Diriyah – Qualifications 1: Buemi regains pole, 4 years later!

Group A: Hughes dominates, the two Maseratis in the wall!

Qualifying for the Diriyah E-Prix got off to a flying start with the first red flag of the weekend, displayed after just 3 minutes. Maximilian Günther locked his wheels entering turn 12 and crashed his Maserati into the Tec-Pro. Single seat destroyed, the German will not have had the opportunity to complete a single fast lap and will start from last place for the first race.

After a good quarter of an hour of interruption, the race management allowed the 10 remaining drivers to return to the track. But a second twist at Maserati: Edoardo Mortara loses control of his car, trapped off the trajectory by dust, and hits the wall at turn 16! The rear of his mount is broken, the Swiss is forced to abort his turn and give up with the 10th time! The two Italian cars will be at the back of the grid for the first E-Prix of the weekend…

The session was finally won by Jake Hughes (McLaren) which, with a 1’10″269, is 3 tenths ahead of Oliver Rowland’s Mahindra. Dan Ticktum (NIO 333) and Lucas di Grassi (Mahindra) complete the top 4. The championship leader, Jake Dennis, was eliminated with the 6th fastest time in his group. Complicated qualifying on the other hand for the two French people from Nissan: Norman Nato and Sacha Fenestraz only achieved the 8th and 9th times in Group A.

Group B: The Jaguars roar, DS still on the mat

Contrairement au Groupe A, le Groupe B a été bien plus propre sur le tracé de Diriyah. Seule ombre au tableau : le mauvais jugement de Sergio Sette Camara (NIO 333), sous enquête des commissaires pour avoir gêné Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) dans son tour rapide, dans le dernier virage.

Unlucky driver in Mexico, Sam Bird made up for it with the best time in Group B. The Jaguar set the best time of the two sessions with a time of 1'09"942, ahead of Sébastien Buemi (Envision). The other Jaguar also qualified for the final phase, with the 3rd time of Mitch Evans. With the 4th fastest time, René Rast (McLaren) is the last man to have taken his ticket for the rest of qualifying.

As in Mexico, no DS-Penske was able to qualify in the top 4. Jean-Éric Vergne only took the 7th time in Group B, while the reigning champion, Stoffel Vandoorne, was unable to sign only 9th fastest, ahead of the two Abt-Cupras. Nico Müller, injured during FP2, did not take part in qualifying.

Duels: Buemi, the end of the famine

Unlike in Mexico, the suspense remained until the last meters of the final phase, direct elimination. By successively beating Mitch Evans, Sam Bird and finally Jake Hughes in the final, Sébastien Buemi signed the 15th pole position of his career in Formula E. Above all, the Swiss puts an end to almost 4 years of drought: his last pole dates back to the New York E-Prix… in July 2019! The Envision driver had never won a single duel until now since the introduction of the new qualifying system in 2022.

The experienced Sébastien Buemi, Formula E champion in 2016, will start in front of the rookie Jake Hughes, impressive since the start of the weekend. The Briton beat the poleman from Mexico, Lucas di Grassi, then Dan Ticktum in the semi-final, before failing against Buemi. The start of the Diriyah E-Prix will be at 18 p.m. French time.

BUEMI. IS. BACK! @Sebastien_buemi we qualify @juliusbaer Pole Position ⚡#DiriyahEPrice pic.twitter.com/75SfsdfxB3

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 27, 2023

The final painting:

Quarter-finals:

Oliver Rowland vs. Dan ticktum

Lucas di Grassi vs. Jake Hughes

Mitch Evans vs. Sébastien Buemi

Sam bird vs. Rene Rast

Semi-finals:

Dan Ticktum vs. Jake Hughes

Sébastien Buemi vs. Sam Bird

Final:

Jake Hughes vs. Sébastien Buemi

The starting grid for the Diriyah 1 E-Prix

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