Polesitter Jean-Eric Vergne suffered a bit of wheel spin when the lights went out, losing a place to Piquet Jr who took the lead. The Brazilian was able to pull a gap of a few seconds while Vergne, di Grassi and Buemi were battling for second. It was Buemi who was managing his energy very well and could pit later for the car swap.
However, the e.Dams-Renault team lost the opportunity to gain positions as they thought the minimum pit stop time was ten seconds longer than it actually was. Buemi managed to keep fourth place. “We clearly planned to pit 68 seconds, which was exactly that. Don’t know what happened yet, but it seems a bit of miscommunication during the team manager briefing. It is our mistake,” Alain Prost admitted.
While Bruno Senna lost control over his car, losing his rear wing, it was di Grassi who moved up to second, passing Vergne in the pitstop. Starting from eight on the grid, Nick Heidfeld was thanks to a great pit stop strategy able to move up to fifth. Daniel Abt sat in sixth, in front of Salvador Duran and Nico Prost.
While Loic Duval eliminated a competitor in the hairpin, up front di Grassi was trying to catch Piquet Jr for the win. Just behind the two, Buemi and Heidfeld overtook Vergne in the final lap of the race. Buemi was soon under investigation as he passed the Frenchmen by cutting the chicane. Both touched several times as well.
“It felt he ran into me and I had no option than cutting the chicane. I wanted to let him by, but he didn’t and I continued,” Buemi reflected on the incident after finishing in third. “It was really a shame that we were pitting ten seconds longer. We have to look into that as I lost plenty of time.”
Piquet Jr took his second victory this season, just in front of di Grassi. “I’m really happy with the win and the 12 point lead. Once you are in front it is easier to control energy levels, as it is much different when you are trying the catch the man in front. We did our homework for this weekend by qualifying in front, winning the race and extend our lead in the championship.”
Lucas di Grassi sounded a bit irritated after the finish. “The car is a problem with battery temperature management. The battery temperature was too high in the end of the race. I had plenty of energy left, but I couldn’t use it. So, there was a one second gap, but couldn’t push otherwise the temperature would be too high and I would lose much.”