The 2018 Paris ePrix (formally the 2018 Qatar Airways Paris E-Prix) was a
Formula E
Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...
electric car race held before a crowd of 48,000 spectators at the
Circuit des Invalides in the
Les Invalides
The Hôtel des Invalides ( en, "house of invalids"), commonly called Les Invalides (), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as ...
building complex on 28 April 2018. It was the eighth race of the
2017–18 Formula E Championship
The 2017–18 FIA Formula E Championship (known for commercial reasons as the 2017–18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship) was the fourth season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Formula E motor racing. It featured the 2017†...
and the third
Paris ePrix
The Paris ePrix is an annual race of the open-wheel car, single-seater, Electric car, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in Paris, France. It was first raced in the 2015-16 Formula E season, 2015-16 season.
Circuit Circuit des Inv ...
. The 49-lap race was won by
Techeetah
DS Techeetah (, ) is a Sino- French motor racing team under ownership of SECA - China Media Capital that competes in the electric racing series, Formula E.
Formula E
Team Aguri principal Aguri Suzuki announced he would leave the team in April 20 ...
driver
Jean-Éric Vergne
Jean-Éric Vergne (born 25 April 1990), also known as JEV, is a French people, French Auto racing, racing driver who competes in Formula E, the FIA Formula E Championship with Dragon Racing. He became the 2017–18 ABB Formula E Champion, after c ...
from
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
.
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
's
Lucas di Grassi
Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula E World Championship for Mahindra Racing. He became the FIA Formula E Champion in 2016–2017, achieved three overall podium ...
finished second and
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
driver
Sam Bird
Sam Jamie Bird (born 9 January 1987) is a British professional racing driver who currently drives for Jaguar TCS Racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship.
Career
Formula BMW
Bird made his name in single seater racing in the Formula BM ...
was third.
Vergne won the pole position by recording the fastest lap in qualifying and maintained the lead for the next 23 laps as Bird had more
electrical energy
Electrical energy is energy related to forces on electrically charged particles and the movement of electrically charged particles (often electrons in wires, but not always). This energy is supplied by the combination of electric current and electr ...
available. This allowed Bird to shorten Vergne's lead and unsuccessfully tried to overtake him. Through the
pit stop
In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit la ...
phase to get into a second car, di Grassi took the lead for two laps after conserving electrical energy.
Edoardo Mortara
Edoardo "Edo" Mortara (born 12 January 1987) is a Swiss-Italian- French professional racing driver for Maserati MSG Racing. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, he holds triple nationality from all three countries. He is a former Formula Three Eurose ...
led the following lap before Vergne retook the position after the pit stops. Vergne was unchallenged for the final third of the race and took his third victory of the season after his teammate
André Lotterer
André Lotterer (born 19 November 1981) is a German professional racing driver currently racing for Avalanche Andretti Formula E in the FIA Formula E Championship. He is best known for his success in endurance racing with the works Audi team, ...
battled Bird and di Grassi.
The consequence of the race extended Vergne's Drivers' Championship lead over Bird to 31 points and
Felix Rosenqvist
Felix Rosenqvist (born 7 November 1991) is a Swedish professional racing driver who currently drives the No. 6 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP in the NTT IndyCar Series. He was named Rookie of the Year for the IndyCar Series in 2019.
Racing care ...
kept third despite placing eighth.
Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Buemi (born 31 October 1988) is a Swiss professional racing driver, who competes in the FIA Formula E Championship for Envision Racing. He competed for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One from 2009 to 2011. After leaving Formula ...
kept fourth position while di Grassi moved him from eighth to fifth. In the Teams' Championship, Techeetah increased their advantage over Virgin from 34 to 55 points. Audi overtook
Mahindra for third with four races left in the season.
