From an imperious Frenchman to a defending German, at today’s Beijing ePrix we witnessed an array of talent from this season’s Formula E grid. We rank all 18 Formula E drivers who took part in this weekend’s season opener.
Sebastien Buemi – 9
A truly imperious drive from the 2014 WEC champion saw him take pole position, race fastest lap and the race win, becoming the first driver in Formula E history to take maximum points away from an FE weekend. A perfect 10 has to go to the E-Dams team for putting together the best package in the paddock.
Lucas Di Grassi – 8.5
A mistake in qualifying aside, Di Grassi drove a perfect weekend extracting 18 points was easily the best Di Grassi could have hoped for as his ABT car was nowhere near as competitive as the mighty e.Dams machine.
Nick Heidfeld – 9
Bouncing back from a heartbreaking last lap crash with Prost in last season’s Beijing E-Prix, was exactly what the German needed to set his season off. With new team Mahindra, Nick did an impressive job to qualify third on the grid, 4 places ahead of teammate Bruno Senna. In the race, Heidfeld drove brilliantly to secure a podium ahead of the much faster Dragon cars and only lost a position to Di Grassi in the pits. Arguably one of the best defensive drives we have seen in Formula E so far.
Loic Duval – 8
P8 to P4 was a decent day’s work for the Le Mans winner. He failed to get passed Heidfeld despite having a faster package and more useable energy and was helped out by the full course yellow’s coming out when he was in the pits, but did come home ahead of team mateD’Ambrosio and scored a deserved 12 points.
Jerome D’Ambrosio – 7.5
Out-qualified and out-raced by Duval by a very slim margin, he managed his power well and it paid off during the full course yellow’s as he rose to fifth. However, he nearly ran into the back of Loic and that cost him a shot at the podium.
Oliver Turvey – 8.5
Turvey was massively helped by the full course yellow’s but still managed his battery power to perfection and outclassed defending world champion Nelson Piquet Jr throughout the weekend. A sixth place from a dismal qualifying is more than the team could have ever wished for.
Sam Bird – 7.5
He was massively overshadowed by teammate Vergne in qualifying, the British driver got it together in the race to comfortably beat the Frenchman. Bird kept his nose clean but made a costly error in the first half of the race which dropped him down the order, ultimately it could have been much better for Bird who made numerous overtakes throughout the race.
Nathaniel Berthon – 8.5
While his teammate was making contact with another driver, Berthon kept his head down and managed his battery brilliantly to secure an eighth when the full course yellows came out for his Da Costa’s crash. A great debut for the Frenchman!
Daniel Abt – 5.5
A dismal weekend for the German saw him being out qualified by 7 tenths after Q4, the race wasn’t any better as he slumped to ninth while his teammate Di Grassi took second. However, Daniel was hurt by the timing of the FCY’s, he will be hoping for better pace in Malaysia. He was also hit with a penalty which demoted him from ninth to eleventh after hitting one of his mechanics.
Stephane Sarrazin – 7.5
Stephane was comfortably ahead of ex-F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve all weekend and only just stole the final point from Robin Frijns on the final run to the line. Venturi will be heartbroken to see that Dragon are extracting much more pace from their powertrain but will be hoping they can close up to them as the season progresses.
Robin Frijns – 8.5
A solid Formula E debut saw Robin cut through the field in the first half of the race, he was hampered by the timing of the FCY’s and lost positions to the likes of Piquet and Turvey. However, Frijns battled onto the end only to lose out on the final point in the last few seconds of the race. Post-race it was announced, Abt was hit with a penalty which promotes Frijns to 10th.
Jean-Eric Vergne – 5.5
He bottled his qualifying lap, and was far too aggressive in the race, the former F1 driver had a race to forget. Finishing down in 12th he threw away a points finish and struggled to find his rhythm at any point during the race.
Bruno Senna – 6.5
Similarly to JEV, Senna had a race to forget as a slow pitstop cost him any chance of points. Senna was also out-qualified by Nick. The Brazilian will be hoping for better in Malaysia.
Jacques Villeneuve – 6.5
Considering it was his first Formula E weekend and he is 44 years old, this wasn’t a bad weekend for the 1997 F1 World Champion. Off the pace of Sarrazin, Beijing was very much a learning curve for Jacques, after he had a good pitstop points could have been on the cards if he hadn’t been hit off by Aguri’s Da Costa.
Nelson Piquet Jr – 6.5
Beaten by his teammate in qualifying, Piquet’s late points charge was brought to an end by a technical failure.
Nico Prost – 7
Despite having the best package on the grid, Prost failed to hold 2nd in the race and slipped down to 4th after making a mistake coming out of the pits. His race was brought to an end by his rear wing hanging off his E-Dams.
Antonio Felix Da Costa – 6.5
Before his crash with Villeneuve was surely on for the driver of the day as he glided up the field to as high as 9th at the time of the pit stops, however, the crash which seemed to be his fault brought an end to all his hard work. Disappointing.
Simona De Silvestro – N/A
Simona endured a tough weekend which saw her crash in practise and early on in the race, however, she was within a tenth of team-mate Frijns in qualifying. Points will be the target in Malaysia.
Next, the Formula E grid will move onto Malaysia on the 7th of November for round two of the 2015/16 championship.
