead fighting to start in the top ten at best.[8]

The final group of the day benefited from the previous group's track sweep, although that was not enough to get home hero Gutiérrez up among the leaders.[9] The Mexican star only managed to claim thirteenth, almost exactly halfway between the two factory Renaults of Buemi and Prost, with Rosenqvist and Carroll similarly disappointing.[9] d'Ambrosio fared slightly better, getting himself into the top ten, although it was Engel who stole the show by grabbing a Super Pole slot, knocking Heidfeld out by just a handful of hundredths.[9]

Super Pole[]

First out onto the circuit during the Super Pole shootout would be Vergne, although his lap was upset by the dust, which had crept back onto the circuit during the break.[9] Engel went next and duly beat the Frenchman, recording a 1:03.045 and was only a tenth slower than his time from the group stage.[9] It was then the turn of López on an empty circuit, but a small mistake in the middle section ensured that the Argentine racer only managed to split Engel from Vergne.[9]

Abt was next, and a stunning lap saw him edge out Turvey's group stage time by a thousandth of a second, ending the day with a 1:02.711.[9] The German's effort looked unbeatable, although Turvey, celebrating his thirtieth birthday, was determined nonetheless.[9] Come the end of his lap he had lost a tenth and half to the German, and so would start the race from second.[9]

Yet, after the post-qualifying scrutineering session, it was revealed that Abt and d'Ambrosio had used illegal tyre pressures throughout the session.[3] Both were excluded from the result, meaning Turvey was awarded pole position and the points that went with it.[3] Abt would start in eighteenth, ahead of the two Dragons by virtue of setting a better lap.[3] Engel was also given a penalty, meaning he dropped to twelfth, with teammate Sarrazin receiving a similar penalty so lined up in seventeenth.

Post Qualifying[]

The final qualifying results for the 2017 Mexico City ePrix are outlined below:

2017 Mexico City ePrix Qualifying Result
Pos. No. Name Team Time Gap Grid Group
1st* 66 Flag of Germany Daniel Abt Flag of Germany ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:02.711 18 G2
2nd 88 Flag of the United Kingdom Oliver Turvey Flag of China NextEV NIO 1:02.867 +0.156s 1 G2
3rd 5 Flag of Germany Maro Engel Flag of Monaco Venturi Formula E Team 1:03.045 +0.334s 12 G4
4th 37 Flag of Argentina José María López Flag of the United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing 1:03.072 +0.361s 2 G2
5th 25 Flag of France Jean-Éric Vergne Flag of China Techeetah 1:03.202 +0.491s 3 G3
Super Pole
1st 88 Flag of the United Kingdom Oliver Turvey Flag of China NextEV NIO 1:02.712 SP G2
2nd 66 Flag of Germany Daniel Abt Flag of Germany ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:02.765 +0.053s SP G2
3rd 37 Flag of Argentina José María López Flag of the United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing 1:02.831 +0.119s SP G2
4th 5 Flag of Germany Maro Engel Flag of Monaco Venturi Formula E Team 1:02.974 +0.262s SP G4
5th 25 Flag of France Jean-Éric Vergne Flag of China Techeetah 1:02.983 +0.271s SP G3
6th 23 Flag of Germany Nick Heidfeld Flag of India Mahindra Racing 1:03.022 +0.310s 4 G1
7th 2 Flag of the United Kingdom Sam Bird Flag of the United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing 1:03.099 +0.387s 5 G1
8th 28 Flag of Portugal António Félix da Costa Flag of the United States Andretti Formula E 1:03.363 +0.651s 6 G2
9th* 7 Flag of Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Flag of the United States Dragon Racing 1:03.366 +0.654s 19 G4
10th 9 Flag of Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Flag of France Renault e.Dams 1:03.402 +0.690s 7 G1
11th 19 Flag of Sweden Felix Rosenqvist Flag of India Mahindra Racing 1:03.425 +0.713s 8 G4
12th 4 Flag of France Stéphane Sarrazin Flag of Monaco Venturi Formula E Team 1:03.491 +0.779s 17 G2
13th 33 Flag of Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez Flag of China Techeetah 1:03.509 +0.797s 9 G4
14th 47 Flag of the United Kingdom Adam Carroll Flag of the United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 1:03.553 +0.841s 10 G4
15th 20 Flag of New Zealand Mitch Evans Flag of the United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 1:03.563 +0.851s 11 G1
16th 8 Flag of France Nicolas Prost Flag of France Renault e.Dams 1:03.589 +0.877s 13 G3
17th 27 Dutch Flag Robin Frijns Flag of the United States Andretti Formula E 1:03.688 +0.976s 14 G3
18th 11 Flag of Brazil Lucas di Grassi Flag of Germany ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 1:03.690 +0.978s 15 G1
19th 3 Flag of Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. Flag of China NextEV NIO 1:04.082 +1.370s 16 G3
110% Time: 1:08.982[10]
NC 6 Flag of France Loïc Duval Flag of the United States Dragon Racing 1:11.575 +8.863s 20 G3
Source:[10]
  • * Abt and d'Ambrosio were excluded from the result and so had to start at the back of the field.[3]
  • Evans and Sarrazin were both given ten place grid penalties.
  • Duval failed to qualify as he was outside the 110% time, although he was allowed to start at the steward's discretion.