Background
![Hôtel_des_Invalides,_North_View,_Paris_7e_140402_1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/H%C3%B4tel_des_Invalides%2C_North_View%2C_Paris_7e_140402_1.jpg)
The 2018
Paris ePrix
The Paris ePrix is an annual race of the open-wheel car, single-seater, Electric car, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in Paris, France. It was first raced in the 2015-16 Formula E season, 2015-16 season.
Circuit Circuit des Inv ...
was confirmed as part of Formula E's
2017–18 schedule in September 2017 by the
FIA World Motor Sport Council
The World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) is a major organ within the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's governance structure. Its primary role is amending current regulations and drafting new regulations for all of international motor spor ...
.
It was the eighth of twelve scheduled
single-seater
An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...
electric car races of the 2017–18 Championship, and the third edition of the event. The ePrix was held at the 14-turn clockwise
Circuit des Invalides in the
Les Invalides
The Hôtel des Invalides ( en, "house of invalids"), commonly called Les Invalides (), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as ...
building complex of the city's
7th arrondissement on 28 April 2018.
It was switched from May to April because organisers wanted less traffic in the area owing to the
2017 race being held outside the French school holidays.
Construction of the circuit took around six days with workers using of material shipped to the Port Gros-Caillou.
Additionally, of road was resurfaced to make it smoother.
Organisers of the race expected around 50,000 people in attendance.
Going into the race,
Techeetah
DS Techeetah (, ) is a Sino- French motor racing team under ownership of SECA - China Media Capital that competes in the electric racing series, Formula E.
Formula E
Team Aguri principal Aguri Suzuki announced he would leave the team in April 20 ...
driver
Jean-Éric Vergne
Jean-Éric Vergne (born 25 April 1990), also known as JEV, is a French people, French Auto racing, racing driver who competes in Formula E, the FIA Formula E Championship with Dragon Racing. He became the 2017–18 ABB Formula E Champion, after c ...
led the Drivers' Championship with 119 points.
Sam Bird
Sam Jamie Bird (born 9 January 1987) is a British professional racing driver who currently drives for Jaguar TCS Racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship.
Career
Formula BMW
Bird made his name in single seater racing in the Formula BM ...
of
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
followed in second place with 101 points and
Mahindra's
Felix Rosenqvist
Felix Rosenqvist (born 7 November 1991) is a Swedish professional racing driver who currently drives the No. 6 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP in the NTT IndyCar Series. He was named Rookie of the Year for the IndyCar Series in 2019.
Racing care ...
was third with 82 points.
Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Buemi (born 31 October 1988) is a Swiss professional racing driver, who competes in the FIA Formula E Championship for Envision Racing. He competed for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One from 2009 to 2011. After leaving Formula ...
of the
e.Dams-Renault team was fourth with 60 points and
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
driver
Daniel Abt
Daniel Johannes Abt (born 3 December 1992) is a German former racing driver. He has competed in such series as the German Formula Three Championship, the GP3 Series, the GP2 Series, and won the 2009 ADAC Formel Masters championship. He competed i ...
was fifth with 50 points scored.
Techeetah led the Teams' Championship with 152 points; Virgin were second with 118 points and Mahindra were 15 points behind in third. Audi in fourth and
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
in fifth were separated by one point.
Bird had won the preceding
Rome ePrix
The Rome ePrix is an annual race of the single-seater, electrically powered Formula E championship held at the Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR in Rome, Italy. The race became official when local government unanimously approved of the race. It f ...
two weeks prior and narrowed Vergne's championship lead to 18 points. He spoke of his team's belief they were closer than they had been in the title contest and aimed to capitalise on their current situation, adding that "I won last time out so I'm feeling good. It's getting to crunch time now in the championship and thankfully I'm there and fighting for the world title this year." Vergne did not finish the 2017 event due to a
suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...
failure and spent a week testing in Techeetah's simulator with his mechanics and looked forward to driving in Paris, saying that "Having grown up in Paris, this race is extra special for me. I'm really looking forward to racing now and to meet all the French fans that have been an incredible support so far this season."
