2014 Beijing ePrix

The 2014 Beijing ePrix, formally the 2014 FIA Formula E Evergrande Spring Beijing ePrix, was a Formula E motor race that was held on 13 September 2014 at the Beijing Olympic Green Circuit in Beijing, China. It was the first Championship race of the single-seater, electrically powered racing car series' inaugural season. The race was won by Lucas di Grassi for the Audi Sport ABT team, ahead of Franck Montagny and Sam Bird.

Report

Race Nicolas Prost claimed pole position for the race for the e.dams-Renault team and, with the exception of one lap during the pit stops, led the race up until the final corner. That was the moment when Nick Heidfeld had closed the gap to Prost and made an overtaking manoeuvre. Prost hit Heidfeld while they were side to side, sending the German driver into a spin. Heidfeld's car then hit the kerb sideways, and flipped into the barrier. The collision forced both drivers to retire from the race, and Lucas di Grassi went through to claim victory. Montagny finished second, while Daniel Abt was third on track, but was penalised 57 seconds for exceeding "the maximum permitted electrical power during the race," relegating him to tenth position, which promoted Bird to the final place on the podium. Jaime Alguersuari and Katherine Legge also received 57-second penalties: Alguersuari for the same transgression, and Legge for a pit violation.

Despite his retirement, Prost collected three championship points for his pole position, and Takuma Sato, who was also unable to complete the race, gained two points for recording the fastest lap of the race. During the race, three drivers were able to gain benefit from a "fan boost" which gave them an extra 30 kilowatts of power for two five-second stints. The drivers voted to receive this were Bruno Senna, Legge, and Di Grassi. However, none of the drivers actually used the boost of energy during the race, leading the organization to mandate the use for coming races.

Classification Qualifying Driver Team Time Gap 1 8 Nicolas Prost e.dams-Renault 1:42.200 1 2 11 Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT 1:42.306 +0.106 2 3 66 Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT 1:42.454 +0.254 3 4 5 Karun Chandhok Mahindra Racing 1:42.461 +0.261 4 5 27 Franck Montagny Andretti 1:42.530 +0.330 8 6 23 Nick Heidfeld Venturi 1:42.579 +0.379 5 7 3 Jaime Alguersuari Virgin Racing 1:42.683 +0.483 6 8 28 Charles Pic Andretti 1:42.726 +0.526 7 9 9 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Renault 1:42.746 +0.546 18 10 99 Nelson Piquet Jr. China Racing 1:42.785 +0.585 9 11 6 Oriol Servia Dragon Racing 1:42.847 +0.647 10 12 2 Sam Bird Virgin Racing 1:42.918 +0.718 11 13 7 Jérôme d'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 1:44.056 +1.856 12 14 55 Takuma Sato Amlin Aguri 1:44.129 +1.929 13 15 88 Ho-Pin Tung China Racing 1:45.282 +3.082 PL 16 77 Katherine Legge Amlin Aguri 1:45.369 +3.169 14 17 18 Michela Cerruti Trulli 1:46.170 +3.970 16 18 10 Jarno Trulli Trulli 2:16.788 +34.588 20 19 21 Bruno Senna Mahindra Racing 2:32.729 +50.529 15 20 30 Stéphane Sarrazin Venturi 3:22.723 +1:40.523 19

Notes: – Franck Montagny received a three-place grid penalty for entering the fast lane during qualifying before the green light. – Michela Cerruti, Ho-Pin Tung, Sébastien Buemi, Stéphane Sarrazin and Jarno Trulli each received a ten-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. Tung later opted to start from the pitlane.

Race Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT 25 52:23.413 2 25 2 27 Franck Montagny Andretti 25 +2.867 8 18 3 2 Sam Bird Virgin Racing 25 +6.559 11 15 4 28 Charles Pic Andretti 25 +19.301 7 12 5 5 Karun Chandhok Mahindra Racing 25 +23.952 4 10 6 7 Jérôme d'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 25 +31.664 12 8 7 6 Oriol Servià Dragon Racing 25 +41.968 10 6 8 99 Nelson Piquet Jr. China Racing 25 +43.896 9 4 9 30 Stéphane Sarrazin Venturi 25 +43.975 19 2 10 66 Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT 25 +1:02.507 3 1 11 3 Jaime Alguersuari Virgin Racing 25 +2:00.613 6 12 8 Nicolas Prost e.dams-Renault 24 Collision 1 3 13 23 Nick Heidfeld Venturi 24 Collision 5 14 18 Michela Cerruti Trulli 24 +1 lap 16 15 77 Katherine Legge Amlin Aguri 24 +1 lap 14 16 88 Ho-Pin Tung China Racing 23 +2 laps PL Ret 55 Takuma Sato Amlin Aguri 21 Mechanical 13 2 Ret 9 Sébastien Buemi e.dams-Renault 14 Rear wing 18 Ret 10 Jarno Trulli Trulli 2 Battery 20 Ret 21 Bruno Senna Mahindra Racing 0 Collision 15 Notes: – Daniel Abt and Jaime Alguersuari each received a drive through penalty converted into a 57-second time penalty for exceeding the allowed battery usage limit of 208kW. - Katherine Legge received a drive through penalty converted into a 57-second time penalty for crossing the white lane at pit exit. – Three points for pole position. – Two points for fastest lap.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Lucas di Grassi 25 2 Franck Montagny 18 3 Sam Bird 15 4 Charles Pic 12 5 Karun Chandhok 10

Teams' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Andretti 30 2 Audi Sport ABT 26 3 Virgin Racing 15 4 Dragon Racing 14 5 Mahindra Racing 10

Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

External links FIA Formula E Results Beijing ePrix

2014 Beijing ePrix

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