Lucas Di Grassi takes Victory at the first Montreal ePrix and the championship lead

Lucas Di Grassi takes Victory at the first Montreal ePrix and the championship lead

Saturday afternoon saw Lucas Di Grassi claim victory and the championship lead at the first Montreal ePrix ahead of Jose Maria Lopez and Nick Heidfeld in a race that was full of surprises, incidents and drama straight from the off especially for Sebastian Buemi who got disqualified from the race afterwards.

After his grid penalty for a battery change, triggered by a heavy practice shunt, Buemi was always at risk of midfield aggravation at the start. He fell to 17th on an awful opening lap, picking up mild steering damage as a very conservative approach meant he got swallowed up in the midfield.

Buemi then adapted the positioning of his left hand on the wheel to counter the offset steering and gradually regrouped, rising to a point-paying tenth place by the end of the opening stint, which came prematurely on Lap 15 of 35 thanks to a full-course yellow caused by the crashed Mahindra of Nick Heidfeld.

Buemi was tucked up behind di Grassi’s team-mate Daniel Abt coming into the pits, nudging the German’s rear end and gesticulating because he felt the German was deliberately holding him up.

He was released side-by-side with Abt after swapping cars and got ahead of the German before receiving a punt up the rear after Buemi appeared to slow suddenly at the pitlane exit.

Buemi complained furiously over the radio, but ninth was his and he gained another position immediately when Adam Carroll dropped out of the points after inexplicably waiting to pit until the end of the full-course yellow.

Driving in a half-liveried second car, a legacy of the practice crash also forcing his Renault e.dams team into a barely-completed rebuild around a new tub, Buemi then caught and passed Oliver Turvey and Mitch Evans to run in sixth place heading into the final third of the race.

Jose Maria Lopez did Buemi a big favour when he crashed into the barrier at the final corner, sparking a safety car. When racing resumed after the incident, Buemi’s team-mate Nico Prost moved aside without fuss, gifting Buemi fifth and then fourth place was handed to him on a plate as well when Felix Rosenqvist hit the wall exiting the final corner and picked up damage to his left rear.

Despite catching Sarrazin and launching a final-lap assault, which included wheel-banging and side-by-side squabbling for three corners, Buemi was forced to settle for fourth.

The safety car that gave Buemi his late boost also wiped out a near-five-second advantage for di Grassi at the front, who suddenly had Vergne in his mirrors.

Vergne had got ahead of Rosenqvist in the car swaps, thanks to a tardy stop for the Mahindra, and passed Techeetah team-mate Sarrazin shortly before the safety car emerged.

He hounded di Grassi to the flag, but was never close enough to make a serious move.

It was found after that the race that Sebastien Buemi has been disqualified out of the results of the first Montreal ePrix after his car was found to be underweight. The official FIA communication also detailed “that there was insufficient time to weigh the car after the rebuild and before the race, even though the weighing platform schedule had been increased by 30 minutes by the Technical Delegate.

“The team reportedly added 4kg additional ballast to compensate for any weight variation in the rebuilt car.”

But it was Lucas Di Grassi who claimed victory at the first Montreal ePrix with a stunning drive at the front on the grid. Di Grassi finished ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne in second place who was 0.350 seconds behind and ahead of Nick Heidfeld in a surprising third place who was 7.869 seconds behind Di Grassi.

Daniel Abt ended the ePrix in fourth place ahead of Sam Bird in fifth place, Nico Prost in sixth place, Mitch Evans in seventh place, Robin Frijns in eighth place, Felix Rosenqvist in ninth place and Tom Dillmann in tenth place.

Jerome D'Ambrosio finished the race just out of the top ten in eleventh place ahead of Maro Engel in twelfth place, Nelson Piquet Jr in thirteenth place, Antonio Felix Da Costa in fourteenth place and Oliver Turvey in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Adam Carroll ended the ePrix in sixteenth place. Sebastien Buemi, Loic Duval, Jose Maria Lopez and Nick Heidfeld did not finish the ePrix.

Here's the classification of the 2017 Montreal ePrix R1 as follows:-

1.Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 35 laps
2.Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah, +0.350s
3.Stephane Sarrazin, Techeetah, +7.869s
4.Daniel Abt, ABT Shaeffler Audi Sport, +8.592s
5.Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +8.913s
6.Nicolas Prost, Renault e.Dams, +10.058s
7.Mitch Evans, Jaguar Racing, +10.457s
8.Robin Frijns, Andretti, +15.836s
9.Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, +16.764s
10.Tom Dillmann, Venturi, +19.320s
11.Jerome D'Ambrosio, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, +20.229s
12.Maro Engel, Venturi, +22.314s
13.Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV NIO, +23.145s
14.Antonio Felix Da Costa, Andretti, +34.786s
15.Oliver Turvey, NEXTEV NIO, +46.996s
16.Adam Carroll, Jaguar Racing, +49.612s
17.Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.Dams, Not Classified
18.Loic Duval, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, Not Classified
19.Jose Maria Lopez, DS Virgin Racing, Not Classified
20.Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, Not Classified

Sarah Jones-@jonesy_laaa