Lucas di Grassi
Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula E World Championship for Mahindra Racing. He became the FIA Formula E Champion in 2016–2017, achieved three overall podium ...
(Audi), the
2016 Paris ePrix
The 2016 Paris ePrix (formally the 2016 Visa Paris ePrix) was a Formula E electric car race held on 23 April 2016 at the Circuit des Invalides in the Les Invalides building complex. A total of 20,000 people attended the race. It was the seve ...
winner, was stimulated to keep getting podium finishes and took a plethora of momentum from Rome, adding that "Now we need to perfectly nail everything down."
A total of 20 drivers represented ten squads of two drivers each for the ePrix. There was one change of driver heading into the event. Having been in one of the
NIO
are two wrathful and muscular guardians of the Gautama Buddha, Buddha standing today at the entrance of many Buddhist temples in East Asian Buddhism in the form of frightening wrestler-like statues. They are dharmapala manifestations of the bo ...
cars since the season-opening
Hong Kong ePrix double header,
Luca Filippi
Luca Filippi (born 9 August 1985 in Savigliano, Italy) is an Italian auto racing driver. He competed in GP2 Series from 2006 to 2012, and the IndyCar Series from 2013 to 2016. In 2008 he was the official Honda Racing F1 test driver.
Career
Formu ...
was dropped for the race and replaced by the team's reserve and simulation driver
Ma Qinghua
Ma Qinghua () (born 25 December 1987 in Shanghai) is a Chinese racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup with Cyan Performance Lynk & Co.
Ma became the first Chinese driver to win an FIA World Championship race when he w ...
. The change was necessitated following Filippi's poor performances over the season compared to teammate
Oliver Turvey
Oliver Jonathan Turvey (born 1 April 1987) is a British professional racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula E, and is currently signed to McLaren as a test driver. He was a notable kart racer, with two national titles, and was the ...
and the lack of significant results and internal pressure was applied to allow a Chinese driver to race once during the campaign.
This caused Ma to miss the
FIA World Rallycross Championship
The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull and KW25). From the inaugural season in 2014 ...
round at
Montalegre
Montalegre () is a municipality in northern Portugal, located in the district of Vila Real, along the border with Spain. The population in 2011 was 10,537, in an area of 805.46 km².
History
Early construction in Montalegre date back 3500†...
.
Practice
![Jaguar Racing mechanics fixing Piquet's car 2018 Paris E-Prix](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Jaguar_Racing_mechanics_fixing_Piquet%27s_car_2018_Paris_E-Prix.jpg)
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.
An untimed half hour shakedown session was held late Friday afternoon to allow teams to check the reliability of their cars and electronic systems.
Bird set the fastest lap late in the first practice session at 1 minute, 1.698 seconds, followed by di Grassi, Abt,
Mitch Evans
Mitchell William Evans (born 24 June 1994) is a New Zealand professional racing driver. He currently drives for the Jaguar TCS Racing team in Formula E. In 2012, he won the GP3 Series and he raced in the GP2 Series for four years, achieving ...
(Jaguar), Vergne,
Alex Lynn
Alexander George Lynn (born 17 September 1993) is a British racing driver. He most recently competed in Formula E, driving for Mahindra Racing in the 2021 season, winning the second race of his home ePrix in London. Lynn has also competed full- ...
(Virgin),
José MarÃa López
José MarÃa "Pechito" López (born 26 April 1983) is an Argentine race car driver who is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing and 2014–2016 World Touring Car Champion. He raced in the 2006 GP2 ...
(
Dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
),
António Félix da Costa
António Maria de Mello Breyner Félix da Costa (born 31 August 1991) is a Portuguese professional racing driver for the Porsche Formula E Team and the 2019–20 Formula E Drivers' Champion.
He won the Macau Grand Prix invitational Formula Thre ...
