Diriyya E-Prix 2018

Diriyya E-Prix 2018

Racing data
1st of 13 races of the FIA Formula E Championship 2018/19
Surname:	2018 Saudia Ad Diriyah E-Prix
Date:	15th December 2018
Place:	Diriyya , Saudi Arabia
Course:	Diriyya Formula E racetrack
Length:	82.897 km in 33 laps of 2.494 km
Pole position
Driver:	António Félix da Costa	BMW i Andretti Motorsport
Time:	1: 17.728 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	André Lotterer	DS Techeetah
Time:	1: 12.591 min (lap 32)
Podium
First:	António Félix da Costa	BMW i Andretti Motorsport
Second:	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah
Third:	Jérôme D'Ambrosio	Mahindra Racing

The Diriyya E-Prix 2018 (officially: 2018 Saudia Ad Diriyah E-Prix ) took place on December 15th on the Diriyya Formula E racing track in Diriyya and was the first race of the 2018/19 FIA Formula E Championship . It was the first Diriyya E-Prix and the first race of the FIA Formula E Championship in the Middle East .

report

background

In spring 2018, Formula E Holdings announced the conclusion of a ten-year contract with Saudi Arabia for the annual staging of a race as part of the FIA ​​Formula E championship. The announcement caused criticism because Saudi Arabia is involved in the Houthi conflict in neighboring Yemen and there are also frequent violations of human rights . The murder of Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 intensified this criticism even more. Among other things, Mohammad Taqi, columnist for Huffpost , wrote about the FIA ​​Formula E Championship: “The E now stands for execution!” In addition to the Diriyya E-Prix, the criticism was also directed at other international sporting events with which Saudi Arabia “ Image polishing ”, including boxing matches, soccer games, tennis matches and wrestling events. Alejandro Agag , Managing Director of Formula E Holdings, said about Saudi Arabia at the Future Investment Initiative conference held in Riyadh in October 2018 : "This is Formula E's new home".

HWA Racelab made its debut at this E-Prix in the FIA Formula E Championship , the team used customer engines from Venturi . For the first time, the starting field in the series has grown to 22 vehicles. Andretti Autosport is starting this race as a BMW works team for the first time . After three seasons as the DS Automobiles works team, Virgin Racing has now entered the Audi customer team. Techeetah was the new DS factory team . Nismo replaced Renault in the DAMS Formula E team , the team now started under the name Nissan e.dams.

Maximilian Günther ( Dragon Racing ), Felipe Massa (Venturi), Gary Paffett (HWA Racelab), Alexander Sims (Andretti Autosport) and Stoffel Vandoorne (HWA Racelab) made their debut at this E-Prix in the FIA ​​Formula E Championship.

Jérôme D'Ambrosio ( Mahindra Racing ), Tom Dillmann ( NIO Formula E Team ), Robin Frijns (Virgin Racing) and Oliver Rowland ( Nissan e.dams ) contested a race for their new team for the first time. Dillmann and Rowland started as regular drivers of a team for the first time, previously they had only contested races in the FIA ​​Formula E championship as substitute drivers.

Daniel Abt , Lucas di Grassi , António Félix da Costa , Massa and Vandoorne received a so-called fan boost in the race ; after the 23rd minute of the race, they were allowed to increase the power of their vehicle to 240 kW to 250 kW and thus up to 100 kilojoules of energy use additionally. It was the first E-Prix in which five drivers received the fan boost , previously there had always been three drivers per race. While it was the 19th Fanboost for Abt and the 26th Fanboost for di Grassi, the other three pilots received the additional energy for the first time.

training

The first free practice, which was supposed to start at 7:00 a.m., was canceled due to heavy rain. Instead, the second free practice was brought forward 30 minutes and extended to 60 minutes.

The second free practice session did not take place as planned either, it was postponed several times and shortened as a result. Vandoorne set the fastest time in 1: 18.868 minutes ahead of Sam Bird and Sébastien Buemi . The 35-minute practice session in wet conditions started behind the safety car and had to be interrupted for around 17 minutes after an accident by Edoardo Mortara .

Qualifying

Qualifying began at 12:25 p.m. and took place in two groups of eleven drivers each, each group had 15 minutes in which the drivers had a maximum of one timed lap with an output of 200 kW and then a maximum of one timed lap with an output of 250 kW were allowed to drive. Félix da Costa was fastest with a lap time of 1: 17.728 minutes.

