Formula e – Sébastien Buemi remains the prince of Monaco

Winner of three of the first four races in 2016-2017, Sébastien Buemi (Renault e.dams) se présentait en favori sur le Rocher de Monaco, d’autant plus que le pilote Toyota en WEC had established itself during the last visit to the Principality of the Formula e in 2014-2015.

Author of pole position in qualifying, Buemi made the best start against his great rival Lucas di Grassi (ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport), while the first victim at the start was José Maria Lopez (DS Virgin Racing) who would be forced to retire. stopping a few laps later to change his damaged rear wing.

The start of the event proved very complicated for the DS Virgin Racing clan, since Sam Bird saw his chances of victory disappear after contact with the barriers at the exit of the Piscine chicane. The Briton will, however, be able to return to the pits and then return to the track.

The leading duo Buemi – di Grassi is then followed by Nelson Piquet Jr (NEXTEV) and Jean-Eric Vergne (Techeetah) who will largely liven up the first part of the race. The Frenchman is becoming more and more insistent, attempting a first attack outside the hairpin of the route.

A few moments later, Vergne tried an identical maneuver again in the same place and this time seemed well ahead of the Brazilian when the two cars collide at the exit of the corner.

If Piquet Jr can continue, Vergne must give up, and the safety car is deployed to allow the evacuation of the car Techeetah.

Buemi holds off di Grassi

This neutralization of the event provokes the salvo of car changes. At the restart, Buemi still precedes di Grassi, while Nick Heidfeld (Mahindra Racing) took advantage of the Piquet – Vergne collision to take third place ahead of the former Renault driver. F1.

Positions which will no longer change until the checkered flag, despite the pressure exerted in the final laps by di Grassi on leader Buemi who pockets his fourth success of the year in five races.

PIquet and Maro Engel (Venturi) complete the top 5 ahead of Felix Rosenqvist (Mahindra Racing), Daniel Abt (ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport), Esteban Gutiérrez (Techeetah), Antonio Felix da Costa (Amlin Andretti) and Nicolas Cheers (Renault e.dams), author of a superb comeback in the peloton to finish in the top 10, after starting from the back of the grid, following missed qualifying.

After the finish, da Costa received a 33″ penalty on his race time for a dangerous restart in the pit lane and fell to 11th place. If Nicolas Prost therefore finished in ninth place, Mitch Evans (Panasonic Jaguar Racing) entered the top 10.

Less success for Stéphane Sarrazin (Venturi), victim of a problem at the start, with a car taking time to get going, and who finished 15th after one lap. Loïc duval (Faraday Future Dragon Racing) was forced to stop in his pit box following technical problems, and finished 18th after 11 laps.

Race ranking

Find the full report of the Monaco ePrix, in issue 2214 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.