Race[]

The dry, warm conditions carried over to the race, which was set to get underway at 4:00pm local time.[11] There were no major changes to the grid after the post-qualifying penalties were applied to Daniel Abt, while Loïc Duval was allowed to start from the back of the grid as expected.[11] The twenty car strong field then pulled cleanly away from the dummy grid onto the proper grid for the start without issue, with 36,000 eagerly awaiting the start of the 45 lap ePrix.[11]

Report[]

Pole sitter Oliver Turvey made an excellent start to pull clear of the rest of the field along the long run into turn one, leaving José María López to fend off an equally strong starting Jean-Éric Vergne.[11] The Frenchman tried his best to pull alongside the Argentine, although his Techeetah was on the wrong side for the first corner and so Vergne had to back off the throttle.[11] That allowed Nick Heidfeld to sling his Mahindra up the inside to snatch third, a move which also forced Vergne onto the grass and presented Sam Bird with a chance to scythe past through turn three.[11]

Bar some minor lock-ups and a lot of squeezing, the entire field made it through the first part of the opening lap without issue, until the entire twenty two strong field came to the first chicane.[11] The braking zone resulted in a concertina, and in a tightly bunched midfield title pretender Lucas di Grassi was left to stand on the brakes on the inside of the chicane to avoid hitting Nicolas Prost.[11] With no real warning, and little chance of stopping regardless, Stéphane Sarrazin was the man to inevitably smack into the back of the Brazilian, ripping his own front wing off and causing major damage to di Grassi's rear wing too.[11]

Come the end of the opening lap things had barely calmed down, with Felix Rosenqvist making a move on Sébastien Buemi to relegate the reigning Champion down to eighth.[11] Turvey, meanwhile, continued to lead ahead of López and Heidfeld, while Vergne managed to resist a move from Bird to retain fourth.[11] António Félix da Costa was challenging Bird for fifth, although his race was ruined by a huge four wheel lockup into turn one at the start of the second tour and so slithered down the escape road.[11] He would re-join ahead of teammate Robin Frijns down in fourteenth, with a yellow flag flying at the first chicane to warn the drivers of the debris still on track after the Sarrazin/di Grassi mishap.[11]

