Review of the Berlin ePrix: Clean sweep for Daniel Abt and Audi at home

Before qualifying, the only notable event involved Stéphane Sarrazin going straight into the TecPro barriers at the first corner.

It was under sunny conditions with a well-heated track that this qualifying session started. The temperature of the tarmac could prove to be a difficulty factor for the race on a track already very abrasive and aggressive with the tires.

The first group to take off was composed of Daniel Abt, Nelson Piquet, Mitch Evans, Andre Lotterer, and Oliver Turvey. After all the fast laps, Daniel Abt seized the provisional best time, 1/10th ahead of Oliver Turvey and three of Mitch Evans. Right behind, it was the turn of the second group to start with Maro Engel, Nick Heidfeld, Alex Lynn, Antonio Felix da Costa, and José Maria Lopez. Among the five drivers in this group, only Alex Lynn and José Maria Lopez completed interesting laps with provisional third and fifth places.

Before welcoming the top five of the championship, the third group, composed of the lower-ranked drivers, namely Jérôme d’Ambrosio, Nicolas Prost, Luca Filippi, Tom Dillmann, and Stéphane Sarrazin, left the pits. Ultimately, it was Jérôme d’Ambrosio who proved to be the fastest, even securing a surprisingly high provisional second time. Finally, Jean-Eric Vergne, Sam Bird, Felix Rosenqvist, Sébastien Buemi, and Lucas di Grassi took to the track in the fourth group. As a result, Lucas Di Grassi and Jean-Éric Vergne claimed the top two spots, while Felix Rosenqvist settled for sixth place ahead of Sébastien Buemi.

The top five drivers at the end of the qualifying were Lucas Di Grassi, Jean-Éric Vergne, Daniel Abt, Jérôme d’Ambrosio, and Oliver Turvey. Then came the super pole to decide the top places on the grid among the five best. It was the local Daniel Abt who claimed pole position for Audi. He was followed by Oliver Turvey, Jean-Éric Vergne, Jérôme d’Ambrosio, and Lucas Di Grassi, the Brazilian having completely botched his lap.

In any case, far back in the qualifiers, André Lotterer will have to serve a ten-place grid penalty for his incident with Sam Bird at the end of the Paris race. Jean-Éric Vergne’s teammate at Techeetah will therefore start last for the race.

Here is the starting grid for the fourth Berlin ePrix:

.@Daniel_Abt takes pole in Berlin! #BerlinEPrix https://t.co/IzFS4U8fNS pic.twitter.com/DQfKQRBCxQ

— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) 19 mai 2018

Daniel Abt the strongest at home

At the start, Daniel Abt maintained the advantage of his pole position, while Oliver Turvey also retained his second position. Just behind, Jérôme d’Ambrosio took advantage of a slightly slowed Jean-Éric Vergne, who had tried to attack Turvey, to take the third position. The only incident to note involved Felix Rosenqvist, who went wide and lost a few positions. Know that Sam Bird quickly managed to climb to seventh place.

Jean-Éric Vergne quickly regained the third place in the race by overtaking Jérôme d’Ambrosio. Lucas Di Grassi also tried to take advantage without success, even having a slight contact with the Belgian.

We go green in Berlin for the 2018 BMW i #BerlinEPrix! pic.twitter.com/G3CsWReClF

— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) 19 mai 2018

Finally, the Brazilian from Audi managed to pass d’Ambrosio at the hairpin a lap later. Unfortunately for the Dragon driver, things didn’t improve as Sébastien Buemi took his fifth position a few moments later. Subsequently, things heated up for the seventh position between Mitch Evans and Sam Bird, with Evans managing to overtake the DS Virgin driver by cutting in quite energetically in front of him. On the seventh lap, Jean-Éric Vergne had caught up to Oliver Turvey.

In the tenth lap, Nick Heidfeld entered the top 10 at the expense of Tom Dillmann in his Venturi. But more interestingly, championship leader Vergne lost two places in succession to Lucas Di Grassi and Sébastien Buemi. Up front, Daniel Abt had nearly a four-second lead.

Things continued to go well for the Audi clan as Di Grassi quickly took over the second position previously held by Turvey. In the fourteenth lap, Mitch Evans gained an extra spot by overtaking Jérôme d’Ambrosio for the sixth position in the race. Meanwhile, Jean-Éric Vergne was persistent against Sébastien Buemi in trying to reclaim the fourth position, but without success at that moment.

After 20 laps, Daniel Abt was still firmly in the lead, but his teammate Di Grassi was also proving to be very fast on the track. Meanwhile, Vergne got the upper hand on Buemi for fourth place by overtaking the Swiss driver in the first snail curve with a strong contact on the Renault.

At the end of the twenty-second lap, Oliver Turvey initiated the pit stop sequence just ahead of Jérôme d’Ambrosio, José Maria Lopez, Nick Heidfeld, Felix Rosenqvist, and Stéphane Sarrazin. A lap later, it was time for the race leader to stop and switch to a different car. The German was quickly followed by his teammate Lucas Di Grassi, Jean-Éric Vergne, Sébastien Buemi, Mitch Evans, Sam Bird, André Lotterer, Maro Engel, Tom Dillmann, Nelson Piquet, Felix Rosenqvist, Luca Filippi, Antonio Félix Da Costa, and finally Alex Lynn.

After the stops, Daniel Abt, who lost a few seconds in the pits, emerged just ahead of his teammate and Sébastien Buemi, who rejoined in front of Jean-Éric Vergne. Behind them, there were no changes in the top 10 standings, with Mitch Evans, Sam Bird, André Lotterer, and Maro Engel in order. However, Nick Heidfeld reclaimed the final point from Maro Engel a few hectometers after exiting the pits.

It was therefore a fratricidal duel between Audi drivers looming for the victory. The two protagonists had nearly eight seconds of advantage over Turvey in third place. By the thirty-third lap, the battles were mainly at the back of the pack, although Sam Bird managed to climb to seventh place ahead of Jérôme d’Ambrosio. Meanwhile, José Maria Lopez had managed to climb back into the points. At Dragon, the two drivers, Jérôme d’Ambrosio and José Maria Lopez, were fighting tooth and nail for eighth place before the Argentine dropped back. Moreover, the last spots in the top 10 behind Sam Bird were highly contested at this point in the race.

With ten laps to go, Oliver Turvey in his NIO was losing ground, giving up his third position to Sébastien Buemi and then fourth to Jean-Éric Vergne at the line. The battle for the third step on the podium continued to be dynamic. Indeed, the French driver from Techeetah managed to narrowly overtake the Swiss driver a few moments later. Further down the standings, Jérôme d’Ambrosio was struggling painfully after a promising start to the race and qualifying. This allowed the Frenchman Tom Dillmann, replacing Edoardo Mortara for this ePrix, to enter the green zone.

.@JeanEricVergne getting his elbows out to make his way past @Sebastien_buemi 😬 #BerlinEPrix pic.twitter.com/0gMVKUhuc3

— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) 19 mai 2018

With five laps to go, positions were starting to solidify, but Sébastien Buemi remained close to Jean-Éric Vergne, allowing him to attempt an attack in the final laps. In the penultimate lap, Nelson Piquet tried to overtake José María López but braked too hard, forcing him off the track momentarily. López spun a few meters later, relegating them to the back of the pack.

A 1-2 for @audiformulae in Berlin and a full house for @Daniel_Abt, pole, Visa Fastest Lap and the win! #BerlinEPrix pic.twitter.com/O3NDrdjLVR

— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) 19 mai 2018

At the end of the race, Daniel Abt secured his second victory in the discipline at home in a very fine manner. He led a nice Audi one-two at home as Lucas Di Grassi finished right behind. In the end, Jean-Éric Vergne managed to stay on the podium ahead of Sébastien Buemi. Just behind, there was Oliver Turvey in front of Mitch Evans and the championship runner-up Sam Bird. For the minor places, Maro Engel was ahead of André Lotterer who came back strongly. The last point went to Nick Heidfeld. Ultimately, Tom Dillmann could not score a point, finishing in thirteenth place, while Nicolas Prost ended up fourteenth and Sarrazin finished last.

To be complete, here is the full ranking of this race:

#ABBFormulaE Results #BerlinEPrix 1-2 for @audiformulae ! Victory for polesitter @Daniel_Abt (+ Fastest Lap), P2 for @LucasdiGrassi while @TecheetahFE ‘s @JeanEricVergne takes the final podium place. Many congratz from all of us at #MsportXtra HQ !! @FIAFormulaE @eracing_net pic.twitter.com/jSHWFDqmax

— #MsportXtra (@MsportExtra) 19 mai 2018

Sam Bird’s seventh-place finish at the arrival and Jean-Éric Vergne’s third-place podium position give him a 40-point lead before the final three races.

There are, however, few changes in the team standings where Techeetah now has a 44-point lead over DS Virgin:

Here concludes the summary of this Berlin ePrix, now see you for the first Zurich ePrix on June 10th.