2014 Punta del Este ePrix


The 2014 Punta del Este ePrix, formally the 2014 FIA Formula E Julius Baer Punta del Este ePrix is a Formula E motor race held on 13 December 2014 at the Punta del Este Street Circuit in Punta del Este, Uruguay. It was the first Punta del Este ePrix and the third championship race of the single-seater, electrically powered racing car series' inaugural season, the first in the Americas.

Report

Background

, Salvador Duran and Antonio Garcia were brought in to replace Franck Montagny, Katherine Legge and Ho-Pin Tung respectively. Vergne, Durán and Nick Heidfeld were voted for to receive the FanBoost.

Race

started on pole position. Behind him were Nelson Piquet, Jr., Nicolas Prost, and Sébastien Buemi. Piquet immediately overtook Vergne and Buemi overtook Prost, while the whole field safely squeezed through the first chicane. Nick Heidfeld used his FanBoost and went up to fifth position. On the fourth lap, Sam Bird went over a kerb in the first corner and, unable to steer, hit the wall. This brought out the safety car.
Green flags were waved on the sixth lap, but the race was soon neutralized again when Da Costa had to retire on track. After that, Vergne managed to pass Piquet for the lead. Buemi tried to pass him as well, but locked up his front wheels. Both drivers had to use the run-off area, but kept their positions.
On the sixteenth lap, Piquet had fallen back behind both e.dams drivers, and Vergne made his pit stop. Meanwhile, Stéphane Sarrazin's suspension failed when he hit a kerb and he crashed out. This brought out a third safety car. Bruno Senna had hit the wall in the same incident, but managed to switch cars at the same time as his rivals, without losing much time.
On the twentieth lap, Heidfeld was leading the race, but received a drive-through penalty for exceeding the maximum power usage. Nicolas Prost was then penalized in the same manner. This left the top three as Buemi, Vergne, Piquet. A fourth safety car was called on lap 27 when Matthew Brabham crashed exactly like Sarrazin did earlier.
With two laps left to race, Vergne used his FanBoost as soon as the safety car pulled off, but did not manage to take the lead. Buemi, however, cut the chicane and it was debated whether he should relinquish his position. Before any action was carried out, however, Vergne ran out of power and retired. He did score three points for his pole position. Buemi took the victory with Piquet second and Di Grassi third. Further back, Heidfeld used his FanBoost and managed to take tenth position, and with that a championship point, by beating Antonio Garcia to the line by just three hundreds of a second.

Results

Qualifying

DriverTeamTimeGapGrid
127 Jean-Éric VergneAndretti1:15.4081
299 Nelson Piquet Jr.China Racing1:15.530+0.1222
38 Nicolas Proste.dams-Renault1:15.722+0.3143
49 Sébastien Buemie.dams-Renault1:15.842+0.4344
53 Jaime AlguersuariVirgin Racing1:16.053+0.6455
611 Lucas di GrassiAudi Sport ABT1:16.108+0.7006
710 Jarno TrulliTrulli1:16.144+0.7367
823 Nick HeidfeldVenturi1:16.225+0.8178
966 Daniel AbtAudi Sport ABT1:16.374+0.9669
105 Karun ChandhokMahindra Racing1:16.416+1.00810
116 Oriol ServiaDragon Racing1:16.811+1.40311
1255 António Félix da CostaAmlin Aguri1:16.865+1.45712
1330 Stéphane SarrazinVenturi1:17.025+1.61713
1488 Antonio GarcíaChina Racing1:17.653+2.24514
1577 Salvador DuranAmlin Aguri1:17.810+2.40215
1618 Michela CerrutiTrulli1:20.206+4.79816
177 Jérôme d'AmbrosioDragon Racingno time17
182 Sam BirdVirgin Racingno time18
1928 Matthew BrabhamAndrettino time19
2021 Bruno SennaMahindra Racing一一20

Race

DriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
19 Sébastien Buemie.dams-Renault3149:08.990425
299 Nelson Piquet, Jr.China Racing31+0.732218
311 Lucas di GrassiAudi Sport ABT31+2.635615
410 Jarno TrulliTrulli31+4.163712
53 Jaime AlguersuariVirgin Racing31+4.698510
621 Bruno SennaMahindra Racing31+5.197208
78 Nicolas Proste.dams-Renault31+6.51436
87 Jérôme d'AmbrosioDragon Racing31+7.567174
96 Oriol ServiaDragon Racing31+8.646112
1023 Nick HeidfeldVenturi31+10.56381
1188 Antonio GarciaChina Racing31+10.59414
1218 Michela CerrutiTrulli31+19.61716
135 Karun ChandhokMahindra Racing31+54.17510
1427 Jean-Éric VergneAndretti29+2 laps13
1566 Daniel AbtAudi Sport ABT28+3 laps92
1677 Salvador DuránAmlin Aguri27+4 laps15
Ret28 Matthew BrabhamAndretti26Suspension19
Ret30 Stéphane SarrazinVenturi15Suspension13
Ret55 António Félix da CostaAmlin Aguri6Mechanical12
Ret3 Sam BirdVirgin Racing3Accident18

Notes:
;Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1 Lucas di Grassi58
2 Sébastien Buemi40
3 Sam Bird40
4 Nicolas Prost24
5 Nelson Piquet Jr.22

;Teams' Championship standings
PosConstructorPoints
1 e.dams-Renault64
2 Audi Sport ABT62
3 Virgin Racing54
4 Dragon Racing36
5 Andretti33