It was a third victory in a row for Renault e.dams’ Sébastien Buemi at the third ePrix of season three of the FIA Formula E Championship. With his hat-trick, the Swiss driver wrote history on the Puerto Madero circuit.
The decisive overtaking manoeuvre was seen early in the race, with Buemi moving to the first place ahead of Lucas Di Grassi (Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport) and Jean-Éric Vergne (Techeetah). But Di Grassi seemed to struggle with his first car.
“I had the opposite of what Seb had. My first car was a bit of a mess, going everywhere, oversteering much more than expected. It was quite low on grip overall and I couldn’t drive it. I just tried to carry it to the pits and then after the car change, the second car was good”, said the Brazilian.
With the second car, he managed to fight his way back amongst the top three, after having dropped down the field. But it was impossible for him to close the gap again. “Clearly we are not on the pace of the Renaults”, concluded Di Grassi.
Despite winning with a gap, the second part of the race was a challenge for Buemi. “At the start of the race, I took it pretty easy for a couple of laps to see where we were, and we had the pace to pass the other guys. I have to say I had everything under control and I got quite a bit of a margin. Then on the second car, we had some more issues with the brakes, so it was quite difficult to actually drive the car”, the winner admitted.
The happiest face on the podium belonged to Vergne: “We are a new team and we came from very far away – and didn’t have any testing like all the other teams had. We solved the struggles we had in Hong Kong and Marrakesh. I had a good car and I’m really happy, soI think if we can have a weekend without a mistake, I’m sure we can put the focus into getting a win.”
Nico Prost finished in fourth for the third time in a row, with Nelson Piquet Jr. (NextEV NIO) claiming his best result since his title-winning campaign in fifth.
The Faraday Future Dragon Racing duo created the biggest excitement with their team-internal duel. Loïc Duval was the faster one, finishing sixth while Jérôme d’Ambrosio lost another place to Daniel Abt (Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport), crossing the line in eighth. The top ten were completed by Oliver Turvey (NextEV NIO) and local hero José María López (DS Virgin Racing).
López received a big applause by the crowd after fighting his way through the field from 18th to 10th place. “I enjoyed moving through the pack today in front of a home crowd. I have renewed confidence in my energy management, and I’m growing in confidence and aggression with every minute I spend in the DSV-02”, he explained.
Formula E is now facing another break before the next ePrix takes place in Mexico City on 1st April 2017.