The 2018 Mexico City ePrix (formally the 2018 ABB Formula E Mexico City e-Prix) was a Formula E electric car race held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the centre of Mexico City on 3 March 2018. It was the fifth round of the 2017–18 Formula E Championship and the third edition of the event as part of the championship. Audi driver Daniel Abt won the 47-lap race starting from fifth position. Oliver Turvey finished second for NIO in what would be his only Formula E podium, and e.Dams-Renault driver Sébastien Buemi took third.
Mahindra's Felix Rosenqvist won the pole position by posting the fastest lap in qualifying and led for the first 14 laps until a battery management system problem at the final corner promoted Turvey to the lead. Turvey held the lead until the mandatory pit stops to change into a second car. Swift work from Abt's pit crew moved him past Turvey who was slow leaving his garage because of a gear selection fault. Abt led the rest of the race to take his first career victory and the first for a German in Formula E. Turvey took second after holding off Buemi in the final five laps.
The result increased Jean-Éric Vergne's lead in the Drivers' Championship to 12 points over Rosenqvist who retired because his car not have enough electrical energy to allow him to finish the race. Sam Bird kept third despite not scoring any points as Buemi maintained fourth and Nelson Piquet Jr. kept fifth. In the Teams' Championship, Techeetah further extended their advantage over the non-scoring Mahindra and Jaguar passed Virgin for third with seven races left in the season.
Background
The 2018 Mexico City ePrix was confirmed as part of Formula E's 2017–18 series schedule in September 2017 by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. It was the fifth of the twelve scheduled single-seater electric car races of the 2017–18 Championship, and the third time it was a FIA Formula E Championship event. It was held on 3 March 2018 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the centre of Mexico City. The race was the only one of the season held on a permanent track: it is a mixture of the Grand Prix and oval layouts and has 17 turns at a length of . The high elevation of the circuit created thin air and lower wind resistance, causing teams to optimise the cooling of their cars; the asphalt surface was less abrasive than other tracks. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula E's governing body) introduced a track limits zone into turn one to stop drivers using the grass in that area. The driver adviser to the stewards for the race was former Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters racer Alexandre Prémat.
After winning the Santiago ePrix three weeks earlier, Techeetah driver Jean-Éric Vergne led the Drivers' Championship with 71 points and was five points ahead of Felix Rosenqvist of Mahindra. Sam Bird (Virgin) followed in third place with 61 points; Sébastien Buemi (e.Dams-Renault) was fourth and Nelson Piquet Jr (Jaguar) followed in fifth. Techeetah led the Teams' Championship with 89 points; Mahindra (87 points) followed close behind in second position and Virgin placed third with 69 points. Jaguar were fourth with 54 points and e.Dams-Renault were fifth with 44 points. A total of ten teams fielded two drivers each for a total of 20 participants in the event.
Allan McNish, team principal of Audi, affirmed his team would fight back after poor car reliability in the first four races and noted the unpredictability commonly observed in Formula E, "At the moment, we're going through a tough time in our young Formula E history. But we are as determined as ever and will continue to push to the maximum with Daniel [Abt] and Lucas, in spite of the current challenges." Buemi sought to continue his recent form of strong performances in Mexico and said his team would attack by using the experience they had accumulated in the previous two races in Mexico City, "I'm delighted to be back in Mexico after my performances in the last two races, and I hope that we'll keep up the momentum. We've always been quick in free practice in Mexico, but it's not been the same story in qualifying. We're determined to put that right this year and challenge for the race win."
After Techeetah and Dragon incurred record fines of €15,000 ($18,500) for seat belt manipulation in the preceding Santiago ePrix, the FIA issued a bulletin to all teams the day before the Mexico City race clarifying what was prohibited with the safety device. Starting from this race, the FIA forbade the installation of tie-wraps or teams using tape on the belts in line with a regulation prohibiting any material modification or safety harness reshaping. Also, the FIA undertook more detailed post-race examinations to prevent any future occurrence of teams using such systems. Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths explained, "The FIA has also clarified how, that if you are going to attach and relocate the driver's radio connector to the seatbelt, you can attach it only to the label on the seatbelt and not through the webbing of the material itself."
Practice Two practice sessions—both on Saturday morning—were held before the late afternoon race. The first session ran for 45 minutes and the second lasted half an hour. A half an hour untimed shakedown session was held on Friday afternoon to allow teams to check the reliability of their cars and their electronic systems. After shakedown, Venturi, Dragon, e.Dams-Renault and Jaguar were fined €5,000 for 5G electromagnetic radiation interference in the illegal 5–6 GHz band that could have potentially interfered with the FIA's data gathering system; a further €3,500 was suspended for the rest of the season. All four teams were cautioned a repeat occurrence put them at risk of disqualification.
The first practice session began under a rising sun in low air and track temperatures; no heat management concerns were reported. Additionally, the track surface was dusty and damp in some areas; some times were faster than Oliver Turvey's (NIO) 2017 pole position lap. Audi's Lucas di Grassi used of power to record the fastest lap late on at 1 minute, 1.58 seconds, 0.362 seconds faster than any one else on the circuit. The rest of the top ten composed of Edoardo Mortara, Vergne, Mitch Evans, Alex Lynn, José María López, Rosenqvist, Daniel Abt, Bird and Buemi. No major incidents occurred during practice; several drivers ran onto the circuit's run-off areas. López was aggrieved at Luca Filippi who slowed him in turn three. He lost control of the rear of his vehicle at turn seven and avoided damaging it.