The subsequently planned Superpole individual time trial for the first six pilots was canceled due to time constraints. Félix da Costa thus secured pole position and three points. The other positions were occupied by Dillmann, José María López , Buemi, Vandoorne and Bird.

Dillmann was deprived of all lap times because he had driven more than the permitted three laps in qualifying. The lap times of the 250 kW lap of Bird, di Grassi, Frijns and Rowland were canceled because all four had consumed more than the maximum permitted 250 kW of energy on their lap. Mortara was moved three positions back because his team had not followed the Battery Software Implementation Guidelines from battery manufacturer McLaren Applied Technologies and had been fined the day before. In addition, all lap times of Dillmann and Turvey were canceled because a sensor on their vehicles did not transmit data to the race management as prescribed.

run

The race lasted 45 minutes plus one lap. Each driver had to use the attack mode twice; after activation, the vehicle had a maximum of 225 kW instead of 200 kW for a period of four minutes.

When driving to the starting positions, Félix da Costa drove too far forward, he had to reverse and then stood at an angle, but in his correct starting position. Nevertheless, he kept the lead after the start, Buemi overtook López behind him, Vergne passed Vandoorne. Paffett also lost three positions to Sims, Massa and Abt. In turn one , Mortara drove straight ahead due to a brake defect and hit the barrier. In the process, he damaged his front wing, which he then had to change in the box. He then resumed the race one lap behind. André Lotterer meanwhile passed D'Ambrosio. At the end of the first round, Félix da Costa was leading ahead of Buemi, López, Vergne, Vandoorne, Lotterer, D'Ambrosio, Mitch Evans , Sims and Massa.

Vandoorne could not keep up with the pace of the leading group, he lost several positions in the following laps. López also had to let Vergne and Lotterer pass, Rosenqvist parked his vehicle at the edge of the track with a technical defect. Then Vergne and Lotterer passed Buemi in quick succession and caught up with Félix da Costa. In the 14th lap, Vergne passed Félix da Costa and was now in the lead. Buemi fell further back, López and D'Ambrosio overtook him on lap 21. One lap later, Lotterer overtook Félix da Costa with activated attack mode in the battle for second place.

Lotterer, Massa, Paffett, who had already retired after an accident at the time, and Vergne received a drive-through penalty because too much energy was recovered on their vehicles as a result of incorrect implementation of the battery software. Vergne fell to fifth, Lotterer to seventh and Massa to 16th. López tried in lap 24 and lap 25 to activate the attack mode, but missed the activation zone. The first time he lost a place to D'Ambrosio, the second time Buemi and Vergne were able to pass him by. Shortly afterwards, the left rear wheel suspension on López's car broke while driving over the curb . Meanwhile, Vergne overtook Buemi and was now third. Since López was unable to park the vehicle in a safe position, a full course yellow was initially announced . As the vehicle could not be recovered by the marshals and a tow truck was needed, the safety car came out shortly afterwards .

The race was reopened on lap 29. D'Ambrosio, Buemi and Rowland were the only pilots among the top ten to have no attack mode for the last laps, so Vergne overtook D'Ambrosio, and Evans and Lotterer also passed Buemi on the two following laps. Vergne then caught up with Félix da Costa, who, however, defended himself against Vergne's attacks.

Félix da Costa won the race after 33 laps ahead of Vergne and D'Ambrosio. It was the second victory for Félix da Costa in the FIA ​​Formula E Championship after the Buenos Aires ePrix 2015 . It was the first victory in the racing series for the Andretti team and for the drive manufacturer BMW. The remaining points were placed by Evans, Lotterer, Buemi, Rowland, Abt, di Grassi and Nelson Piquet jr. The point for the fastest lap in the top ten went to Lotterer.

Registration list

All teams and drivers use Michelin tires .

team	vehicle	No.	driver
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team	Audi e-tron FE05	11	Lucas di Grassi
		66	Daniel Dept.
DS Techeetah	DS E-Tense FE 19	25th	Jean-Éric Vergne
		36	André Lotterer
Envision Virgin Racing	Audi e-tron FE05	02	Sam Bird
		02	Robin Frijns
Mahindra Racing	Mahindra M5Electro	64	Jérôme D'Ambrosio
		94	Felix Rosenqvist
Nissan e.dams	Nissan IM01	22nd	Oliver Rowland
		23	Sébastien Buemi
Panasonic Jaguar Racing	Jaguar I-Type III	03	Nelson Piquet Jr.
		20th	Mitch Evans
Venturi Formula E team	Venturi VFE05	19th	Felipe Massa
		48	Edoardo Mortara
NIO Formula E team	NIO Sport 004	08th	Tom Dillmann
		16	Oliver Turvey
Geox Dragon	PENSKE EV-3	06th	Maximilian Günther
		07th	José María López
BMW i Andretti Motorsport	BMW iFE.18	27	Alexander Sims
		28	António Félix da Costa
HWA Racelab	Venturi VFE05	05	Stoffel Vandoorne
		17th	Gary Paffett

