Review of the Rome ePrix: Sam Bird Becomes the “Imperial Eagle” in Rome

The gladiator Felix Rosenqvist wins the first fight.

Know that the morning had started poorly for Alex Lynn, guilty of two accidents during each of the two free practice sessions. The best time of the morning, incidentally, was set by Felix Rosenqvist.

Unlike most circuits hosting Formula E, the Italian track included a lot of elevation changes with many braking zones on camber. The first sector was very narrow, followed by a very wide mid-section, and a closing lap that tightened, containing numerous bumps making grip more precarious.

The qualifying session started with the first group consisting of the drivers with the lowest championship standings, namely Maro Engel, Nicolas Prost, Jerome d’Ambrosio, Tom Blomqvist, and Luca Filippi. This initial round of timed laps allowed Tom Blomqvist (Andretti) to set the best mark, six-tenths ahead of Maro Engel (Venturi). However, Jérôme d’Ambrosio (Dragon) and Luca Filippi (NIO) were unable to complete a timed lap due to a timing error that prevented them from reaching the starting line before the end of the allotted time.

It was then the turn of the second group, composed of the top five in the championship, to hit the track. Felix Rosenqvist (Mahindra) was the fastest in the group, four thousandths ahead of Sébastien Buemi (Renault e-dams) and two-tenths ahead of Sam Bird (DS Virgin). A slight disappointment for Jean-Éric Vergne (Techeetah) who only placed fourth, but the situation was even worse for Nelson Piquet (Jaguar) who only placed sixth.

The stopwatch was once again set off for the third group with Mitch Evans, Daniel Abt, Oliver Turvey, Edoardo Mortara, and Lucas di Grassi. Once all the laps were completed, Mitch Evans (Jaguar) provisionally placed fourth ahead of Lucas Di Grassi (Audi Abt) by a very small margin. This consequently eliminated Jean-Éric Vergne from the super pole. Also noteworthy was Edoardo Mortara’s (Venturi) mistake, as he broke his right rear suspension after a collision with the wall.

It was finally the last group’s turn to be released on the track, consisting of Nick Heidfeld, Andre Lotterer, Alex Lynn, Antonio Felix da Costa, and Jose Maria Lopez. Even before taking to the track, this qualifying session ended prematurely for José Maria Lopez (Dragon) and Antonio Félix Da Costa (Andretti) who collided at the pit exit, the Portuguese driver’s team having released him at the wrong time. André Lotterer (Techeetah) managed to take the provisional pole, nine thousandths of a second from Felix Rosenqvist. None of the other group members managed to complete a significantly fast lap.

The five fastest drivers who were going to compete for pole position were André Lotterer, Felix Rosenqvist, Sébastien Buemi, Sam Bird, and Mitch Evans. After each had their turns, it was ultimately Felix Rosenqvist who claimed the front row, six tenths ahead of Sam Bird, eight tenths ahead of Mitch Evans, nine tenths ahead of André Lotterer, and one and a half seconds ahead of Sébastien Buemi.

Here is an overview of the starting grid for this Rome ePrix:

That’s pole for @FRosenqvist!> https://t.co/IzFS4U8fNS #RomeEPrix pic.twitter.com/9YUcfpo4gN

— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) 14 avril 2018

Sam Bird wears the laurels of victory.

Before the race started, the stewards announced that Antonio Félix Da Costa was penalized with a 10-place grid drop for a dangerous pit exit that led to the incident with José Maria Lopez.

The start went smoothly until the first chicane, but a few lengths later, Alex Lynn hit Jean-Éric Vergne from behind, causing the Brit from DS Virgin to lose several positions as well as two places for the championship leader. Oliver Turvey managed to take fifth place at the expense of Sébastien Buemi and Lucas Di Grassi. At the beginning of the second lap, the top four remained unchanged with Felix Rosenqvist still leading ahead of Sam Bird.

The damaged car of Alex Lynn forced him to lose positions progressively. The black and orange flag was quickly shown to the young British driver to signal him to come into the pit for repairs as his car was falling apart on the track. On the sixth lap, Felix Rosenqvist had a one-second lead over Sam Bird, while the entire pack already seemed to be in energy management mode on this long circuit of nearly 3 kilometers. A third into the race, the leader was still Felix Rosenqvist aboard his Mahindra, now comfortably with a three-second lead over his pursuer Sam Bird (DS Virgin).

Overall, there were few battles to report at this stage, except for the three-way fight between José Maria Lopez, local driver Luca Filippi, and Nicolas Prost. The Renault driver was the big loser in the struggle. Four laps later, the top two in the race were now nearly ten seconds ahead of their first chaser, Mitch Evans. Bird was also closing in slightly on the leaders but still two and a half seconds behind. Further back, Sébastien Buemi finally managed to overtake Oliver Turvey (NIO) on the outside just before the hill at the end of the second sector.

Antonio Félix Da Costa (Andretti) was the first to pit on lap sixteen, as his charge through the field had been very energy-draining. Meanwhile, it was Turvey’s turn to lose several places due to a low energy level. This allowed Abt, Di Grassi, and Vergne to gain a position each. Another notable event was Buemi’s contact with Lotterer at the rear, touching the fairing behind one of the Techeetah driver’s wheels. A yellow flag was waved later in the lap due to a pile-up involving Heidfeld, Turvey, Filippi, and Mortara.

Crush hour in Rome…#RomeEPrix pic.twitter.com/220WNPCNHn

— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) April 14, 2018

Rosenqvist then took the opportunity to make his car change, closely followed by Bird, Buemi, Engel, Lopez, Prost, Piquet, Mortara, Turvey, Filippi, and Blomqvist. A lap later, Heidfeld stopped just in front of Evans, Lotterer, Abt, Di Grassi, and Vergne. It was noted that at the same time Nelson Piquet was immobilized in the pit lane due to a seatbelt problem. This led the champion of the inaugural season to retire.

When it was time for Jérôme d’Ambrosio to make his stop, Felix Rosenqvist was still leading the race ahead of Sam Bird. Sébastien Buemi made a good move by taking third place ahead of Mitch Evans, André Lotterer lost two positions in the process, while Lucas Di Grassi was ahead of Daniel Abt this time, followed by Jean-Éric Vergne, Maro Engel, and finally Antonio Félix Da Costa.

This phase of the race was decidedly eventful, as it was Alex Lynn’s turn to trigger a full course yellow procedure, forcing all drivers to activate their speed limiters. The former GP2 driver was stationary at the side of the track. The green flag was shown to the drivers a lap later, on the nineteenth lap. This logically caused the pack to tighten behind the inseparable leading duo. Two laps later, Lucas Di Grassi found an opportunity to pass André Lotterer for fifth place while Mitch Evans did the same to Sébastien Buemi to claim the final spot on the podium.

On the twenty-third lap, it was chaos for Felix Rosenqvist, who was immobilized on the track after breaking a rear suspension on his car due to taking a curb too aggressively. This allowed DS Virgin and Sam Bird to very likely eye a victory now clearly within their reach. For the third time that day, the yellow flag was shown again on the track to slow down the drivers in the area where Felix Rosenqvist was located.

One lap later, Lucas Di Grassi easily passed Sébastien Buemi, who was in overconsumption, thanks to his Fan Boost, which the Renault driver also had. However, it was insufficient for the Swiss to defend.

Logically, we witnessed a new full course yellow procedure to clear the car of the former leader. The cohort of drivers was released again a lap later. Two laps later, Sébastien Buemi lost another position to André Lotterer. The season 2 champion seemed to be in great difficulty.

The next lap, Mitch Evans’ approach in second place to the lead was becoming more precise, with Lucas Di Grassi even joining the party. At the back of the top 10, d’Ambrosio overtook Engel to take an unexpected eighth place at the beginning of the race. The Belgian benefited from the yellow flag to stop at the best possible moments.

Jean-Éric Vergne then lost his seventh place to Daniel Abt (Audi) after braking too late in an attempt to overtake Buemi. The German driver then managed to overtake the Renault driver. But, more interestingly, the fight for the top three places was fierce. The Di Grassi – Evans battle allowed Sam Bird to pull away. On the thirty-first lap, Di Grassi managed to take the advantage over Evans with a muscular maneuver. Jean-Éric Vergne’s teammate took advantage of this battle to get much closer.

A new yellow flag was waved to allow the removal of José Maria Lopez’s car, which had stopped at the side of the track. The two men were trading blows for the third spot on the podium in the final laps. Unfortunately, the New Zealander from Jaguar lost two positions in the last laps, ending up fifth behind Lotterer and Abt.

In the end, Sam Bird won the race ahead of Lucas Di Grassi, André Lotterer, Daniel Abt, Jean-Éric Vergne, Sébastien Buemi, Jérôme d’Ambrosio, Maro Engel, Mitch Evans, and Edoardo Mortara. Unfortunately for Evans, he finished quite far back, almost running out of battery power at the end of the race. On his side, Jean-Éric Vergne minimized the damage with a fifth place, and Jérôme d’Ambrosio managed a strategic comeback to seventh place. This race confirmed that Felix Rosenqvist is indeed struggling to conclude races and that Lucas Di Grassi is back in contention.

For a complete rundown of the race standings, here it is in detail:

Results #RomeEPrix 🇮🇹

1. @sambirdracing
2. @LucasdiGrassi
3. @Andre_Lotterer
4. @Daniel_Abt
5. @JeanEricVergne #ABBFormulaE ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/kDqPKHaPRq

— Michelin Motorsport (@Michelin_Sport) April 14, 2018

In the drivers’ standings, Sam Bird takes the second place at the expense of the unfortunate Felix Rosenqvist, while also closing the gap to eighteen points behind the leading Jean-Éric Vergne. This fine race by Lucas Di Grassi allows him to climb to the eighth spot in this ranking:

In the team standings, the double entry into the points by both Techeetah drivers allows the team to maintain a margin of over thirty units over DS Virgin, which holds a fifteen-point lead over Mahindra.

Now that you know everything, see you on the weekend of April 26th for the third edition of the Paris ePrix.