(
Andretti Andretti is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:
Surname
* Mario Andretti (born 1940), Italian-born American father of the prominent Andretti racing family:
** Michael Andretti (born 1962), son of Mario
*** Marco A ...
),
Jérôme d'Ambrosio
Jérôme D’Ambrosio (born 27 December 1985) is a Belgian former professional racing driver, motorsport executive and former Team Principal of Venturi Racing in Formula E.
He has previously driven for Marussia Virgin Racing and Lotus F1 in the ...
(Dragon) and
André Lotterer
André Lotterer (born 19 November 1981) is a German professional racing driver currently racing for Avalanche Andretti Formula E in the FIA Formula E Championship. He is best known for his success in endurance racing with the works Audi team, ...
(Techeetah).
Two
red flags were necessitated in a session where several drivers went off the track:
Nelson Piquet Jr.
Nelson Angelo Tamsma Piquet Souto Maior (born July 25, 1985), also known as Nelson Piquet Junior or Nelsinho Piquet, is a Brazilian stock car racing driver and former Formula One and Formula E driver where he was champion in the 2014–15 seaso ...
(Jaguar) lost control of his car heading onto the start/finish
straight
Straight may refer to:
Slang
* Straight, slang for heterosexual
** Straight-acting, an LGBT person who does not exhibit the appearance or mannerisms of the gay stereotype
* Straight, a member of the straight edge subculture
Sport and games
* Str ...
, and deranged his front-right suspension by striking the turn 14 barrier 15 minutes in.
Though Piquet was unhurt, the session was stopped for ten minutes and the safety car returned him to the pit lane as his car was moved.[ The second stoppage came with 15 minutes left when Rosenqvist struck the ]kerb
A curb (North American English), or kerb (Commonwealth English except Canada; see spelling differences), is the edge where a raised sidewalk or road median/central reservation meets a street or other roadway.
History
Although curbs have ...
at turn 12, and lost control of his vehicle's rear by going airborne. He oversteered into an outside exit wall and broke his front-left suspension.[ Di Grassi used of power to set the fastest lap at the end of second practice at 1 minute, 0.881 seconds, a tenth of a second ahead of Vergne. Positions three through ten were filled by Evans, Rosenqvist, Abt, Turvey, Bird, Piquet, Buemi and Lotterer.] Though the session passed relatively smoothly, Piquet crashed for a second time by locking his tyres, losing control of his second car, and bent his front-left tyre in a collision at the long-right turn five barrier, stopping the session for about five minutes.[
]
Qualifying
Saturday's afternoon qualifying session ran for an hour and was 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 for the ePrix 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 competitors, which had nobody venture onto the dusty track until midway through the session, Vergne set the fastest lap time of any driver in group qualifying at 1 minute, 1.508 seconds. Bird was close behind in second with Buemi third. Rosenqvist and Abt had weak attempts that left him more than half a second slower than Vergne and completed the first group's drivers. Lotterer led the second group in which traffic was expected to impede others less often and the track conditions were expected to improve but this proved not to be the case due to dust and debris accumulation. Second to fourth places were taken by di Grassi, Turvey and Evans. Piquet did not partake in qualifying because his two cars were being re-built after his two crashes in practice. Jaguar contravened series regulations which obliges teams to send their cars to ''parc fermé
''Parc fermé'', literally meaning "closed park" in French, is a secure area at a motor racing circuit wherein the cars are driven back to the pits post- and sometimes pre-race.
Area
For example, according to the FIA Formula One regulations, th ...
'' five minutes before qualifying. The stewards later granted Piquet dispensation to start the ePrix. In group three, Félix da Costa was fastest by setting a quick second sector and was followed by López in second. Nick Heidfeld
Nick Lars Heidfeld (born 10 May 1977) is a German professional racing driver.
Despite scoring regular podium finishes in with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams, and in and with BMW in Formula One, BMW Sauber, Heidfeld never won a rac ...
(Mahindra) delayed his lap for as long as possible but he lost time in the final third of a lap and came third. Lynn and Edoardo Mortara
Edoardo "Edo" Mortara (born 12 January 1987) is a Swiss-Italian- French professional racing driver for Maserati MSG Racing. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, he holds triple nationality from all three countries. He is a former Formula Three Eurose ...
(Venturi) struggled on the bumpy track and were the third group's slowest two competitors.
All five drivers of the fourth group ventured onto the track as soon as it commenced and had Maro Engel
Maro René Engel (born 27 August 1985) is a German professional racing driver based in Monaco. He is a long-time Mercedes-AMG factory driver, FIA GT World Cup Champion, Nürburgring 24 hour winner, DTM race winner, Suzuka 10h winner, Macau GT ...
(Venturi) record the fastest lap in spite his first two sector times being off the pace of the fastest overall runners and stopped di Grassi from entering super pole. D'Ambrosio out-qualified teammate López for the first time in the season and was second-quickest in group four. Tom Blomqvist
Tom Leonard Blomqvist (born 30 November 1993) is a New Zealand-based, Britain-born Swedish professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver, currently racing in the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship with Meyer Shank Racing. Blomqvist ...
(Andretti), Nico Prost
Nicolas "Nico" Jean Prost (born 18 August 1981) is a French professional racing driver. He most recently raced in the FIA Formula E Championship before quitting the series. Also, he was a longstanding racer in the FIA World Endurance Championship ...
(e.Dams-Renault) and Ma were group four's slowest three drivers. At the end of the group stages, Vergne, Félix da Costa, Engel, Bird and Lotterer's lap times progressed them to super pole. Vergne (fined €1,000 for pit lane over-speeding during qualifying) was the last driver to set a lap and recorded overall best times to earn his fourth pole position of the season with a 1-minute, 1.144 seconds lap. He was joined on the grid
Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to:
Common usage
* Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road
* Grid reference, used to define a location on a map
Arts, entertainment, and media
* News g ...
's front row by Bird who held the pole until Vergne's lap in spite of glancing a wall on his try. Lotterer attained his highest qualifying start in Formula E at the time with third after locking his tyres entering turn three. In his second super pole appearance, Engel also had his best career qualifying effort in fourth after losing momentum in the final sector. Fifth-placed Félix da Costa locked his tyres and ran wide at the exit of the third corner to not be in contention for pole position. After qualifying, Evans changed the gearbox
Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...
in one of his cars and dropped ten places because he had taken up his "joker" change in Punta del Este
Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este later became internationally known as a resort for the Latin and North American j ...
. However, he could not serve the full penalty and was penalised five seconds during the mandatory change into his second car. Mortara incurred a three-place grid penalty for exceeding the speed limit under red flag conditions in the second practice session. The rest of the grid lined up after penalties as di Grassi, d'Ambrosio, Buemi, Turvey, López, Rosenqvist, Heidfeld, Prost, Abt, Lynn, Blomqvist, Ma, Piquet, Mortara and Evans.
Qualifying classification
Notes:
* — Mitch Evans
Mitchell William Evans (born 24 June 1994) is a New Zealand professional racing driver. He currently drives for the Jaguar TCS Racing team in Formula E. In 2012, he won the GP3 Series and he raced in the GP2 Series for four years, achieving ...
dropped ten places for changing his gearbox
Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...
in one of his cars.[
* — ]Edoardo Mortara
Edoardo "Edo" Mortara (born 12 January 1987) is a Swiss-Italian- French professional racing driver for Maserati MSG Racing. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, he holds triple nationality from all three countries. He is a former Formula Three Eurose ...
was demoted three positions for speeding under red flag conditions during second practice.
Race
The weather at the start was dry but cloudy with the air temperature between and the track temperature from . A special feature of Formula E is the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 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. For the Paris race, Abt, Buemi and di Grassi were handed the extra power. When the race began before a crowd of 48,000 at 16:03 Central European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time (CEST), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central European Time ...
( UTC+02:00), Vergne maintained the lead driving into the opening corner. Lotterer made a brisk start to pass Bird but the latter regained second position as the two avoided an accident. Further back, di Grassi passed Félix da Costa for fifth as the latter was slow off the grid and fell to seventh. D'Ambrosio similarly had an unclean first lap and switched positions with his fast-starting teammate López. A problem with Ma's inverter
A power inverter, inverter or invertor is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). The resulting AC frequency obtained depends on the particular device employed. Inverters do the opp ...
meant he moved just a few metres off his starting slot and went several laps down on the leader.
At the turn nine hairpin, Evans attempted to pass Blomqvist with an aggressive manoeuvre and ended up ramming the back of Blomqvist's car. The resulting concertina effect caused Blomqvist to mount the rear of Prost's vehicle. The damage to Evans and Blomqvist's cars led them to enter the pit lane for repairs and dropped them to the rear of the field. The consequence of Ma's stationary car and the Evans, Blomqvist and Prost incident led the race director to activate the full course yellow procedure to allow marshals
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
to clear debris. Racing resumed on the second lap with Vergne leading. On that lap, Félix da Costa locked his brakes due to a software glitch that switched off his car when he applied his brakes and drove onto the turn eight run-off area
A run-off area is an area on a motorsport race track used for racer safety. Run-off areas are usually located along a road racing circuit where racers are most likely to unintentionally depart from the prescribed course. There are different type ...
. He later returned to the pit lane to retire. Abt passed d'Ambrosio by braking later than him on the outside into turn one for tenth on lap four. At the front, Vergne, Bird and Lotterer opened up a small gap over Engel in fourth who was pressured by di Grassi and Buemi who conserved electrical energy
Electrical energy is energy related to forces on electrically charged particles and the movement of electrically charged particles (often electrons in wires, but not always). This energy is supplied by the combination of electric current and electr ...
.
Abt overtook Rosenqvist on the outside for ninth at the start of lap eight and passed López in the same area but on the inside the next lap. On lap 13, the black flags with an orange disc were waved for Prost, ordering him to enter the pit lane and replace his front wing because the one mounted on his car was damaged by Blomqvist in the first lap accident. Abt overtook Turvey for seventh on lap 16. Bird had slightly more usable electrical energy than race leader Vergne, allowing him to shorten the latter's advantage and replicate a duel from 2016 at the same track. Lotterer joined the battle soon after as he set at that point the race's fastest lap
In motorsport, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. Some racing series, like Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula E award championship points for a driver or team that set the fastest lap.
In Grand Prix motorcycle racing no point i ...
at 1 minute, 3.073 seconds. However, on lap 22, Lotterer lost a small amount of time to Bird when he locked his tyres into turn eight. Lotterer narrowly avoided glancing the wall but later caught back up. With electrical energy running low on the next lap, Bird tried again to pass Vergne by braking later than him on the right entering turn one but locked his front tyres and turned back onto the racing line.
Vergne, Bird and Lotterer were separated by half a second when they made their mandatory pit stops to change into a second car at the end of lap 24. Di Grassi and Buemi's strategy allowed the duo to complete two more laps in first and second. Rosenqvist made a prior pit stop and was being lapped
Lapping is a machining process in which two surfaces are rubbed together with an abrasive between them, by hand movement or using a machine.
Lapping often follows other subtractive processes with more aggressive material removal as a first step ...
by the top two but did not yield to di Grassi, allowing Buemi to close up but could not overtake him. Mortara led for one lap after conserving the most electrical energy out of any driver as he sought to gain positions after his qualifying performance. After the pit stops, Vergne retained first place and extended his lead over Bird by more than a second. Lotterer remained in third despite his pit stop lasting two seconds longer. Di Grassi demoted Engel to fifth by having a faster pit stop and he held off Engel upon rejoining the circuit. Abt began to duel Buemi for sixth on lap 30. Rosenqvist took ninth from López by moving between him and the turn ten inside wall on that lap. Rosenqvist braked later than Turvey and took eighth from him on the outside at turn one.
Meanwhile, di Grassi's electrical energy advantage allowed him to pull away from Engel whom Buemi and Abt battled with and recorded the race's fastest lap on lap 34 of 1 minute, 2.367 seconds to earn one point. On lap 35, Lotterer had drawn close enough to Bird to affect an overtake on him. Lotterer turned left and passed Bird entering turn ten but locked his tyres midway through by missing his braking point. The two collided since Bird's path was blocked. Lotterer sustained rear wing damage but continued. This allowed di Grassi to close up and overtake Bird on the inside entering turn one the lap after. Entering the final ten laps, most drivers had 40 per cent of electrical energy available which meant everyone had to use 4 per cent for the rest of the race due to the short length of the track but the possibility of some not reaching the end increased as Bird had just 22 per cent left with six laps to go. On lap 41, a short yellow flag phase was prompted when López hit Mortara at turn ten and the latter drifted into a barrier but reversed to continue driving. Abt used his FanBoost to overtake Buemi on the inside into turn one for sixth three laps later and then unsuccessfully attempted to pass Engel.
Lotterer and di Grassi drew closer to race leader Vergne as they distanced fourth-placed Bird in the closing laps. Di Grassi came close to passing Lotterer through turns eight and nine on lap 46 and the manner of Lotterer's defensive manoeuvres drew an angry response from di Grassi over the radio and both drivers lost momentum. On the final lap, Abt lost fifth to Buemi at the turn nine chicane
A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...
in a manoeuvre that damaged Abt's sidepod and the latter narrowly avoided going into a wall. Abt stopped, steered 360 degrees and re-accelerated. This left him without enough electrical energy to cross the finish line at full racing speed and his car shut down. Unchallenged in the final third of the race, Vergne extended his lead to almost five seconds and slowed across the line with a small amount of electrical energy for his third victory of the season. Meanwhile, Lotterer ran out of electrical energy at turn nine and di Grassi took second from him. Bird sought a way past the slow Lotterer but he could not do so due to the tight circuit and rammed into the rear of his car. The crash littered debris on the track, damaging Bird's front-left wheel, but took third while Lotterer's rear wing was cracked. Engel took his best career finish in fourth and positions five to ten were taken by Buemi, Lotterer, Abt. Rosenqvist, Turvey and López. Heidfeld, d'Ambrosio, Mortara, Lynn, Evans, Prost and Ma were the final classified finishers. Piquet was the only other retirement when he stopped with a loose seat belt
A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduc ...
on lap 32.
Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Vergne declared his victory as the "most emotional" of his career up to that point, "I can't find words, It's an incredible feeling, by far my best victory. If there was a race I wanted to win this year it was clearly Paris". He reserved praise for his team, thanked them for their work over the weekend and affirmed they would continue to work hard for the rest of the season. Second-placed di Grassi spoke of his happiness at another podium and maintaining his record of scoring points after repairs were made to his car to improve its reliability, "I had another good run today. It was a shame about qualifying, as I missed super pole by five-thousandths of a second and it was super tight." Bird complimented Vergne on the way he ran the race but stated his feeling he was sometimes being put into Lotterer's path, "If he could use him, I'm sure he would've liked to have used him to create a buffer as he is fighting me for the title currently."[
]
The stewards deemed Lotterer to have caused the final lap collision with Bird and imposed a ten-place grid penalty on him for the Berlin ePrix but did not penalise him for the lap 35 contact with the latter. Bird was vocal in his criticism of Lotterer, telling the press the issue of moving under braking was discussed in the pre-race drivers briefing, and called for the consistent application of penalties, "That is not correct in any form of motorsport and I believe what we saw today was not correct. I had a bit of it in Punta ">el Esteand it's too aggressive." Di Grassi said he saw no logic of Lotterer impeding him once his energy had been depleted and warned that such manoeuvres could become common in Formula E. He agreed with Bird's view and wanted the enforcement of improved competitor etiquette and urged the series' governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...
