Defending Formula E Champion, Sebastien Buemi has admitted he was lucky to win the inaugural Hong Kong ePrix, but also thanked strategy for handing him his seventh victory in the all-electric series.
NextEV NIO driver Nelson Piquet Jr. was comfortably leading the Hong Kong ePrix until he came across the DS Virgin of Jose Maria Lopez, who had crashed into the barrier on the exit of turn four. The stricken DS Virgin forced Piquet Jr. into taking evasive action, handing the lead to Sam Bird and second place to Buemi.
That incident also brought out a safety car, and two different pit stop calls ended up deciding the race. Buemi and Renault e.dams decided to pit instantly, whilst Bird and DS Virgin opted to stay out longer, costing themselves the lead.
“We didn’t really have a good set-up and we were a bit lucky you know,” said Buemi. “Qualifying didn’t go amazingly but then in the race we had the right calls. The win really goes to the strategy, it goes out to the strategist. So all the credit to my team for that. Yeah I felt like with the second car we made some adjustment to the first and second car and the second car was a lot quicker, so we kind of found our way in the last few laps of the race.”
