The 2017 Berlin ePrix (formally the 2017 FIA Formula E Berlin ePrix) were a pair of Formula E electric car races held on 10 and 11 June 2017 at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit in Berlin before a two-day crowd of 24,000 people. They were the seventh and eighth rounds of the 2016–17 Formula E Championship and the third Berlin ePrix. The 44-lap race contested on 10 June was won by Mahindra driver Felix Rosenqvist from a second place start. Lucas di Grassi finished second for Audi Sport ABT and Rosenqvist's teammate Nick Heidfeld was third. The longer 46-lap race on 11 June was won by e.Dams-Renault driver Sébastien Buemi from second place. Rosenqvist took second and di Grassi was third.
Di Grassi won the pole position for the first race by recording the fastest lap in qualifying and maintained the lead by gradually building a gap over Rosenqvist in the opening five laps but the latter steadily reduced it over the following laps to three-tenths of a second before the mandatory pit stops. Rosenqvist passed di Grassi for the lead on the 22nd lap and retained the position after switching into his second car. He opened up a two-second lead over di Grassi. who had battery temperature problems, and maintained it for the rest of the race to claim his first Formula E victory. There was one lead change among two different drivers during the course of the first race.
Rosenqvist secured the pole position for the second race and built up a large lead over Buemi that remained steady over the following 22 laps despite being required to manage his electrical energy consumption. Despite narrowly avoiding contact with teammate Heidfeld after being released from his garage, Rosenqvist kept the lead following the mandatory switch into a second car. Rosenqvist was immediately investigated by the stewards who imposed a ten-second time penalty on him. Rosenqvist finished first on the road but his time penalty gave Buemi his sixth victory of the season and the 12th of his career. There were no lead changes as Rosenqvist led every lap from start to finish.
The results of the races reduced Buemi's Drivers' Championship lead over di Grassi to 32 points. Rosenqvist advanced from sixth to third while Prost fell to fourth and Heidfeld dropped to fifth. e.Dams-Renault maintained their lead in the Teams' Championship on 229 points but it was reduced to 58 points ahead of Audi Sport ABT in second position. Mahindra consolidated third position with 147 points with four races remaining in the season.
Background to race weekend Preview The Berlin ePrix was confirmed as part of Formula E's 2016–17 schedule in September 2016 by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. They were the seventh and eighth of twelve scheduled single-seater electric car races of the 2016–17 Championship, the third Berlin ePrix, the first of three double headers, and took place at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit in Berlin on 10 and 11 June 2017. It was confirmed as a double header in March 2017 following the cancellation of a planned race in Brussels because race organisers were unable to locate a suitable venue to hold the event, and the Berlin ePrix was moved away from the Karl-Marx-Allee Circuit in the city's downtown district, and back to Tempelhof, the location of the first German race in 2015. Other locations, such as the Kazak capital of Astana were considered, but the late switch made arrangements difficult.
Before the races, e.Dams-Renault driver Sébastien Buemi led the Drivers' Championship with 132 points, 43 ahead of Lucas di Grassi in second and a further 31 in front of third-placed Nico Prost. Nick Heidfeld was fourth on 47 points and Jean-Éric Vergne was fifth place with 40 points. e.Dams-Renault led the Teams' Championship with 190 points; Audi Sport ABT were in second with 115 points and Mahindra were 28 points behind in third position. Virgin were in fourth on 63 points and NextEV were 15 points behind in fifth.
After finishing well in the final two races, Felix Rosenqvist spoke of his aspiration to achieve more podium finishes with Mahindra, and at this late stage of the season, focused more on the championship, and no longer felt like a first year driver: "You have to try and take fewer risks to secure a strong result – especially with the double-headers. We have some great things coming from the team on the technical side, which is improving and both Nick and I are in the mix with those at the front of the grid." Buemi entered the race with the same perspective than he did in the past two races but was aware the track's concrete layout over the conventional asphalt used in past races but was ready to challenge for a points-scoring position. Di Grassi—nursing a right leg injury he sustained in a tackle during a charity football match at Stamford Bridge before the first race— said his team had the potential to draw closer to e.Dams-Renault in the championship if his team achieved "a perfect weekend".
The Templehof circuit underwent changes following the 2015 race. The anti-clockwise layout, revealed on 27 March, was shortened and simplified to complement the faster, more efficient cars with the long main and back straights protruding from the rest of the circuit. The drivers received the changes positively with Jérôme d'Ambrosio stating his like of "a technical circuit" and it showed the series did not have to completely contest their races on the streets of the host city. Buemi reiterated the statement, feeling there were places on the track where overtaking would occur: "The team have done a great job learning from season 1, and taking the lessons we learned then and making a track that is better for racing cars." Construction of the track started on 29 May, 13 days before the first race.