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	team	time	Super pole	begin
01	António Félix da Costa	BMW i Andretti Motorsport	1: 17.728	-	01
02	José María López	Geox Dragon	1: 18.113	-	02
03	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.dams	1: 18.269	-	03
04th	Stoffel Vandoorne	HWA Racelab	1: 18.490	-	04th
05	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	1: 18.571	-	05
06th	Jérôme D'Ambrosio	Mahindra Racing	1: 19.077	-	06th
07th	André Lotterer	DS Techeetah	1: 19.317	-	07th
08th	Mitch Evans	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	1: 19.712	-	08th
09	Gary Paffett	HWA Racelab	1: 19.929	-	09
10	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi Formula E team	1: 20.330	-	13
11	Alexander Sims	BMW i Andretti Motorsport	1: 20.367	-	10
12	Daniel Dept.	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team	1: 20.385	-	11
13	Felipe Massa	Venturi Formula E team	1: 20.407	-	12
14th	Oliver Rowland	Nissan e.dams	1: 20.849	-	14th
15th	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	1: 21.489	-	15th
16	Maximilian Günther	Geox Dragon	1: 21.883	-	16
17th	Felix Rosenqvist	Mahindra Racing	1: 23.037	-	17th
18th	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team	1: 25.104	-	18th
110 percent time : 1: 25.501 min (based on the best time of 1: 17.728 min)
19th	Sam Bird	Envision Virgin Racing	1: 29.625	-	19th
20th	Robin Frijns	Envision Virgin Racing	1: 31.566	-	20th
21st	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E team	no time	-	21st
22nd	Tom Dillmann	NIO Formula E team	no time	-	22nd

Remarks

1. ↑ Mortara was moved back three starting positions because the team had not adhered to the manufacturer's specifications for the implementation of the battery software for its vehicle.
2. ↑ The 250 kW round from di Grassi was canceled because it briefly consumed more than 250 kW of energy.
3. ↑ Bird's 250 kW round was canceled because it briefly consumed more than 250 kW of energy.
4. ↑ The 250 kW cycle from Frijns was canceled because it briefly consumed more than 250 kW of energy.
5. ↑ Turvey's lap times were canceled because his vehicle did not have the required data transmission from sensor data to the race management during qualifying.
6. ↑ Dillmann's lap times were canceled because his vehicle did not have the required data transmission from sensor data to the race management during qualifying.

run

Item	driver	team	Round	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	António Félix da Costa	BMW i Andretti Motorsport	33	46: 29.777	01	1: 13.265 (31st)
02	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	33	+ 0.462	05	1: 12,750 (32nd)
03	Jérôme D'Ambrosio	Mahindra Racing	33	+ 4.033	06th	1: 13.830 (33rd)
04th	Mitch Evans	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	33	+ 5.383	08th	1: 13.427 (32nd)
05	André Lotterer	DS Techeetah	33	+ 5.579	07th	1: 12.591 (32nd)
06th	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.dams	33	+ 6.625	03	1: 13,397 (33rd)
07th	Oliver Rowland	Nissan e.dams	33	+ 9.105	14th	1: 14.026 (33rd)
08th	Daniel Dept.	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team	33	+ 9.819	11	1: 14.301 (32nd)
09	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team	33	+ 10.936	18th	1: 13.914 (22.)
10	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	33	+ 11,564	15th	1: 14.803 (33.)
11	Sam Bird	Envision Virgin Racing	33	+ 11.747	19th	1: 14.307 (23.)
12	Robin Frijns	Envision Virgin Racing	33	+ 12,189	20th	1: 13.735 (24.)
13	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E team	33	+ 13.104	21st	1: 14.343 (32nd)
14th	Tom Dillmann	NIO Formula E team	33	+ 14.273	22nd	1: 13.205 (33.)
15th	Maximilian Günther	Geox Dragon	33	+ 16,161	16	1: 14.018 (32nd)
16	Stoffel Vandoorne	HWA Racelab	33	+ 20.013	04th	1: 14.850 (33.)
17th	Felipe Massa	Venturi Formula E team	33	+ 43.610	12	1: 13,950 (33rd)
18th	Alexander Sims	BMW i Andretti Motorsport	33	+ 47.712	10	1: 13.604 (22.)
19th	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi Formula E team	32	+ 1 lap	13	1: 14.547 (13.)
-	José María López	Geox Dragon	25th	DNF	02	1: 14.306 (22.)
-	Gary Paffett	HWA Racelab	09	DNF	09	1: 16.654 ( 07.)
-	Felix Rosenqvist	Mahindra Racing	08th	DNF	17th	1: 16.113 ( 07.)

