Ad Diriyah E-Prix: António Félix da Costa wins season 5 opener

    Mahindra Racing secures a podium finish with d’Ambrosio clinching 3rd place behind Vergne.

    Published On Dec 17, 2018 02:26:00 PM

    4,051 Views

    António Félix da Costa has become the first driver to win a race in Formula E’s new Gen2 era. The Portuguese racer fended off Jean-Éric Vergne to win the 2018-19 season opening Ad Diriyah E-Prix for BMW Andretti.

    After initially overshooting his grid slot, pole-sitter da Costa had his car lined up pointing toward the outside wall at the start, but he managed to hold on the lead, off the line. Behind him, Sébastien Buemi passed José María López around the outside of the first corner to slot into 2nd. However, the yellow flags were out soon as Edoardo Mortara went into the barriers at the official Turn 1.

    As da Costa consolidated his lead, Buemi started slipping down the order by lap 9 with both Techeetah drivers – Vergne and André Lotterer – catching up to him and passing him in quick succession. Vergne then started closing the gap to da Costa; the top two ran nose-to-tail through lap 14 before Vergne moved into the lead – again going around the outside of Turn 18, despite da Costa's fierce defence.

    Just when it seemed like Vergne was in a good position to win the race, both he and his team-mate Lotterer were handed drive-through penalties for going over the maximum permitted power while using regeneration, which dropped them back into the pack. Felipe Massa, Gary Paffett and Alexander Sims were also handed drive-through penalties for the same offence.

    This handed the race lead to da Costa, once again. López and Mahindra Racing’s Jérôme d'Ambrosio also benefitted from the penalties, shaking up the order; both were up to 2nd and
    3rd place respectively, by lap 24. The pair switched places at the end of that lap as López went through the attack mode zone but failed to activate the system.

    By this stage, Vergne ran 5th, with Lotterer at 7th and the pair quickly surged back towards the front. Vergne took 4th from López, who appeared to miss activating his attack mode again. However, the Dragon driver stopped with a broken left-rear suspension on the next lap, bringing out the safety car.

    Just before the safety car came in, da Costa and Vergne took their second attack mode activations, with the leader immediately pulling clear of d'Ambrosio. Vergne took 2nd as he shot up the main straight on lap 30, and although he closed in on da Costa, the Portuguese driver held on to win by 0.4secs and claimed his first Formula-E victory since the 2014-15 season.

    Mahindra Racing may have had a disappointing start to the race, with Felix Rosenqvist stopping early on, but the team ultimately secured a podium finish with d’Ambrosio finishing in 3rd place. Mitch Evans ended the race in 4th place, ahead of Lotterer, Buemi and Formula E rookie Oliver Rowland.

    The Audi duo of Daniel Abt and Lucas di Grassi – who started 18th on the grid after having his best time deleted in qualifying – finished 8th and 9th, respectively. Nelson Piquet rounded off the top 10, ahead of the Virgin Racing drivers Sam Bird and Robin Frijns, who also lost their best qualifying times for the same power infraction as di Grassi.

    Result - 33 laps:

    POS

    DRIVER

    TEAM

       

    GAP

     

    1

    António Félix da Costa

    BMW

      

    46m29.377s

    -

     

    2

    Jean-Éric Vergne

    DS Techeetah

      

    46m29.839s

    0.462s

     

    3

    Jérôme d'Ambrosio

    Mahindra

      

    46m33.410s

    4.033s

     

    4

    Mitch Evans

    Jaguar

      

    46m34.760s

    5.383s

     

    5

    André Lotterer

    DS Techeetah

      

    46m34.956s

    5.579s

     

    6

    Sébastien Buemi

    e.dams

      

    46m36.002s

    6.625s

     

    7

    Oliver Rowland

    e.dams

      

    46m38.482s

    9.105s

     

    8

    Daniel Abt

    Audi

      

    46m39.196s

    9.819s

     

    9

    Lucas di Grassi

    Audi

      

    46m40.313s

    10.936s

     

    10

    Nelson Piquet Jr.

    Jaguar

      

    46m40.941s

    11.564s

     

    11

    Sam Bird

    Virgin

      

    46m41.124s

    11.747s

     

    12

    Robin Frijns

    Virgin

      

    46m41.566s

    12.189s

     

    13

    Oliver Turvey

    NIO

      

    46m42.481s

    13.104s

     

    14

    Tom Dillmann

    NIO

      

    46m43.650s

    14.273s

     

    15

    Maximilian Gunther

    Dragon

      

    46m45.538s

    16.161s

     

    16

    Stoffel Vandoorne

    HWA

      

    46m49.390s

    20.013s

     

    17

    Felipe Massa

    Venturi

      

    47m12.987s

    43.610s

     

    18

    Alexander Sims

    BMW

      

    47m17.089s

    47.712s

     

    19

    Edoardo Mortara

    Venturi

      

    47m03.922s

    1 Lap

     

    -

    Jose Maria López

    Dragon

      

    32m19.405s

    Retirement

     

    -

    Gary Paffett

    HWA

      

    12m19.479s

    Retirement

     

    -

    Felix Rosenqvist

    Mahindra

      

    11m01.072s

    Retirement

     

     

    Copyright (c) Autosport. All rights reserved.

    Comments

    ×
    img

    No comments yet. Be the first to comment.

    Ask Autocar Anything about Car and Bike Buying and Maintenance Advices
    Need an expert opinion on your car and bike related queries?
    Ask Now

    Search By Car Price

    Poll of the month

    The Creta will be the third Hyundai N-Line model in India. Should more mass-market brands have sporty sub-brands?

    Yes, it's something special for enthusiasts

     

    18.33%

    Yes, but only if there is increased performance

     

    44.42%

    No, it's just a gimmick to increase the price

     

    29.42%

    It doesn't always work; just look at Tata JTP

     

    7.83%

    Total Votes : 1533
    Sign up for our newsletter

    Get all the latest updates from the automobile universe