Di Grassi was again fastest in second practice with a 1-minute, 1.203 seconds lap. The session's early pace setter Rosenqvist was second and Evans placed third. Positions four to ten were occupied by Nick Heidfeld, Lynn, António Félix da Costa, Abt, Buemi, López and Bird. Mortara necessitated course officials to wave the full course yellow flags leaving the first corner as his car stopped in the turn two braking zone. Later, López lost control of the rear of his car and hit the turn 11 barrier with his left-rear wheel. López switched into his second car for the rest of the session. In the session's closing minutes, Heidfeld lost control of his car's rear at the turn seven and eight double left hander and struck the bollards dictating track limits. With five minutes left, Lynn was at maximum power driving tinto turn two and was about to pass the slower Rosenqvist on some dirt when he lost control of his vehicle's rear and struck a wall with the left-hand side after locking his brakes. Lynn was unhurt and the session continued with two minutes to go; no driver went faster.
Qualifying
Saturday's afternoon qualifying session ran for an hour and was divided into four groups of five cars. Each group was placed in championship order and were determined by a lottery system and was permitted six minutes of on-track activity. Every driver was 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. In the first group of five runners, which was held on a dusty track that provided a negligible amount of grip, di Grassi was the early pace setter, followed by Maro Engel, Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Tom Blomqvist (who made a driving error) and Filippi. Buemi set the fastest overall group lap in the second group at 1 minute, 1.668 seconds. Rosenqvist was first to venture onto the track in the group and was fastest until Buemi's lap. Vergne lost time leaving the track's corners and was third. Piquet placed fourth. A suspension issue made Bird group two's slowest driver. In the third group, Félix da Costa set the fastest lap, ahead of Turvey. Lynn drove aggressively through the chicane to go third-fastest. López and Nico Prost rounded out the top five.
The track was at its most clean in the fourth group and saw Abt go fastest in the group by pushing hard. Heidfeld in second locked his tyres and did not set a clean lap time. Similarly, André Lotterer locked his tyres into the first corner and set the third-fastest lap. Fourth-placed Evans made an error in the first third of the lap and lost half a second in the next third due to his car cutting out. Mortara was slow throughout and placed 20th overall. At the end of group qualifying, Buemi, Rosenqvist, Félix da Costa, Turvey, Lynn's laps progressed them to super pole. Rosenqvist locked his tyres on his lap. Nonetheless, he took his second pole position of the season and the fifth of his career with a time of 1 minute, 1.645 seconds. He was provisionally joined on the grid's front row by Félix da Costa, in his first super pole appearance since the 2016 Long Beach ePrix, who locked his tyres at certain parts of the track and had pole position until Rosenqvist's lap. Lynn was third-fastest and his compatriot fourth-placed Turvey locked his tyres entering the second turn. Buemi locked his brakes driving into turn one; he was able to hit the apex of the corner at the start of his lap. A steady pace for the rest of Buemi's lap qualified him fifth. After qualifying, di Grassi and the Virgin duo of Bird and Lynn were demoted ten places for changing the inverter and gearbox in their respective cars. Similarly, Félix da Costa's car was discovered to be under the minimum weight limit of during scrutineering. He started fourth since its weight after group qualifying complied with the regulations. The rest of the grid lined up after penalties as Abt, Vergne, Piquet, Heidfeld, Lotterer, Lynn, Engel, Evans, López, d'Ambrosio, Prost, Blomqvist, Filippi, Mortara, Bird and di Grassi.
Qualifying classification +Final qualifying classification Driver Team 1 19 Felix RosenqvistMahindra 1:01.676 1:01.645 1 2 36 Alex LynnVirgin-Citroën 1:01.830 1:02.014 10 3 16 Oliver TurveyNIO 1:01.777 1:02.172 2 4 9 Sébastien Buemie.Dams-Renault 1:01.668 1:02.510 3 5 28 António Félix da CostaAndretti-BMW 1:01.772 — 4 6 66 Daniel AbtAudi1.01:885 5 7 25 Jean-Éric VergneTecheetah-Renault1:01.962 6 8 3 Nelson Piquet Jr.Jaguar1:01.964 7 9 2 Sam BirdVirgin-Citroën1:02.007 19 10 23 Nick HeidfeldMahindra1:02.023 8 11 18 André LottererTecheetah-Renault1:02.057 9 12 1 Lucas di GrassiAudi1:02.079 20 13 5 Maro EngelVenturi1:02.091 11 14 20 Mitch EvansJaguar1:02.135 12 15 6 José María LópezDragon-Penske1:02.264 13 16 7 Jérôme d'AmbrosioDragon-Penske1:02.360 14 17 8 Nico Proste.Dams-Renault1:02.377 15 18 27 Tom BlomqvistAndretti-BMW1:02.443 16 19 68 Luca FilippiNIO1:02.508 17 20 4 Edoardo MortaraVenturi1:03.416 18Source: Notes: