Race report
Formula E Monaco ePrix
Monaco ePrix: Buemi holds off di Grassi for season's fourth win
Championship leader Sebastien Buemi fended off a late charge from Lucas di Grassi in Monaco to claim his fourth win in five Formula E races.
Scott Mitchell
Edited: May 14, 2017, 7:06 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Di Grassi launched a final-lap assault after a mid-race safety car eradicated a healthy Buemi lead, but was defeated by 0.320 seconds.
For the first half of the race it looked like Buemi would have a serene run to victory, as he held the lead at the start and built an advantage of more than five seconds approaching the halfway mark.
On lap 21 of the 51-lap race, a fierce fight for third between Nelson Piquet Jr and Jean-Eric Vergne boiled over and sparked a safety car.
Vergne had tried to pass Piquet around the outside into Turn 3 twice before and though he got much further ahead on this occasion, Piquet kept his nose in and the two banged wheels.
The contact continued through the exit of the corner and after their wheels briefly locked, Vergne, on the outside, was forced into the barriers.
As Vergne’s Techeetah entry was recovered under the safety car, the entire field pit within a lap.
Buemi managed to rebuild an advantage of over a second once racing resumed on lap 26, although di Grassi started to eat into that in the final stages.
Di Grassi closed in further on Buemi on the final lap, and even forced the Swiss driver to defend into the Swimming Pool and Rascasse – but had to settle for second.
The result extends Buemi’s lead over di Grassi in the championship to 15 points.
Some 13 seconds behind, Nick Heidfeld was the main beneficiary of the Piquet/Vergne clash as he scored his second podium of the season for Mahindra – becoming the first driver to score a Monaco podium in Formula 1 and Formula E.
Heidfeld had started down in eighth but the foundation for his rostrum was in a smart move to the outside at Turn 1, as the field bunched up on the inside, which launched him to fifth.
Piquet managed to drag his NextEV car back to the pits with minimal delay after the contact with Vergne and rejoined fourth, which he held to the flag.
Maro Engel banked the best result of his rookie season with fifth, in his Venturi team’s home race, while Felix Rosenqvist beat Daniel Abt to finish sixth in the second Mahindra.
Esteban Gutierrez scored points for the second race in a row since switching to Formula E with Techeetah in seventh, after Robin Frijns tumbled to 12th on the final lap.
Frijns’ problem promoted Andretti teammate Antonio Felix da Costa to ninth and Nico Prost to a point-paying 10th after starting 18th.
DS Virgin Racing duo Sam Bird and Jose Maria Lopez finished outside of the points after hitting the wall and picking up damage respectively.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Monaco ePrix: Buemi becomes fifth pole-sitter in five races
Next article Vergne worried Paris hopes "destroyed" by Piquet crash injury
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Mitchell
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Formula 1
Formula 1 Jan 3, 2020
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Formula 1
Formula 1 Jan 3, 2020
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
Formula 1
Formula 1 Jan 3, 2020
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
More from
Sébastien Buemi
The new records set by Toyota's Hypercar trio with WEC 2026 title
WEC
WEC
Monza
2 d
The new records set by Toyota's Hypercar trio with WEC 2026 title
WEC title showdown: How Toyota’s two crews can win the crown at Monza
WEC
WEC
Monza
8 d
WEC title showdown: How Toyota’s two crews can win the crown at Monza
Latest news
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
3 min
Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
2 h
Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe