Daniel Abt took pole, fastest lap, every lap led and the win at Tempelhof, giving Audi its second one-two in Formula E history.
Daniel Abt won the 2018 Berlin ePrix from pole for Audi, setting the fastest lap and leading every lap. Di Grassi was second in the other Audi, and Jean-Eric Vergne took third for Techeetah on the day.
The 2018 BMW i Berlin E-Prix was the ninth round of the 2017-18 season and the fourth Berlin race. Daniel Abt won the 45-lap race from pole, took the fastest lap and led every lap, which made him the first driver to complete a grand slam in the series. Di Grassi took second in the sister Audi, and the team's one-two became the second of its kind in the series' history.
When and where was the 2018 Berlin ePrix held?
The race was held on 19 May 2018 at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit, on the outskirts of Berlin. It was confirmed as part of the 2017-18 calendar in September 2017 by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. The circuit measured 2.375 km (1.476 mi) and had ten turns, run clockwise.
Observers found the track very technical, and they expected the overtakes to come into turns one and six and at the turn nine hairpin. Three changes had been made from the year before. The pit lane entry moved from turn ten to after the final corner, the turn six right-hander was shifted to allow a straighter approach to the turn nine hairpin, and the main straight was lengthened by 40 m. Together these changes made the track 100 m longer.
A pole, fastest lap, every lap led and a win: Daniel Abt's grand slam gave Audi its second one-two.
What was the championship picture before Berlin?
Jean-Eric Vergne of Techeetah led the drivers' championship with 147 points. Sam Bird of Virgin was second, thirty-one points behind, and Felix Rosenqvist of Mahindra was third, a further thirty points adrift. Sebastien Buemi was fourth on 70 points, and Lucas di Grassi fifth on 58 points.
In the teams' table, Techeetah led with 186 points, Virgin were 42 behind in second, and Audi were a further 21 points back in third. Mahindra were fourth on 107 points and Jaguar fifth on 88. With the Paris ePrix behind them, Vergne wanted to finish ahead of Bird in the battle for the title over the last four races. Techeetah had limited testing opportunities, because it ran as a customer team of the manufacturers. Vergne summed up the approach simply, saying the season was now about keeping the car clean and scoring points.
Berlin was also a race where Audi hoped to recover from a difficult start to its season. The team had been struggling with reliability, and a good result in front of its home crowd would matter for its position in the teams' table.
Who changed the line-up for Berlin?
A total of 20 drivers representing ten teams raced in the event, and Vergne arrived with a poor record from the previous year's race. He had also been testing in Techeetah's simulator, and his teammate Lotterer promised to help him and not to crash into anybody on track.
Three drivers were changed before the race. Edoardo Mortara had been driving for Venturi since the Hong Kong opener, but Mercedes-Benz required him to prioritise the DTM round at the Lausitzring. Venturi's reserve driver Tom Dillmann replaced him.
Tom Blomqvist was released by Andretti after his form lagged behind teammate Antonio Felix da Costa, and Stephane Sarrazin took the seat for the rest of the season. Luca Filippi returned to partner Oliver Turvey at NIO, after being stood down in Paris for NIO's reserve driver Ma Qinghua.
How did practice and qualifying set the grid?
Heidfeld was fastest in the first practice session at 1 minute, 9.667 seconds, and Buemi was the closest challenger. Sarrazin understeered into the turn one barrier, and the session was stopped for 15 minutes while his damaged car was lifted from the track by crane. In the second session Vergne set the fastest lap of the weekend so far at 1 minute, 9.438 seconds, with Rosenqvist second and Lotterer the fastest German in third.
Abt paced the first qualifying group, on a track whose concrete surface had a habit of producing unexpected results. Abt then took pole with a lap of 1 minute, 9.472 seconds, which was Audi's first pole of the season and his second career pole, after the 2015 Long Beach ePrix.
Turvey was second, 0.263 seconds slower, having been the first driver to take to the circuit. Vergne was third, Jerome d'Ambrosio was fourth, and di Grassi fifth after losing eight-tenths of a second at the turn nine hairpin. Lotterer had been demoted ten places for causing a crash with Bird in Paris, and he started 20th after serving a ten-second penalty at his pit stop.
Abt was investigated for a potential infraction of the sporting regulations, because data from his car showed the 200 kW mode shortly before the final sector. The stewards reprimanded him rather than penalising him, since they found no performance advantage was gained.
