Nico Prost takes victory at an action-packed first round of the London ePrix

Nico Prost takes victory at an action-packed first round of the London ePrix

Renault e.Dams driver Nico Prost took victory of the first round of the London ePrix, his second win of his Formula E career and first win of the season ahead of Bruno Senna and Jean-Eric Vergne in an ePrix that saw many fans looking at the Buemi and Di Grassi battle for the championship before the final race at the season at the Battersea Circuit tomorrow which Di Grassi leads by three points.

At the start of the ePrix, Nico Prost got a very good start and maintained the lead as we went into the first few corners. Behind Prost, the rest of the field also managed to get through the first few corners safely and without incident. In the next few corners, the DS Virgin Racing drivers of Jean-Eric Vergne and Sam Bird were racing wheel to wheel with each other and could have at one stage hit each other.

By Lap 2 Nico Prost was leading Bruno Senna and Oliver Turvey as championship rivals Lucas Di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi were in ninth and eleventh places respectively. Lap 3 saw Buemi in a great move on Loic Duval move up to tenth place and now finds himself just behind his rival as Di Grassi puts pressure on Mahindra driver Nick Heidfeld for eighth place and manages to gain the position on Lap 4. A few corners later, Buemi manages to do what Di Grassi has done and is able to pass Heidfeld for ninth place.

In the early stages of the ePrix, Di Grassi passes his team mate Daniel Abt for track position and leaves his team mate to keep his championship rival behind him. While the battle between Buemi and Abt was heating up on track that led to Abt getting a warning from the stewards for changing direction more than once; Di Grassi was starting to catch the DS Virgin Racing drivers in order to further progress up the grid as Prost was lap by lap edging away at the front and building the gap in preparation for pitting for his second car halfway through the ePrix.

Lap 11 saw Bird trying with everything in his power to get past his team mate and Vergne changed direction in order to defend against him more than twice and could also receive a warning just like Abt if he carried. Two laps later; Di Grassi was able to pass Bird for sixth place and now has at this stage of the race a three place buffer against his championship rival.

The following lap saw Buemi trying to pass Abt at Turn 3 and looked to have the racing line but Abt very foolishly defended in the wrong manner. Within the space of a few corners, Abt then tries a move on Bird but locks up massively and maintains the position as Bird is losing efficiency on his car and loses a place to Buemi.

Buemi then on Lap 16 edges closer to his championship rival after passing Abt for seventh place and is now starting to make ground as drivers such as Bruno Senna, Oliver Turvey, Sam Bird and Antonio Felix Da Costa make their pit stops at the end of the lap and the remaining drivers such as the race leader Prost, Robert Frijns and Loic Duval make their pit stop at the end of Lap 17.

After all of the Formula E drivers have switched cars for the second half of the London ePrix, Prost still leads the field ahead of Senna, Turvey, Vergne and Frijns; with the MS Amlin Andretti driver losing a place to the DS Virgin Racing driver. By Lap 19, Di Grassi and Buemi both pass Frijns for fourth and fifth place as the rain once again hit the Battersea Circuit.

Lap 20 sees Abt hitting the wall at Turn 2 after going off online to pass Frijns and then bounces after hitting the wall and colliding with Frijns in the process. This then brought out the Safety Car onto the track and diminishing the lead that Prost has built up at the front of the grid as both drivers officially retire for the ePrix.

Racing resumed on Lap 24 with Prost, Senna, Turvey, Vergne, Di Grassi and Buemi still as the top six drivers and we now have a ten lap shootout to the finish between Di Grassi and Buemi for the championship. Vergne in the latter stages of the race locks up as he tries to pass Turvey for third place as Di Grassi closes up on Vergne in order to try and get further up thegrid as he can.

But on Lap 26 as Di Grassi tries to pass Vergne for position, Di Grassi goes in deep, Vergne defends hard and damages his front wing and is now under attack from Buemi and defends hard to his rival especially on Lap 28 when both drivers could have hit each other.

In the closing laps of an action-packed London ePrix, the battle for third, fourth, fifth and sixth places caught our attentions. Vergne was catching Oliver Turvey at a rapid pace and even on Lap 30; Vergne nearly hit the back of Turvey while trying to pass him for position as Buemi tries everything to get past his rival Di Grassi and also defend his position from Bird who is behind him.

Lap 31 sees Bird passing Buemi for position as yellow flags were showing on the track as Turvey hits the wall; handing third place to Vergne and officially retires from the ePrix. The last lap sees Buemi while trying to pass Bird hitting the back of his car and Bird losing at least two places as a result.

But it was Nico Prost who won the first round of the London ePrix ahead of Bruno Senna in a stunning second place 5.244 seconds behind Prost and Jean-Eric Vergne finishing in third place 8.195 seconds behind Prost.

Lucas Di Grassi finished in fourth place ahead of his championship rival Sebastien Buemi in fifth place, Antonio Felix Da Costa in a brilliant sixth place, Sam Bird in seventh place, Nick Heidfeld in eighth place, Jerome D'Ambrosio in ninth place and Mike Conway who rounded off the top ten finishers of the race.

Simona de Silvestro finished just outside the top ten in eleventh place ahead of Stephane Sarrazin in twelfth place, Ma Qing Hua in thirteenth place and Nelson Piquet Jr in fourteenth place. Oliver Turvey, Loic Duval, Robert Frijns and Daniel Abt did not finish the ePrix.

Here is the classification of the 2016 London ePrix (R1) as follows:-

1. Nicolas Prost, Renault e.Dams, 33 laps
2. Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, +5.244s
3. Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing, +8.195s
4. Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 8.914s
5. Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.Dams, +10.052s
6. Antonio Felix Da Costa, Team Aguri, +10.908s
7. Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +10.986s
8. Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +11.264s
9. Jerome D'Ambrosio, Dragon Racing, +12.106s
10. Mike Conway, Venturi, +12.456s
11. Simona de Silvestro, Andretti, +13.079s
12. Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi, +15.918s
13. Ma Qing Hua, Team Aguri, +38.400s
14. Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV TCR, +52.028s
15. Oliver Turvey, NEXTEV TCR, 3 laps
16. Loic Duval, Dragon Racing, Not Classified
17. Robin Frijns, Andretti, Not Classified
18. Daniel Abt, ABT Shaeffler Audi Sport, Not Classified

Lucas di Grassi still leads the Formula E Drivers Championship heading into the final round tomorrow with 153 points ahead of Sebastien Buemi in second with 150 points, Nicolas Prost in third with 90 points, Sam Bird in fourth with 88 points, Jerome D'Ambrosio in fifth with 66 points, Stephane Sarrazin in sixth with 59 points, Jean-Eric Vergne in seventh with 52 points, Nick Heidfeld in eighth with 51 points, Daniel Abt in ninth with 50 points and Loic Duval in tenth with 48 points.

Driving for Pleasure will be producing reports on every session at the London ePrix tomorrow at Battersea Park circuit for the finale of the 2015/2016 FIA Formula E Championship.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa