Renault e.dams driver and FIA Formula E championship leader Sébastien Buemi extended his advantage with victory in the incident-filled and disrupted Paris ePrix.
It was the Swiss racer’s fifth win in six races and his maiden triumph on the streets of Paris, beating DS Virgin Racing’s José María López over the line in the process.
Buemi had lined up on pole position after narrowly edging out Techeetah’s on-form Jean-Éric Vergne by just 0.006 seconds in qualifying. When the lights went out, the reigning champion bolted from pole and opened up an advantage.
But Vergne kept with Buemi through the first stint before an earlier than expected pit-stop phase, which was sparked by a full course yellow, caused by Lucas di Grassi and António Félix da Costa clashing.
A quick reaction from Buemi on the restart saw him eke out a small advantage over the chasing pack but mid-way through the second stint, Vergne crashed at Turn 13, ending his and Techeetah's chances of a strong result.
The French driver reportedly suffered an unexplained mechanical problem going through the corner, which caused him to hit the barrier, his accident bringing out the Safety Car.
Racing did not resume for long after the restart; having been given a drive-through penalty for a pit stop below the minimum time, di Grassi was now one lap down and gunning for the extra point for fastest lap.
But in doing so, he crashed into the barrier as he attempted his lap and the safety car emerged once again with just two laps left to run. It pulled into the pits at the end of the final tour, with Buemi driving to the win and the chequered flag.
The Swiss driver crossed the line seven-tenths ahead of López to take victory, with Mahindra’s Nick Heidfeld benefitting from the problems of others to steal a fine third place.
His team-mate Felix Rosenqvist was fourth, with Nicolas Prost moving up to fifth after Robin Frijns was demoted to sixth with a five-second time penalty for speeding under yellow flags.
A late problem for Daniel Abt on the final lap bunched up the field and dropped him down the order. Nelson Piquet Jr took advantage to take seventh, with Tom Dillmann scoring points on his debut with a fine eighth place.
Mitch Evans and Stéphane Sarrazin completed the top 10, with Esteban Gutierrez also getting a five-second time penalty for speeding under yellows. He had crossed the line seventh but fell down the order to 12th.
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