Remarks

1. ↑ Massa subsequently received a five-second penalty for using the fan boost before the 22nd minute of the race.
2. ↑ Massa subsequently received a drive-through penalty which was converted into a time penalty of 25 seconds because he used more than the permitted 100 kJ for the fan boost .

Championship stands after the race

The first ten of the race got 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively. In addition, there were three points for pole position and one point for the driver in the top ten who achieved the fastest race lap.

Driver ranking

Item driver team Points 01  António Félix da Costa  BMW i Andretti Motorsport 28 02  Jean-Éric Vergne  DS Techeetah 18th 03  Jérôme D'Ambrosio  Mahindra Racing 15th 04th  Mitch Evans  Panasonic Jaguar Racing 12 05  André Lotterer  DS Techeetah 11 06th  Sébastien Buemi  Nissan e.dams 8th 07th  Oliver Rowland  Nissan e.dams 6th 08th  Daniel Dept.  Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team 4th 09  Lucas di Grassi  Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team 2 10  Nelson Piquet Jr.  Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1 11  Sam Bird  Envision Virgin Racing 0

Item driver team Points 12  Robin Frijns  Envision Virgin Racing 0 13  Oliver Turvey  NIO Formula E team 0 14th  Tom Dillmann  NIO Formula E team 0 15th  Maximilian Günther  Geox Dragon 0 16  Stoffel Vandoorne  HWA Racelab 0 17th  Felipe Massa  Venturi Formula E team 0 18th  Alexander Sims  BMW i Andretti Motorsport 0 19th  Edoardo Mortara  Venturi Formula E team 0 20th  José María López  Geox Dragon 0 21st  Gary Paffett  HWA Racelab 0 22nd  Felix Rosenqvist  Mahindra Racing 0

Team evaluation

Item team Points 01  DS Techeetah 29 02  BMW i Andretti Motorsport 28 03  Mahindra Racing 15th 04th  Nissan e.dams 14th 05  Panasonic Jaguar Racing 12 06th  Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team 6th

Item team Points 07th  Envision Virgin Racing 0 08th  NIO Formula E team 0 9  Geox Dragon 0 010  HWA Racelab 0 11  Venturi Formula E team 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tobias Wirtz: Formula E confirmed: Saudi capital Riyadh marks the start of the 5th season. e-Formel.de, May 17, 2018, accessed December 11, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Matthias Dubach: Controversial season opener: Formula E has a Saudi problem. blick.ch , October 25, 2018, accessed on December 11, 2018 . 
3. ^ Günther Pavlovics: Saudi Arabia: Sports spectacle with aftertaste. Courier , November 4, 2018, accessed December 11, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Tobias Bluhm: Despite the Khashoggi affair: Formula E boss Agag sticks to races in Saudi Arabia. e-Formel.de, October 25, 2018, accessed on December 11, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Tobias Bluhm: Officially: HWA confirms Formula E entry in 2018, customer engines from Venturi. e-Formel.de, May 9, 2018, accessed December 11, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Formula E 2018/19: Virgin receives drivetrain from Audi. Motorsport-Total.com, September 21, 2018, accessed December 11, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Tobias Bluhm: Formula E: Techeetah officially replaces Virgin as the DS factory team. e-Formel.de, July 23, 2018, accessed December 11, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Timo Pape: Official: Nissan is entering Formula E for the fifth season. e-Formel.de, October 25, 2017, accessed on December 11, 2018 . 
9. ↑ Tobias Wirtz: Rejection in Diriyya: 1. Training falls through the water. e-Formel.de, December 15, 2018, accessed on December 15, 2018 .