2020 Santiago E-Prix

2020 Santiago E-Prix
The Parque O'Higgins Circuit was updated for 2020.
Race Information
Date	18 January 2020
E-Prix No.	61
Official Name	2020 Antofagasta Minerals Santiago E-Prix
Location	Parque O'Higgins Circuit, O'Higgins Park, Santiago, Chile
Format	{{{format}}}
Lap length	2.287 km (1.421 mi)
Distance	40 laps / 91.480 km (56.843 mi)
Support Race	{{{support}}}
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Mitch Evans
Team	Jaguar Racing
Time	1:04.827
Fastest Lap
Driver	Sam Bird
Team	Envision Virgin Racing
Fastest Lap	1:07.535 on lap 22
ePrix Result
First	Second	Third
Maximilian Günther	António Félix da Costa	Mitch Evans
Winner Team	Jaguar Racing
Time	46:11.511
ePrix Guide
Previous		Next
2019 Diriyah E-Prix II		2020 Mexico City E-Prix
Post-Race Test

The 2020 Santiago E-Prix, otherwise officially known as the 2020 Antofagasta Minerals Santiago E-Prix, was the third round of the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E Championship, staged at the Parque O'Higgins Circuit in Santiago, Chile, on 18 January 2020. The race was held in spite of widespread discontent in the Chilean city, which had seen several months of protests after a change in national laws, although the political situation had calmed prior to the race.

Qualifying for the Santiago E-Prix saw Mitch Evans sweep to a dominate pole position, beating Maximilian Günther of Andretti-BMW by over a quarter of a second. Pascal Wehrlein and Felipe Massa would share the second row, while Oliver Turvey caused a stir by getting the NIO through to Super Pole, and beating 2015/16 Champion Sébastien Buemi.

The race itself came amid huge heat, meaning battery temperatures were the main concern with many teams predicting that it would be a tight finish to the race in terms of energy and temps. Regardless, all 24 drivers would line-up on the grid for the start, with hasty repairs for Ma Qing Hua and Oliver Rowland completed after heavy accidents in qualifying and practice.

The start of the race saw Evans ease into an early lead, leaving Günther, on the dirty side of the grid, to defend from Wehrlein. Ultimately the elder German would ease his Mahindra ahead of the BMW through turns one and two, with an otherwise clean start further down.

The opening laps proved fairly tame, although Alexander Sims caused a stir with a series of overtakes, albeit at the cost of his front wing structure. He would, however, cause the only FCY of the race when he stopped on track on lap six, which lasted just twenty seconds.

The race resumed just in time for Rowland to pitch Sam Bird into a spin, dumping the Virgin to the back of the field, while Rowland's front wing disintegrated on the start/finish straight. Out front, meanwhile, Evans would use both of his Attack Modes in the opening fifteen minutes, while Günther briefly dropped behind Mortara.

Indeed, Günther would show the power of Attack Mode, blasting past Mortara before cruising past Wehrlein before either could respond. With that he was clear to hunt down and pass Evans, who was left to rue his two early AM uses, as behind Mortara and teammate Felipe Massa came to physical blows.

The inter-Venturi battle moved the two DS Techeetahs up the field, with Jean-Éric Vergne and António Félix da Costa working together to move through the field. However, that team work would only last until Vergne suffered a front bodywork failure after leading da Costa past Wehrlein, with the Frenchman moving across desperately to block his teammate.

Yet, the damage to his front wing would eventually tell, with Vergne deciding to retire as the bodywork rubbed badly on his tyre. That released da Costa to hunt down the leaders, taking Evans with ease before setting a series of stunning laps to catch Evans with a handful of laps to go.

Into the final laps and da Costa barged past Günther at turn ten for the lead, only for his engineers to radio him to ease his pace with battery temperatures alarmingly high, a trend that was being shared throughout the field. That gave Günther hope of revenge, and as the duo came charging through turn eight for the final time on the final lap, the German youngster swept ahead of the DS Techeetah.

That, ultimately, decided the race, with Günther sweeping home to claim his maiden victory and podium finish. da Costa was a frustrated second, two seconds down, while behind Nyck de Vries elbowed his way past Evans out of the final corner, only to be slapped with a five second time penalty. Evans hence claimed third ahead of Wehrlein, de Vries was dumped to fifth, while Stoffel Vandoorne, Lucas di Grassi, James Calado, Massa and Bird emerged through the late chaos to complete the points scorers.

Background

The 2019/20 edition of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship was set to arrive in Santiago, Chile for its third round of the season, with the Chilean capital hosting its annual FE race on 18 January 2020. Once again backed by industrial giants Antofagasta Minerals, the E-Prix would be staged on a revised version of the Parque O'Higgins Circuit, which had been modified to appease drivers after criticism in 2019. These changes saw the elimination of the chicane on the loop, a reversal of the hairpins at the end of the lap, and a re-profiled first corner.