The session restarted with fifteen minutes remaining, and the loss of practice time affected all the teams, because the track was cluttered with discarded tyre rubber at the side of the circuit.
How did the race start?
The start time was moved from 16:03 to 18:03 so that the German broadcaster ARD could show the race live between two cup finals. Fan Boost went to Abt, Rosenqvist and Buemi. On the grid, Abt held his advantage at the first corner, while Turvey held off an attack from Vergne for a moment.
D'Ambrosio then took third around the outside of Vergne at the first turn. Rosenqvist tried to copy the move, ran wide onto the dusty run-off area and slipped out of contention. After one lap Abt had seven-tenths of a second on Turvey, with d'Ambrosio a further second back in third.
Di Grassi passed Vergne for third on lap 11, after which Buemi demoted Vergne to fifth around the inside of the turn nine hairpin. Di Grassi then attacked Turvey, who was struggling with energy management, and got past him on the inside on the following lap to claim second.
Abt had been second in the 2016 race and was confident before the weekend. He said that a victory in Berlin would be the highlight of his Formula E career, and that the result was emotional given his earlier second place.
How did Abt build his lead?
By lap 20 Abt's lead had settled at three and a half seconds over teammate di Grassi. Vergne made a lunge at Buemi as both went wide into the opening corner, and minor contact left Vergne in fourth. The first pit stops came at the end of lap 22, when Turvey pitted first and the rest of the field followed on the next lap without incident.
After the stops, Abt kept the lead but it fell to six-tenths of a second, because he waited for Buemi to pass before leaving the pit box. Abt then pulled away from di Grassi, who reportedly had a steering problem. He set the race's fastest lap on lap 26 and earned one point.
Buemi passed Turvey on lap 33 when Turvey ran wide at turn ten, and Vergne saw his chance to pass Turvey too. Vergne later reached Buemi, but he chose to wait until turn six to make his move, steering late on the left to take third. Buemi tried to cut back, and his nose cone nudged Vergne's rear wing.
| Position | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Daniel Abt, Audi | Pole, fastest lap, every lap led |
| 2nd | Lucas di Grassi, Audi | 6.758 seconds behind |
| 3rd | Jean-Eric Vergne, Techeetah | Passed Buemi late on |
| 4th | Sebastien Buemi, e.Dams-Renault | Fourth, ahead of Turvey |
| 5th | Oliver Turvey, NIO | Fifth despite energy problems |
How did Abt finish his grand slam?
Abt's lead grew to 6.7 seconds by the finish, and he crossed the line after 45 laps to claim his second career victory. It came two months after his Mexico City win. He achieved the first grand slam in the series: pole, fastest lap, every lap led and the win.
Di Grassi crossed 6.758 seconds back in second, so Audi had a second one-two in the series' history, following Techeetah's effort in Santiago. Vergne completed the podium in third. Buemi took fourth, Turvey fifth, Evans sixth and Bird seventh.
The classification ran Engel eighth, Lotterer ninth and Heidfeld tenth, and all twenty starters finished the race for the first time that season. Abt's sidepod was damaged in the late move against Buemi, and his car nearly shut down before the line.
What did the Berlin result change in the title race?
Abt's 29 points from the single ePrix were the maximum available, and Audi scored 47 points in the teams' table, which took it to second place. Vergne's lead grew to 40 points over Bird, who had finished seventh. Rosenqvist was 36 points adrift in third, and Abt moved from sixth to fourth in the drivers' standings.
Techeetah maintained the lead in the teams' championship, but its advantage over Audi had been reduced to 44 points. Virgin's single point from Bird left it third, while Mahindra and Jaguar kept fourth and fifth. Techeetah's team principal Ivan Yim warned his team about Audi's strength, and urged them to score as many points as possible in the final three races.
How did the drivers react?
Abt said the win was super special, and he described having a feeling that good things would happen at his home round. Di Grassi said the one-two was a dream come true after a difficult start to Audi's season, and that it was his fourth straight podium. He also said the win was a deserved one for Abt, who had driven the stronger race. Vergne said the Audi drivers had been out of reach, and he had let di Grassi pass without challenging.
Turvey defended his team's decision to pit a lap earlier than the others, arguing that a podium would have been hard to hold against Buemi and Vergne. Rosenqvist said he thought his car's handling was costing energy and lap time, and Buemi warned Vergne to expect a different response in future battles. Bird said he still hoped to catch Vergne, although he would need a miracle in the final races.