It seemed inevitable that the safety car would be called due to the debris, which had been added too after Jérôme d'Ambrosio misjudged his braking into the very same chicane and so clipped the back of Daniel Abt, a collision which ultimately resulted in the BMW Qualcomm i8 being summoned at the end of the second tour.[11] It also seemed unavoidable that one of the sources of the carbon fibre at turn three, di Grassi, would be called in by the officials to have his bodywork repaired.[11] Rather than be told to do so, however, di Grassi decided to pit the moment the safety car was called and had a new rear wing installed by his mechanics in a little over a minute.[11] The Brazilian racer was fortunate to re-join just before the safety car rounded the final corner, meaning he could catch up to the back of the pack, just as Nicolas Prost stopped for a new nose on his Renault Z.E. 16.[11]

With the track cleared the race was back underway within two laps, Turvey set about rebuilding his early lead by sprinting clear at the restart and denying López a shot of diving down the inside of turn one.[11] The rest of the field made it through the first corner without issue, although it immediately became clear that Turvey's pace had taken a knock with the calling of the safety car. That allowed López to close right onto the back of him through the rest of the the sixth tour, although Turvey managed to hold on for the time being.[11]

The following laps followed the same pattern, with López getting close but without throwing a dive, as the rest of the field scrapped away behind.[11] Buemi was one of those on the move, expertly diving his Renault past Rosenqvist into turn one, while there was a civil war at Jaguar as Adam Carroll and Mitch Evans went toe-to-toe.[11] Another man making a recovery was da Costa, who forced debutante Esteban Gutiérrez into a mistake into turn one to snatch eleventh, with Frijns following his teammate through into turn three.[11]

FanBoost became the centre of attention as the race began to settle, with di Grassi, Abt and Buemi winning the vote as they had done in Buenos Aires.[11] The order out front remained largely the same, although Buemi was coming on strong and beginning to shape up a move on Bird, while Heidfeld was starting to feel the pressure of a sustained attack by Vergne for third.[11] Gutiérrez, meanwhile, slipped down the order after being elbowed out by the two Andretti cars, while di Grassi was trying hard to catch the back of pack after his stop for repairs under the safety car.[11]

Back with the leaders and López was still glued to the back of Turvey, with a small gap back to Heidfeld ensuring that the two were duelling for the lead without any threat behind.[11] Then, at the end of the twelfth tour, Turvey's NextEV NIO suddenly lost power out of Parabolica, the Brit instantly pulling across to the pit wall to keep his car out of the way.[11] López was released into the lead while Heidfeld led the rest of the field past unaffected, with Turvey ultimately coming to a stop a few yards from pit exit on the entry of turn two.[11]

Attempts by the Brit to get back into the fight faltered, leaving him stranded by pit exit as the rest of the field came charging past to start another lap.[11] In the midst of this charge Abt lined up a move on Prost as the group flashed past the started NextEV, with the German out-breaking the Frenchman into the chicane.[11] Moments after this move the second safety car of the day was called so that Turvey could be plucked from the circuit, as replays showed that Prost had tried a move on Frijns into turn one, locked up upon seeing the yellow flags and hence allowed Abt to line up a move once the trio had driven past the abandoned NextEV.[11]

It was not a long safety car period, but two drivers decided to switch to their second cars, despite the fact that there were still 27 laps of the race still to go.[11] Those two were di Grassi and d'Ambrosio, who had both struggled to make their way up the order after issues earlier in the day.[11] Their mutual decision meant that they had gained around thirty seconds on the rest by stopping early, but also meant that they would have to save an incredible amount of energy with more than half the race still to go.[11]

A rather tame restart followed, with López able to establish a small lead over Heidfeld and co. as the field flashed across the line to start lap nineteen.[11] Indeed, there were no real changes to the order until the next lap, with da Costa elbowing Engel out of the way through turn two to snatch ninth.[11] The order remained unchanged until the pit window opened on lap twenty four, with Vergne the first of the leaders to stop, with Carroll, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Gutiérrez joining him in the pits.[11]