Worldly Wonders

Ahead of the Santiago E-Prix of 2020 there would be news regarding the 2020/21 edition of the FE Championship, with a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council approving a significant development for the series. After several months of investigation and negotiation with the FIA, Formula E Holdings had signed a deal with the organising body to get the Formula E Championship sanctioned as a World Championship, effectively ensuring the series had equal status with Formula One and the World Endurance Championship. As such, the 2020/21 season would be the first FE season to be classified as a World Championship, with a global schedule and entries from multiple manufacturers fulfilling the FIA's criteria.

Generational Plans

Elsewhere the WMSC meeting in December 2019 would also discuss the series plans for the 2022/23 season and beyond, outlining the FIA's plan for the "Generation 3" version of the rulebook. The main concept changes would include an increase in power to 450 kW, the introduction of re-gen on the front axle, and the implementation of fast-charging. The latter of these changes had been the topic of debate for the series for over a year, and had an ambitious target of 30 seconds for a charge during a pitstop.

Furthermore, the proposed increase in overall performance of the "Gen 3" cars would mean that the FE series would have to race on "FIA Grade 2" circuits, due to the kinetic forces the new car would produce. As such the new plans also included a provision to revise current FE circuits, and to check even further increases in power out-put and performance increase. Tenders for the new design, including the base chassis, battery supplier and tyres, were to be released in January 2020, while the winners were set to be announced in June 2020.

Sims Sensations

Victory in the previous race in Diriyah had put Alexander Sims at the head of the early Championship table, with 35 points to his name. Stoffel Vandoorne arrived in Chile in second, five off the lead, while 2019 Diriyah E-Prix I winner Sam Bird had slipped to third having failed to score in the second Saudi race. Oliver Rowland and Lucas di Grassi were next, with di Grassi level on eighteen points with André Lotterer, with sixteen drivers having scored in the opening two rounds.

In the Teams Championship it was Mercedes who had been shuffled to the head of the pack in Diriyah, having left their debut weekend on 38 points. They hence led series veterans Envision Virgin Racing by two points, in spite of the British squad failing to score at all in the second race, with a further point back to BMW-Andretti. Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler and Nissan e.Dams then completed the top five, with everyone bar NIO having registered their first points of the campaign in the opening two races.

FanBoost voting for the Santiago E-Prix opened on 13 January 2020, and remained open through the opening minutes of the race.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2020 Santiago E-Prix is displayed below:

2020 Santiago E-Prix Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Car
2	Sam Bird	Envision Virgin Racing	Audi	e-tron FE06
3	Oliver Turvey	NIO 333 FE Team	NIO	FE-005
4	Robin Frijns	Envision Virgin Racing	Audi	e-tron FE06
5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 01
6	Brendon Hartley	GEOX Dragon	Penske	EV-4
7	Nico Müller	GEOX Dragon	Penske	EV-4
11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	Audi	e-tron FE06
13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	DS	E-Tense FE 20
17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 01
18	Neel Jani	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric
19	Felipe Massa	ROKiT Venturi Racing	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 01
20	Mitch Evans	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	Jaguar	I-Type IV
22	Oliver Rowland	Nissan e.Dams	Nissan	IM02
23	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	Nissan	IM02
25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	DS	E-Tense FE 20
27	Alexander Sims	BMW i Andretti Motorsport	BMW	iFE.20
28	Maximilian Günther	BMW i Andretti Motorsport	BMW	iFE.20
33	Ma Qing Hua	NIO 333 FE Team	NIO	FE-005
36	André Lotterer	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric
48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 01
51	James Calado	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	Jaguar	I-Type IV
64	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M6Electro
66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	Audi	e-tron FE06
94	Pascal Wehrlein	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M6Electro
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying for the 2020 Santiago E-Prix would be conducted in FE's standard format, with the field split into four groups of six cars, based on Championship position. The first group would feature those in the top six in the Championship and so on, with each group getting six minutes on track to set a full 250 kW lap. The top six overall would then progress to the Super Pole shootout, getting one final lap at full power to try and claim pole position.

After the session a point would be handed to the fastest driver in the Group Stage, while three were to be awarded to the winner of Super Pole.

Post Qualifying

The final qualifying result for the 2020 Santiago E-Prix are outlined below:

2020 Santiago E-Prix Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid	Group
1st					—	1
2nd						2
3rd						3
4th						4
5th						5
6th						6
Super Pole
1st					—	SP
2nd						SP
3rd						SP
4th						SP
5th						SP
6th						SP
7th						7
8th						8
9th						9
10th						10
11th						11
12th						12
13th						13
14th						14
15th						15
16th						16
17th						17
18th						18
19th						19
20th						20
21st						21
22nd						22
23rd						23
24th						24
110% Time:
Source:

Race

Result

The final classification of the 2020 Santiago E-Prix is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold:

