2016 Hong Kong ePrix: Buemi Wins the Formula E Season Opener

The 2016 Hong Kong ePrix opened the 2016-17 Formula E season and was the debut edition of the event. Staged before a crowd of 30,000 on the Central Harbourfront street course, it was won by e.Dams-Renault's Sebastien Buemi, who started from seventh. Audi Sport ABT's Lucas di Grassi was second and Mahindra's Nick Heidfeld third.

When and where was the 2016 Hong Kong ePrix held?

The race took place on 9 October 2016 at the Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit, a 45-lap event run in the afternoon heat. It was officially branded for sponsorship as the 2016 FIA Formula E HKT Hong Kong ePrix. The race started at 16:00 Hong Kong time, which is UTC+8.

The weather was dry, warm and mostly sunny. Rain from a nearby typhoon had been forecast, but it moved away before the start. Air temperatures ranged from 28.0 to 28.8 degrees C (82.4 to 83.8 F), and the track was between 36.1 and 37.8 degrees C (97.0 and 100.0 F).

Buemi won from seventh on the grid after Piquet, the pole sitter, lost the lead to a barrier on lap 17.

Why was Hong Kong added to the Formula E calendar?

Officials first floated a Hong Kong race in 2013, after a design team had toured the city. The target was the 2014-15 season, but approvals from local authorities and the FIA ran late. Formula E's Alejandro Agag announced the Hong Kong ePrix in October 2015, pending a further review by the FIA.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council confirmed the race as part of the 2016-17 schedule in September 2016. It was the first of 12 single-seater electric races that season, and ten squads, each entering two drivers, competed in it.

Who were the drivers and teams for the new season?

Several teams changed their line-ups for the third season of the championship. Jaguar made its debut in the sport with former A1 Grand Prix champion Adam Carroll and 2012 GP3 champion Mitch Evans. Team Aguri was bought by the Chinese firm SECA in mid-2016 and renamed Techeetah, with Jean-Eric Vergne and Ma Qinghua as its drivers.

Maro Engel, the defending FIA GT World Cup champion, replaced Mike Conway at Venturi. Virgin signed three-time consecutive World Touring Car champion Jose Maria Lopez to partner race winner Sam Bird. At Mahindra, Felix Rosenqvist joined Nick Heidfeld, and at e.Dams-Renault defending champion Sebastien Buemi stayed on with Nico Prost.

Buemi said that with more competition in the third season, he was focused on winning as many races as possible rather than thinking about the title. Di Grassi said Audi Sport ABT was highly motivated and aimed to win the championship after placing third and then second in the two previous seasons.

What was the Hong Kong track like?

The 10-corner circuit, 1.860 km (1.156 mi) long, was designed by Rodrigo Nunes. Local authorities refused permission for the streets to be closed to traffic until the Friday before the event, so the track had to be built in eight days and completed that day. The organisers spent US$2.6 million (HK$20 million) on relocating street lighting, cutting down trees, lowering underground covers and converting roadside infrastructure.

Drivers were positive about the layout. Ma called it very exciting and expected plenty of overtaking, while Rosenqvist said it reminded him more of American circuits than the Guia Circuit, and he noted its bumpiness. Some drivers were concerned about the turn three chicane, which had no kerbs or visible markings. Heidfeld felt a driver could crash there, and Antonio Felix da Costa backed the call for tyres and a check of the run-off area.

How did practice and qualifying go?

A 30-minute shakedown on Saturday afternoon had Ma fastest at 1 minute, 8.633 seconds, four-tenths of a second quicker than Piquet. Both practice sessions were then held on Sunday morning. The first, 45 minutes long, was topped by di Grassi at 1 minute, 2.381 seconds, using 200 kW (270 hp), with Buemi second and 0.145 seconds back.

The first session was disrupted by red flags after Oliver Turvey stopped with an electrical problem, and then after Robin Frijns crashed at turn nine and blocked the track. Duval crashed at turn ten and stopped the second session for ten minutes, and di Grassi hit a wall at turn two that removed his rear wing. Vergne was fastest in the 30-minute second session at 1 minute, 2.350 seconds.

Qualifying ran for 60 minutes on Saturday, divided into four groups of five cars chosen by lottery. Each group had six minutes on track, and each driver was limited to two timed laps, one at maximum power. The top five from the groups were to contest a Super Pole, but it was cancelled after long delays caused by several crashes, and the grid was set by the fastest times in the four groups.