, to impose harsher penalties on those deemed to have inadequate driving standards. Lotterer dismissed the criticism towards him and targeted di Grassi in his comments, "I don't know, I was just racing. I don't know what he was complaining about. He actually drove into me twice in this race. I don't care what he says"
Engel scored eleven points prior to the Paris ePrix and stated his career-best fourth-place finish gave him the confidence to aim for the podium at Berlin, "We've always said that if we have a car that enables us to regularly be in top ten, and on good days, when everything comes together, we can fight for the top five, maybe even get on the podium. We had a good day in Paris. We were so close to the podium but we can be happy with P4." Audi team principal Allan McNish
Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013, as well as a three-time winner of the American Le Ma ...
revealed Abt declared his intention to overcome the narrow circuit in the team's pre-race briefing. Abt argued Buemi got too close to him on the final lap and stated his feeling he was overly defensive once past. Buemi countered this argument by suggesting Abt left him space to pass on the left. Piquet retired with a seat belt problem for the second successive race. He renewed criticism of Formula E's decision to drop the minimum pit stop time, suggesting the new regulation mandated other drivers to risk too much in shortening the amount of time spent in the pit lane and claimed those running in the top ten refitted their seat belts after the race, "It caused us to get the seatbelts loose at one point when I was adjusting them during the run. They got loose, they opened, and I had to stop."
The consequence of Vergne's victory increased his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 31 points over Bird. Rosenqvist now had 86 points and retained third position despite his eighth-place finish while Buemi kept fourth position with 70 points. Di Grassi's second-place finish moved him three positions from eighth to fifth with 58 points. In the Teams' Championship, Techeetah moved further ahead of Virgin by 19 points. Audi overtook Mahindra for third position, while Jaguar scored no points but retained fifth place with four races left in the season.
Race classification
Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.
Notes:
* — Three points for pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
.
* — One point for fastest lap
In motorsport, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. Some racing series, like Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula E award championship points for a driver or team that set the fastest lap.
In Grand Prix motorcycle racing no point i ...
.
Standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings[
;Teams' Championship standings][
* Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
]
References
External links
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2018 Rome ePrix
The 2018 Rome ePrix (formally the 2018 CBMM Niobium Rome E-Prix Presented By Mercedes EQ) was a Formula E electric car race held at the Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR in the EUR residential and business district of the Italian capital of Rome on ...
, width="30%", FIA Formula E
Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...
Championship
2017–18 season
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2018 Berlin ePrix
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2017 Paris ePrix
The 2017 Paris ePrix (formally the 2017 Qatar Airways Paris ePrix) was a Formula E Electric motorsport, electric motor race held on 20 May 2017 at the Paris Street Circuit, Circuit des Invalides in the Les Invalides building complex before a cr ...
, width="30%", Paris ePrix
The Paris ePrix is an annual race of the open-wheel car, single-seater, Electric car, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in Paris, France. It was first raced in the 2015-16 Formula E season, 2015-16 season.
Circuit Circuit des Inv ...
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2019 Paris ePrix
The 2019 Paris ePrix (formally the 2019 Paris E-Prix) was a Formula E Electric motorsport, electric car race held at the Paris Street Circuit, Circuit des Invalides in the Les Invalides building complex on 27 April 2019. It was the eighth race of ...
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2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
Paris ePrix
The Paris ePrix is an annual race of the open-wheel car, single-seater, Electric car, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in Paris, France. It was first raced in the 2015-16 Formula E season, 2015-16 season.
Circuit Circuit des Inv ...
ePrix
Paris ePrix
The Paris ePrix is an annual race of the open-wheel car, single-seater, Electric car, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in Paris, France. It was first raced in the 2015-16 Formula E season, 2015-16 season.
Circuit Circuit des Inv ...