2020 Santiago E-Prix Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	28	Maximilian Günther	BMW i Andretti Motorsport	40	46:11.511	1:07.592	25
2nd	13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	40	+2.067s	1:07.271	18
3rd	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	40	+5.119s	1:08.166	19
4th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Mahindra Racing	40	+7.050s	1:07.558	12
5th*	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	40	+9.883s	1:07.395	10
6th	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	40	+11.237s	1:07.311	8
7th	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	40	+14.437s	1:07.076	6
8th	51	James Calado	Jaguar Racing	40	+18.255s	1:07.948	4
9th	19	Felipe Massa	ROKiT Venturi Racing	40	+20.430s	1:06.993	2
10th	2	Sam Bird	Envision Virgin Racing	40	+21.780s	1:06.948	2
11th	3	Oliver Turvey	NIO 333 FE Team	40	+27.778s	1:08.075
12th†	7	Nico Müller	GEOX DRAGON	40	+33.786s	1:07.920
13th‡	23	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	40	+43.257s	1:07.553
14th‡	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	40	+47.198s	1:07.783
15th	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Virgin Racing	39	+1 Lap	1:07.559
16th§	33	Ma Qing Hua	NIO 333 FE Team	39	+1 Lap	1:09.085
17th	22	Oliver Rowland	Nissan e.Dams	36	+4 Laps	1:06.405
NCƒ	64	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Mahindra Racing	40	Out of Energy	1:07.991
Ret	6	Brendon Hartley	GEOX DRAGON	35	Retired	1:08.149
Ret	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	32	Damage	1:07.747
Ret	48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	29	Damage	1:07.551
DSQ♠	36	André Lotterer	Porsche Formula E Team	28	Disqualified	1:07.535
Ret	27	Alexander Sims	BMW i Andretti Motorsport	4	Damage	1:08.722
Ret	18	Neel Jani	Porsche Formula E Team	2	Retired	—
Source:

• Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race.
• * de Vries was awarded a five second time penalty for an illegal cooling temperature on the grid.
• ^† Müller handed a ten second time penalty for causing a collision with Lotterer.
• ^‡ Buemi and Abt were handed 30 second time penalties, converted from drive-through penalties for illegal throttle layouts.
• ^§ Ma received multiple penalties for illegal Attack Mode use (5s) and not activcating Attack Mode (10s stop-go converted to 45s time penalty).
• ^ƒ d'Ambrosio was unable to be classified for using more than the permitted energy allowance.
• ^♠ Lotterer was disqualified from the results of the race for using more than the maximum power allowed during the race (230.51 kW).

Milestones

• 50th E-Prix start for Oliver Turvey.
• Edoardo Mortara made his 25th start.
• Neel Jani started his fifth E-Prix.
• Maiden victory for Maximilian Günther.
  • Günther also secured his first podium finish.
• Andretti Formula E claimed their third win as an entrant.
  • BMW secured their third win as a powertrain manufacturer.
• Mitch Evans scored his fifth podium.

Standings

Stoffel Vandoorne moved to the top of the Championship as a result of the chaos in Santiago, moving three ahead of Alexander Sims. Behind, Sam Bird had retained third, while race winner Maximilian Günther shot into fourth after his maiden triumph, three behind the Brit. Lucas di Grassi then completed the top five, with nineteen drivers on the board after the opening three races.

In the Teams Championship it was race winners BMW-Andretti who led the way leaving Santiago, ending the weekend with two wins and 60 points. They hence overhauled Mercedes at the head of the table, four clear of their Germanic rivals, while Envision Virgin had slipped to third. Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler were next ahead of Jaguar Racing, while NIO had remained as the only pointless team in the field.

 

2019/20 Drivers Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Stoffel Vandoorne 38 ▲1 2nd Alexander Sims 35 ▼1 3rd Sam Bird 28 ◄0 4th Maximilian Günther 22 ▲14 5th Lucas di Grassi 24 ◄0 6th Oliver Rowland 22 ▼2 7th António Félix da Costa 21 ▲6 8th Mitch Evans 21 ▲8 9th André Lotterer 18 ▼3 10th Edoardo Mortara 18 ▼3 11th Nyck de Vries 18 ▼2 12th Pascal Wehrlein 12 ▲5 13th Robin Frijns 10 ▼5 14th James Calado 10 ▼3 15th Daniel Abt 8 ▼5 16th Jean-Éric Vergne 4 ▼4 17th Felipe Massa 2 ▲2 18th Jérôme d'Ambrosio 2 ▼3 19th Brendon Hartley 2 ▼5

2019/20 Teams Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st BMW i Andretti Motorsport 60 ▲2 2nd Mercedes 56 ▼1 3rd Envision Virgin Racing 38 ▼1 4th Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler 32 ◄0 5th Jaguar Racing 31 ▲3 6th DS Techeetah 25 ▲3 7th Nissan e.Dams 22 ▼2 8th Venturi Racing 20 ▼1 9th Porsche Formula E Team 18 ▼3 10th Mahindra Racing 14 ◄0 11th GEOX Dragon 2 ◄0 12th NIO 333 FE Team 0 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers are shown.

References

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