There were two driver changes pre-race. Having driven with Venturi since the start of the championship, Stéphane Sarrazin was granted permission to leave the team and moved to Techeetah to replace Esteban Gutiérrez who focused on deputising for the injured Dale Coyne Racing driver Sébastien Bourdais in the IndyCar Series. Sarrazin's Venturi car was driven by the team's reserve driver and reigning Formula V8 3.5 Series champion Tom Dillmann for the rest of the season. The switch was described by Gildo Pastor, the team principal of Venturi, as "a positive solution for all those involved": "With his experience, Stephane will be embraced by Techeetah and at the same time, the season will offer Tom the chance of gathering further important experience with Venturi."
Format of the races Two practice sessions—both on Saturday and Sunday morning—were held before the respective day's late afternoon race. The first session ran for 45 minutes and the second for 30 minutes. Both the afternoon's qualifying sessions ran for 60 minutes and were divided into four groups of five cars. Each group was determined by a lottery system and was permitted six minutes of on-track activity. All drivers were limited to two timed laps with one at maximum power. The fastest five overall competitors in the four groups participated in a "Super Pole" session with one driver on the track at any time going out in reverse order from fifth to first. Each of the five drivers was limited to one timed lap and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest times (Super Pole from first to fifth, and group qualifying from sixth to twentieth). The driver and team who recorded the fastest time were awarded three points towards their respective championships. A special feature of Formula E is the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 100 kilowatts (130 hp) of power to use in the driver's second car. The three drivers who were allowed to use the boost were determined by a fan vote.
Race one Practice and qualifying
Both practice sessions took place in warm weather. In the first practice session, Buemi used the maximum of available to him and set the fastest lap of 1 minute, 8.151 seconds, almost six-tenths of a second faster than teammate Prost in second and Rosenqvist third. After leading the field for most of the session, José María López was fourth-fastest, ahead of Bird and Vergne, Mitch Evans, Heidfeld, di Grassi and Adam Carroll. Daniel Abt stopped at the turn three exit, and later understeered into the turn-one run-off area, but was able to continue driving. Nelson Piquet Jr. oversteered into the turn four barrier. damaging his car's left-front corner. The session was later halted when Evans was stranded on the inside of turn nine and was moved from the track after he could not drive. Dillmann's first car had gearbox problems and was required to wait for his second car to be ready before venturing out onto the circuit. Heidfeld was the fastest driver in the second practice session with a time of 1 minute, 8.070 seconds; his teammate Rosenqvist was second, ahead of Maro Engel in third. Di Grassi was fourth-fastest; Sarrazin, López, Bird, Vergne, Buemi and Oliver Turvey completed the top ten.
In the first group of five qualifiers, where drivers waited for the right time to set their lap times, Bird led the session despite an oversteer on his car, ahead of Abt and Robin Frijns. Carroll was fourth and António Félix da Costa was off the pace and was the first group's slowest qualifier. Vergne drove cleanly and was the fastest driver in the second group. He was ahead of Prost who lost time in the first third of a lap and d'Ambrosio. Engel and Loïc Duval were fourth and fifth. In the third group, Rosenqvist set the overall fastest lap time of any competitor in the group stages at 1 minute, 8.171 seconds. López was second-fastest, nearly two-tenths of a second slower with di Grassi third. Both Piquet and Evans were off the pace and were the third group's slowest two drivers; the latter made minor contact with the barrier on his maximum power lap. In the fourth group, Heidfeld was the fastest driver, nearly-three tenths of a second in front of Turvey, who was in turn, two-tenths ahead of Sarrazin. Buemi was the first driver to venture onto the track in group four but struggled on his maximum power lap with a large amount of oversteer, and Dillmann rounded out the top five qualifiers. At the end of group qualifying, the lap times set by Rosenqvist, Bird, Heidfeld, López and di Grassi progressed them to super pole. Di Grassi clinched the second pole position of his career with a lap of 1 minute, 8.312 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by López who recorded a lap time 0.001 seconds slower. The margin of gap was the closest in Formula E history. Rosenqvist clipped the turn nine kerb, causing him to lose momentum, and slid lightly through turn ten, leaving him third. Heidfeld qualified fourth, and Bird struggled for pace, going one second slower than di Grassi in the first sector, for fifth. Behind him, the rest of the grid order was Vergne, Turvey, Abt, Prost, d'Ambrosio, Engel, Sarrazin, Piquet, Buemi, Dillmann, Evans, Frijns, Carroll, Duval and Félix da Costa.
Race
The first race began at 16:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00). The weather at the start were dry and sunny with an air temperature between and a track temperature ranging from . When the race started, di Grassi maintained the lead heading into the first corner. Mahindra teammates Rosenqvist and Heidfeld made fast starts and overtook the slow starting López for second and third respectively. Abt passed Vergne for sixth and Sarrazin overtook Piquet for 12th. Evans gained places through the first corner, but after the field bunched up in turns two and three, he was unsighted by Sarrazin who squeezed the Jaguar into the concrete barrier, breaking his suspension and damaging both rims. Buemi did not gain any positions and appeared to make contact with Piquet's car with a section of the NextEV's bodywork lodged in his car's open slot. At the end of the first lap, di Grassi led from Rosenqvist, Heidfeld, López, Bird, Abt, Vergne, Engel, Prost and Turvey.