It'll be a three-way fight going into the season-closing double-header in London later this month, after Nelson Piquet, Jr. won in commanding form his second Formula E race in this inaugural season.
After practice sessions dominated by Sébastiaen Buemi for the e.dams-Renault team, it was Jean-Eric Vergne who took pole position for Andretti at the Moscow ePrix this weekend on the streets of the Russian capital. Piquet took second position on the grid, followed by Lucas di Grassi in third and Buemi in fourth. Behind them, Nicolas Prost, Daniel Abt, Nick Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli and Salvador Duran filled out the top ten on the starting grid.
Vergne stuttered off the line, however, giving Piquet the lead – and the Brazilian driver never surrendered it for the remainder of the race. While Piquet opened the gap ahead of the rest of the pack, things further deteriorated for Vergne. First Lucas di Grassi took second place from him during the pit stops, and though he was still in third place on the final lap, he ultimately finished fifth.
Buemi illegally passed Vergne on that closing lap by cutting the chicane, but Vergne didn't retake position when Buemi slowed to let him by – and in the ensuing confusion, Heidfeld slipped past.
Fate repaid Buemi, however, when the e.dams team miscalculated the minimum length of the mandatory pit stop, holding both him and his teammate Prost for an extra ten seconds each. The team also released Buemi unsafely into Heidfeld's path, resulting in a 29-second penalty. So while the Swiss driver may have finished in third place, he was ultimately relegated to ninth in the adjusted order - just behind his wingman Prost, and ahead of Justin Wilson (who had just signed on for this race) in tenth – although Sébastien's fastest lap still awarded him a couple of extra points.
It was a commanding performance for Piquet, who opted to compete in this round in an ultimately successful bid to extend his lead instead of skip it for the X Games. After being forced out of F1 in the infamous Crashgate scandal, and trying his hand at NASCAR and Rallycross in the years since, it seems that Nelsinho may have finally found his niche.
He was joined on the podium by di Grassi in second and (after Buemi's penalty was taken into account) Heidfeld in third, with Vergne finishing fourth, Abt fifth, Duran sixth, and Antonio Felix da Costa seventh.
The results give Piquet a commanding seventeen-point lead over di Grassi at 128 points and 111, respectively – but Buemi is still very much in contention with 105 points as we head into the final races in London at the end of this month.
The team's title looks poised to go to e.dams, which holds a 44-point lead over its nearest rival Abt. But if the Audi-supported team manages to trounce its Renault-sponsored rivals in these last two races, it could still clinch the championship.
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After practice sessions dominated by Sébastiaen Buemi for the e.dams-Renault team, it was Jean-Eric Vergne who took pole position for Andretti at the Moscow ePrix this weekend on the streets of the Russian capital. Piquet took second position on the grid, followed by Lucas di Grassi in third and Buemi in fourth. Behind them, Nicolas Prost, Daniel Abt, Nick Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli and Salvador Duran filled out the top ten on the starting grid.
Vergne stuttered off the line, however, giving Piquet the lead – and the Brazilian driver never surrendered it for the remainder of the race. While Piquet opened the gap ahead of the rest of the pack, things further deteriorated for Vergne. First Lucas di Grassi took second place from him during the pit stops, and though he was still in third place on the final lap, he ultimately finished fifth.
Buemi illegally passed Vergne on that closing lap by cutting the chicane, but Vergne didn't retake position when Buemi slowed to let him by – and in the ensuing confusion, Heidfeld slipped past.
Fate repaid Buemi, however, when the e.dams team miscalculated the minimum length of the mandatory pit stop, holding both him and his teammate Prost for an extra ten seconds each. The team also released Buemi unsafely into Heidfeld's path, resulting in a 29-second penalty. So while the Swiss driver may have finished in third place, he was ultimately relegated to ninth in the adjusted order - just behind his wingman Prost, and ahead of Justin Wilson (who had just signed on for this race) in tenth – although Sébastien's fastest lap still awarded him a couple of extra points.
It was a commanding performance for Piquet, who opted to compete in this round in an ultimately successful bid to extend his lead instead of skip it for the X Games. After being forced out of F1 in the infamous Crashgate scandal, and trying his hand at NASCAR and Rallycross in the years since, it seems that Nelsinho may have finally found his niche.
He was joined on the podium by di Grassi in second and (after Buemi's penalty was taken into account) Heidfeld in third, with Vergne finishing fourth, Abt fifth, Duran sixth, and Antonio Felix da Costa seventh.
The results give Piquet a commanding seventeen-point lead over di Grassi at 128 points and 111, respectively – but Buemi is still very much in contention with 105 points as we head into the final races in London at the end of this month.
The team's title looks poised to go to e.dams, which holds a 44-point lead over its nearest rival Abt. But if the Audi-supported team manages to trounce its Renault-sponsored rivals in these last two races, it could still clinch the championship.
Related Video:
Featured Gallery 2015 Formula E Moscow ePrix
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