2018 Formula E Paris: Vergne rules Paris

Jean-Eric Vergne made sure that the French fans had enough reasons to celebrate as he won the Paris ePrix in style. The French driver had showed good form throughout the race weekend and he also managed to qualify on pole. Vergne utilised the pole advantage to fend off Sam Bird and Andre Lotterer in the opening stages of the race. There was much drama when MS&AD Andretti Formula E's Tom Blomqvist piled into the back of Prost, leaving him sandwiched between the Frenchman and Panasonic Jaguar Racing's Mitch Evans behind.

Vergne emerged from the car swaps with only a marginal lead over his Techeetah teammate, who had overtaken Bird for second place. Audi man Lucas di Grassi managed to clock two laps more and this allowed him to climb up to third place and he was hot on the heels of Lotterer. It seemed that the German driver would be able to defend his second position, but there was a twist in the tale. Lotterer ran out of charge in the last lap and this allowed di Grassi to pass him. Sam Bird, who was charging down the field in the last lap ploughed into the back of Lotterer‘s car, which damaged his car’s front end badly. With his front-right wheel hanging, he somehow managed to cross the finish line and took the final step on the rostrum.

Post the race, both Bird and di Grassi slammed the German driver for blocking them even when his car had run out of charge. Lotterer finished the race in sixth place and was allowed to retain his position, however, he was handed a 10-place grid penalty, which will be applied in the following race at Berlin. Lotterer was passed by Maro Engel (Venturi) and Sebastien Buemi in the last few corners of the race and they finished in fifth and sixth position, respectively. Felix Rosenqvist of Mahindra Racing managed to finish the race in eighth place and his team-mate, Nick Heidfeld, finished three places lower in 11th position.

Race Results:

1        Jean-Eric Vergne - Techeetah    Renault       

2        Lucas di Grassi      -   Audi      

3        Sam Bird – Virgin DS Virgin   

4        Maro Engel – Venturi     

5        Sebastien Buemi - e.dams Renault      

6        Andre Lotterer – Techeetah Renault   

7        Daniel Abt – Audi Audi 

8        Felix Rosenqvist – Mahindra Mahindra        

9        Oliver Turvey - NIO NextEV NIO     

10      Jose Maria Lopez – Dragon Penske