Piquet took the first pole of his career, and the first for NextEV, with 1 minute, 3.099 seconds. Turvey was 0.132 seconds behind on the front row, and Lopez qualified third in his first Formula E qualifying session. Bird was fourth and Buemi fifth, after starting in the fourth group and being initially two-tenths slower than Piquet. Rosenqvist made light contact with the barrier to take sixth, and Abt was seventh but was then given a three-place penalty for speeding under red flags in the shakedown, which moved Vergne up to eighth.

How did the race unfold?

The race was helped by the Fan Boost, which added 100 kW (130 hp) and could be used in the second car. A fan vote selected Buemi, di Grassi and Lopez for the boost, and the results were announced on the fourteenth lap. When the race started, Piquet and Turvey made clean getaways and held first and second into the first turn.

Lopez ran wide at the first corner, touched the barrier and then lightly hit Bird, which left him with heavy steering damage. Abt's rear wing was removed in a collision with Felix da Costa at the second braking zone, and Ma's car was damaged as Di Grassi ran into it, losing his nose cone. Prost dropped from ninth to fourteenth on the first lap because of an incorrect power setting.

Piquet led for much of the early race and opened a two-second lead by lap four. Bird pressed Turvey for second, and Buemi passed Turvey at turn one on lap seven. Di Grassi and Abt were both shown a black flag and had to pit for repairs, while Ma became the first retirement after a battery issue on his second car.

The decisive moment came on lap 17. Lopez's car hit a wall, and Piquet, close behind, swerved to avoid it, then reacted late and understeered into a barrier. He was not badly damaged but lost the lead to Bird, and Buemi moved into second. The safety car came out to clear the wall and Lopez's car, and drivers who had to switch to their second car, Buemi among them, made their stops under those conditions at the end of lap 20.

Bird chose not to pit and kept the lead at the lap 22 restart, ahead of Felix da Costa. He then pulled away and tried to conserve electrical energy, which the Jaguar drivers also did. Bird made his stop at the end of lap 25, but technical problems with his second car cost him 1 minute, 27 seconds, and he rejoined one lap down in 15th.

Buemi took the lead from Frijns, who had led for one lap before his own stop, and di Grassi closed to less than two seconds with ten laps left. Buemi responded by extending his lead to two and a half seconds. Rosenqvist set the fastest lap, 1 minute, 2.947 seconds, on lap 36, which earned him a point. Di Grassi, Heidfeld and Prost each had about five per cent of electrical energy left as the final lap began.

Who won the 2016 Hong Kong ePrix?

Buemi won from seventh on the grid. It was his first win of the year and the seventh of his career. He led for 20 laps, more than any other driver, and there were three lead changes among four drivers in the race. Buemi said the race had not been easy because his battery had overheated, and another lap might have prevented him from finishing.

Buemi later admitted that luck played a part, because his car was not set up to his preference. He also praised his strategist. Di Grassi finished second for Audi Sport ABT, while Heidfeld took third for Mahindra, the first podium of his season.

What was the final classification?

Several drivers collected points in the top ten, and a number of cars were lost to electrical or battery problems. The table below lists the top finishers and the key moment for each.

Felix Rosenqvist finished as one of the final finishers, after setting the fastest lap for a point. Lopez, Evans, Ma and Abt all retired, Abt after losing his electrical energy, and Vergne also retired with an overheating battery. Bird's second-car problems cost him a dozen places.

What did the race mean for the championship?

Buemi led the drivers' championship with 25 points after the opening round, seven ahead of di Grassi in second. Heidfeld was a further three points behind di Grassi in third, ten points behind Buemi. Prost was fourth on 12 points, and Felix da Costa was fifth with ten.

In the teams' table, e.Dams-Renault led with 37 points after its first and fourth places. Audi Sport ABT and Andretti were tied for second on 18 points each, Mahindra was fourth on 16, and NextEV sat nine points back in fifth with eleven races left in the season.

Agag reaffirmed his commitment to racing in Hong Kong despite negative press reviews of the event, and said he would not be discouraged by the financial losses it had caused.

How did the drivers and teams react?

Buemi said he was happy to start the new season with a win after a poor end to the previous one. Di Grassi said his race had been crazy but a great start, and he praised his mechanics for keeping him on the same lap as the leaders. Heidfeld said he was happy to take a podium in the first race and hoped his team could keep moving up the standings.

Piquet called it a mixed day, since he had taken pole and made a fast start but still finished 11th. He said the incident with Lopez could have happened to any driver. Bird was disappointed, and said it would have been better for the second-car problems to show up in the first race rather than later.

Lopez thanked the fans who had voted him the Fan Boost, and he was upbeat about his speed despite retiring from his first Formula E event. Vergne said his water pump problem had cost him a strong result, and he called the race a big mess, though he still believed he could win the championship.