London ePrix – Qualifying Race 1: Sébastien Buemi on Pole, Title Rivals at the Front

Sébastien Buemi once again left his mark on the qualifying session. As often in Formula E this season, the Swiss driver clocked the best time at the crucial moment of his qualifying group, the fourth and last in the order of appearance. However, the Toyota endurance driver had a bit of a scare, brushing against the wall at the exit of the last chicane on his fast lap.

Nevertheless, it’s the 3rd Pole Position of the season for Buemi, who joins Jean-Eric Vergne at the top of this ranking. This Qualification is essential because the track is both very narrow and very spectacular, which could lead to the deployment of the safety car. A good position on the grid is therefore essential to adapt one’s strategy.

Buemi is leading on the grid ahead of another driver from the last group, Jérôme d’Ambrosio, who delivered a convincing end of the season for Dragon Racing. Behind them are the two Brazilian drivers also in the race for the Driver’s title: Lucas Di Grassi is third just ahead of Nelson Piquet Junior. While Di Grassi complained about the behavior of his car, “Nelsinho” was on full attack on the track, which provided some beautiful images coming out of the corners, as shown in the video attached to this article. The World Championship leader just had a scare with an investigation for a dangerous exit from his box in the pit lane. However, it did not result in any consequences.

With this ranking, the 4 drivers still in the race for the Drivers’ Title are all placed on the first two rows!

Behind, Jean-Eric Vergne will start in 5th position for Andretti Autosport. The performance is almost disappointing as the Frenchman had to abort his fast lap after hitting the wall at turn 7.

The other e.Dams-Renault driven by Nico Prost also remains within striking distance in 6th position.

At the Chinese team NEXTEV, Oliver Turvey impresses with a very convincing 7th position. For his debut in Formula E, he could thus play the team game by trying to delay the race of Nelson Piquet’s opponents. Bruno Senna (Mahindra), Sam Bird (Virgin Racing), and Salvador Duran (Amlin-Aguri) complete the Top 10. It is noteworthy that Sam Bird is now mathematically eliminated from the title race after missing the Pole-Position points.

Mixed performances for the 4 other rookies of the weekend: Simona De Silvestro, Sakon Yamamoto, Alex Fontana, and Fabio Leimer are all on the last two rows of the starting grid.

Finally, the major accident to mention in this session was Karun Chandhok for Mahindra, who hit the wall at the exit of the last chicane, called Chelsea Gate. The Indian driver broke his front-right wheel in the incident.

Fans of the discipline are now waiting for the start of Race 1, scheduled for 5 p.m. (French time). For a change, the start will be launched rather than stopped. The drivers have indeed complained to the race management about a surface problem, particularly in the first corner.