One lap later and the rest of the leaders swept into the pits, with Prost, Duval and the early stoppers di Grassi and d'Ambrosio the only ones staying out.[11] As López and co. rejoined, Vergne came charging past the pits to slip just behind López as the Argentine blasted out of the pits, just as a yellow flag was being flow at the chicane to cover a stranded Duval.[11] The Frenchman's Dragon had come to a stop on the exit, with Duval trying to restart the car while still sat on the roadside.[11]

Prost stopped at the end of that lap, with a third safety car of the day called to recover Duval with another lap gone.[11] That intervention allowed the actual order to settle, although it effectively destroyed the advantage that di Grassi and d'Ambrosio had gained by stopping seven laps earlier than the rest.[11] It was those two leading from López, Vergne, Bird, da Costa, Heidfeld, Rosenqvist, Frijns and Buemi, with Carroll and Evans now just outside the points.[11] The changes to the order in the pits had been due to various problems, a slow stop for Heidfeld dropping him down the order, da Costa and Frijns making ground by recording stops under the minimum pitstop time, before both held up Buemi by trying in vain to prevent themselves exiting before the minimum time.[11]

The third restart of the day was a more impressive affair, with Vergne trying his best to elbow his way past López through turn two, only for the Argentine to hang on and keep third.[11] A lap later and the Frenchman tried the same move, this time managing to force López into cutting the chicane as the pair ran out of room behind an energy conserving d'Ambrosio.[11] The resulting concertina saw Bird lose out to da Costa, only for the Brit to pull a sensational move on the Andretti into turn one at the start of the next lap.[11]

Another lap passed and now López was the man on the move, getting a strong exit from Parabolica to line up a dive past d'Ambrosio into turn one.[11] Unfortunately for López the Belgian forced him to run around the outside, and with less grip at his disposal the Argentine locked his rear wheels and spun into the escape road, throwing away a podium finish.[11] Behind, Buemi was using FanBoost to try and take Rosenqvist for the second time in the race, but the Swiss racer ran wide and had to throw his car into a spin to avoid López's recovering car, with the pair briefly sat alongside one another before they made their way back into the fray.[11]

López re-joined in thirteenth, in the midst of a scrap between Engel, Piquet Jr. and Abt, with a lot of rubbing going on between them.[11] Out front, meanwhile, di Grassi was escaping up the road from d'Ambrosio while also saving an impressive amount of energy, leaving the Belgian to fight an impressive rear guard action.[11] Behind them, Vergne and Bird were told that they could go to the end without saving any energy, although neither could elbow their way past the Dragon as, a few cars behind, Prost pounced on one of the two Jaguars.[11]

The fight for second was getting increasingly heated, as d'Ambrosio pulled out all the stops to keep Vergne and co. behind, much to the Frenchman's personal annoyance.[11] Time and again, Vergne tried a feint into turn one to try and set up a move into turn three, only to be squeezed out by the Belgian as the pair came through the first chicane.[11] In the queue behind, Rosenqvist got massively crossed up on the brakes in the stadium section and nearly tagged the back of teammate Heidfeld, while Evans, Prost and Carroll got sucked into the fray.[11]

Another lap and another failed attempt by Vergne to push his way past d'Ambrosio, although this time Bird and the Mahindras were close enough to cause trouble.[11] In the resulting concertina, Rosenqvist was squeezed into the wall on the outside of the chicane, with Evans and Prost managing to move past the hampered Swede.[11] Half a lap later and Prost moved into sixth with an ambitious move on Evans into the second chicane, as Piquet Jr., a recovering López and Abt became the latest drivers to tag onto the d'Ambrosio train.[11]

Three laps to go and finally a mistake from d'Ambrosio, who locked both front wheels into the first corner and ran wide, allowing Vergne to surge through into second and begin a late hunt for the win.[11] d'Ambrosio just denied Bird a shot at third through the hairpin, although that was enough to cause even more congestion behind, which ultimately caused another collision in the stadium section.[11] In the middle of the d'Ambrosio train, Prost tried to dive past Heidfeld and claim sixth, only to tag the German into a spin across the circuit.[11]

