Mahindra pitstop confusion leads to Buemi win

It was an unfortunate second race for Mahindra Racing as winner of the first race in Berlin eprix Felix Rosenqvist had to be content with just the second place (a result of a pit stop confusion), while another Mahindra Racing podium entry Nick Heidfeld was placed tenth.  Sebastien Buemi of Renault e.dams extended his lead in the 2016/17 FIA Formula E Championship to 32 points after picking up his 12th career win in the all-electric single-seater series.

However, the Renault e.dams driver was not first across the line around the revamped Tempelhofring airfield circuit, but when on-the-road winner Felix Rosenqvist was given a 10-second penalty for an unsafe release in the pits, he was there to pick up the pieces.  Buemi was handed the winner’s trophy by Formula E super fan James Harmon.

 “First of all, congratulations to Felix, I feel like he’s the one who deserved the victory today,” Buemi said. “ After taking his maiden win in yesterday’s race, Rosenqvist was once again the man to beat in Berlin. He converted his Julius Baer pole position into a strong early lead, and was never really under any direct threat from Buemi.

 However, as he left the garage following his mandatory mid-race car change, his Mahindra team-mate Nick Heidfeld was pitting for his stop. There was a brief period of confusion as the two red and white cars tried to avoid contact with each other, but remarkably Rosenqvist re-joined the race still in the lead.

 After reviewing the incident, the race stewards deemed it to be an unsafe release resulting in a 10-second time penalty. This removed any chance Rosenqvist had of victory, but such was the leading duo’s advantage over the rest, he was only demoted to second place.

 The third spot went to Lucas di Grassi, extending his record number of Formula E podiums to 19 from just 29 races. From seventh on the grid, he drove a battling race, initially passing the NextEV NIO of Oliver Turvey, before gaining a further place when the DS Virgin Racing team-mates banged wheels, which sent Sam Bird off the track and into the run-off area.

 The FIA Formula E Championship now moves Stateside for the first-ever New York City ePrix on July 15 and 16.

(Source: FormulaE)