Next onto the scene was Evans, who tried as best he could to avoid the spinning Mahindra and received a whack in the rear right corner for his troubles.[11] He, however, would escape very lightly compared to the second Mahindra of Rosenqvist, which had no where to go having been right behind the Kiwi as the pair charged into the unfolding accident.[11] With no where to go, the Swede duly smacked into the back of his teammate and ripped the back wing off the German's car, while also fatally wounding his own car by crushing the front right suspension.[11]

Heidfeld managed to continue on, re-joining behind Gutiérrez, while Rosenqvist managed to drag his car into the pits before retiring.[11] Bird, meanwhile, finally got his shot at d'Ambrosio and a podium spot, driving right around the outside of the Belgian through turn two despite slithering across the circuit on the dust.[11] As Bird solidified himself in third, di Grassi began the final lap of the race with a small advantage over Vergne, while d'Ambrosio's energy capacity inevitably ticked to zero.[11]

Across the line a minute later and di Grassi collected the chequered flag, just crossing the line as his remaining energy store hit zero percent.[11] Vergne just ran out of time to catch him, and also ran out of energy as he came past the chequered flag, while Bird was able to cruise home to third.[11] Evans was promoted to fourth place, his and Jaguar's best ever result and first points finish, while Prost escaped a penalty to finish fifth.[11] López came home sixth ahead of Abt, Carroll and Piquet, while Gutiérrez was delighted to claim a maiden points finish on his debut, having been one of the few drivers in the field to have a quiet afternoon.[11]

Result[]

The final classification of the 2017 Mexico City ePrix is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold.

2017 Mexico City ePrix Race Result
Pos. No. Name Team Laps Race Time Fastest lap Pts.
1st 11 Flag of Brazil Lucas di Grassi FanBoost Flag of Germany ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 45 56:27.535 1:04.360 25
2nd 25 Flag of France Jean-Éric Vergne Flag of China Techeetah 45 +1.966s 1:03.334 18
3rd 2 Flag of the United Kingdom Sam Bird Flag of the United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing 45 +7.480s 1:03.599 15
4th 20 Flag of New Zealand Mitch Evans Flag of the United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 45 +9.770s 1:04.250 12
5th 8 Flag of France Nicolas Prost Flag of France Renault e.Dams 45 +9.956s 1:04.112 10
6th 37 Flag of Argentina José María López Flag of the United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing 45 +10.631s 1:03.735 8
7th 66 Flag of Germany Daniel Abt FanBoost Flag of Germany ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 45 +11.694s 1:04.108 6
8th 47 Flag of the United Kingdom Adam Carroll Flag of the United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 45 +13.722s 1:04.479 4
9th 3 Flag of Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. Flag of China NextEV NIO 45 +14.156s 1:04.096 2
10th 33 Flag of Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez Flag of China Techeetah 45 +15.717s 1:04.276 1
11th 27 Dutch Flag Robin Frijns Flag of the United States Andretti Formula E 45 +21.459s 1:03.787
12th 23 Flag of Germany Nick Heidfeld Flag of India Mahindra Racing 45 +27.232s 1:03.864
13th 9 Flag of Switzerland Sébastien Buemi FanBoost Flag of France Renault e.Dams 45 +1:01.365 1:03.102 1
14th 7 Flag of Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Flag of the United States Dragon Racing 45 +1:09.646 1:04.476
15th 4 Flag of France Stéphane Sarrazin Flag of Monaco Venturi Formula E Team 44 +1 Lap 1:03.384
16th 19 Flag of Sweden Felix Rosenqvist Flag of India Mahindra Racing 43 +2 Laps 1:04.172
Ret 5 Flag of Germany Maro Engel Flag of Monaco Venturi Formula E Team 38 Damage 1:04.172
Ret 28 Flag of Portugal António Félix da Costa Flag of the United States Andretti Formula E 32 Retired 1:03.972
Ret 6 Flag of France Loïc Duval Flag of the United States Dragon Racing 25 Retired 1:04.152
Ret 88 Flag of the United Kingdom Oliver Turvey Flag of China NextEV NIO 12 Electrics 1:05.219 3
Source:[10]
  • FanBoost Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race.

Milestones[]

Standings[]

A dismal weekend for Championship leader Sébastien Buemi saw his advantage at the top of the standings cut to just five points, Lucas di Grassi the man making ground. The Brazilian and the Swiss were set to fight for the title as they had in 2015/16, with Nicolas Prost still 25 points behind the man in second. Jean-Éric Vergne closed the gap to the Frenchman, but remained in fourth, while Sam Bird swapped places with Felix Rosenqvist.

The Teams' Championship remained largely unchanged out front after the Mexico City ePrix, with Renault e.Dams still leading the charge from arch-rivals ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport. They were split by just 31 points after the former's problematic weekend, although neither were under threat from third placed DS Virgin Racing. The British squad were fighting with Techeetah and Mahindra Racing to be best of the rest, while Jaguar Racing were on the board for the first time in their short history, moving ahead of Venturi in the process.

 
2016/17 Drivers' Championship
Pos. Name Pts. +/-
1st Flag of Switzerland Sébastien Buemi 76 ◄0
2nd Flag of Brazil Lucas di Grassi 71 ◄0
3rd Flag of France Nicolas Prost 46 ◄0
4th Flag of France Jean-Éric Vergne 40 ◄0
5th Flag of the United Kingdom Sam Bird 33 ▲1
6th Flag of Sweden Felix Rosenqvist 20 ▼1
7th Flag of Germany Daniel Abt 20 ▲1
8th Flag of Germany Nick Heidfeld 17 ▼1
9th Flag of Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. 15 ◄0
10th Flag of the United Kingdom Oliver Turvey 15 ◄0
11th Flag of New Zealand Mitch Evans 12 ▲7
12th Flag of Portugal António Félix da Costa 10 ▼1
13th Flag of Argentina José María López 10 ▲3
14th Flag of Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio 10 ▼2
15th Flag of France Loïc Duval 9 ▼2
16th Dutch Flag Robin Frijns 8 ▼2
17th Flag of the United Kingdom Adam Carroll 4 ▲1
18th Flag of Germany Maro Engel 2 ▼3
19th Flag of France Stéphane Sarrazin 1 ▼2
20th Flag of Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez 1
2016/17 Teams' Championship
Pos. Name Pts. +/-
1st Flag of France Renault e.Dams 122 ◄0
2nd Flag of Germany ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 91 ◄0
3rd Flag of the United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing 43 ▲3
4th Flag of China Techeetah 41 ▲1
5th Flag of India Mahindra Racing 37 ▼2
6th Flag of China NextEV NIO 30 ▼2
7th Flag of the United States Dragon Racing 19 ◄0
8th Flag of the United States Andretti Formula E 18 ◄0
9th Flag of the United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 16 ▲1
10th Flag of Monaco Venturi Formula E Team 3 ▼1

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References[]

Videos and Images:

References:

  1. 'Julius Baer announced as title sponsor for Mexico City ePrix', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 17/03/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/march/julius-baer-announced-as-title-sponsor-for-mexico-city-eprix/, (Accessed 20/03/2017)
  2. 'From Hong Kong to New York: FIVE NEW CITIES FOR THIRD FORMULA E SEASON', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 02/07/2016), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2016/july/from-hong-kong-to-new-york/, (Accessed 02/07/2016)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 'Abt penalised, Turvey on pole', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 01/04/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/april/abt-penalised-turvey-on-pole/, (Accessed 02/04/2017)
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 4.23 'Di Grassi produces masterpiece in Mexico', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 01/04/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/april/di-grassi-produces-masterpiece-in-mexico/, (Accessed 02/04/2017)
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 'Esteban Gutierrez joins TECHEETAH Formula E Team', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 20/03/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/march/esteban-gutierrez-joins-techeetah-formula-e-team/, (Accessed 20/03/2017)
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 'Drivers back Turn 1 changes', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 31/03/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/march/drivers-back-turn-1-changes/, (Accessed 02/04/2017)
  7. 'FanBoost opens for Julius Baer Mexico City ePrix', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 27/03/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/march/fanboost-opens-for-julius-baer-mexico-city-eprix/, (Accessed 27/03/2017)
  8. 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 'Qualifying: Buemi and di Grassi in same group', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 01/04/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/april/qualifying-buemi-and-di-grassi-in-same-group/, (Accessed 02/04/2017)
  9. 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 9.12 9.13 9.14 9.15 9.16 9.17 9.18 9.19 'Abt snatches pole in Mexico surprise', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 01/04/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/april/abt-snatches-pole-in-mexico-surprise/, (Accessed 02/04/2017)
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 'Formula E: Race Results: Mexico City, MX - ePrix Race Results', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 01/04/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/results/race-results/season/2022016/round/4, (Accessed 02/04/2017)
  11. 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 11.12 11.13 11.14 11.15 11.16 11.17 11.18 11.19 11.20 11.21 11.22 11.23 11.24 11.25 11.26 11.27 11.28 11.29 11.30 11.31 11.32 11.33 11.34 11.35 11.36 11.37 11.38 11.39 11.40 11.41 11.42 11.43 11.44 11.45 11.46 11.47 11.48 11.49 11.50 11.51 11.52 11.53 11.54 11.55 11.56 11.57 11.58 11.59 11.60 11.61 11.62 11.63 11.64 11.65 11.66 11.67 11.68 11.69 11.70 11.71 'Julius Baer Mexico City ePrix 2017 (Extended Highlights)', youtube.com, (YouTube: FIA Formula E Championship, 08/04/2017), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx_kxRMP4MM, (Accessed 09/04/2017)
2016/17 FIA Formula E Championship
Entrants
ABT Schaeffler Audi SportDS Virgin RacingFaraday Future Dragon RacingMahindra RacingMS Amlin AndrettiNextEV NIOPanasonic Jaguar RacingRenault e.DamsTecheetahVenturi Formula E Team
Manufacturers
ABT SchaefflerAndretti TEDSJaguarMahindra & MahindraNextEVPenskeRenaultVenturi Automobiles
Cars
Spark-Renault SRT 01E
ABT Schaeffler FE02Andretti ATEC-02DS Virgin DSV-02Jaguar I-Type IMahindra M3ElectroNextEV FormulaE 002Penske 701-EVRenault Z.E. 16Venturi VM200-FE-02
Drivers
2 Sam Bird • 3 Nelson Piquet Jr. • 4 Stéphane Sarrazin/Tom Dillmann • 5 Maro Engel • 6 Loïc Duval/Mike Conway • 7 Jérôme d'Ambrosio • 8 Nicolas Prost • 9 Sébastien Buemi/Pierre Gasly • 11 Lucas di Grassi • 19 Felix Rosenqvist • 20 Mitch Evans • 23 Nick Heidfeld • 25 Jean-Éric Vergne • 27 Robin Frijns • 28 António Félix da Costa • 33 Ma Qing Hua/Esteban Gutiérrez • 37 José María López/Alex Lynn • 47 Adam Carroll • 66 Daniel Abt • 88 Oliver Turvey
E-Prix
Hong KongMarrakechBuenos AiresMexico CityMonacoParisBerlin IBerlin IINew York City INew York City IIMontreal IMontreal II
Tests
2016 Donington Test
Related Content
FIA Formula E Championship2015/162017/18
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