The inaugural Homestead E-Prix brought plenty of drama – with a big step forward in performance for the team, and initially a podium finish for Robin Frijns before a penalty was applied for unused Attack Mode.
A frustrating end result for the Envision Racing squad after lots of potential demonstrated across the day at the Homestead International Speedway. The dramatic 26 lap race brought two Safety Cars and a Red Flag, which ultimately hampered both drivers – with Sebastien Buemi in Attack Mode when the safety car was deployed and Robin Frijns not having enough time left in the race to use his remaining Attack Mode time.
However, points were still awarded to Frijns, who dropped from P3 to P8 after his penalty. Buemi was unable to climb into the top ten, and it was a P13 finish for the Swiss.
QUALIFYING
It was an exhilarating qualifying session for the Envision Racing squad – with both Sebastien Buemi and Robin Frijns on top form, setting fastest sectors throughout.
Buemi took to the Homestead-Speedway in Group A and started off strong, with a quick first push lap – placing him in P4 overall. Confidence was high going into the final push lap, however a few minor mistakes cost the Swiss in the first two sectors, which meant the blistering fastest overall sector three time was not enough to progress through, and P6 in group was the finishing result, and thus a P12 starting position on the grid.
Frijns was up next in Group B and delivered a masterclass lap which saw him top the session and make his way through to the duel stage of the session. The Dutchman faced his fellow countryman Nyck De Vries in the quarter-final and delivered another impressive lap and beating the Mahindra driver by 1 tenth of a second and progressing into the semi-final. Up against the competitive Nissan of Norman Nato this time, Frijns made a slight mistake and lost out by just two tenths of a second – nonetheless, a valiant effort and P4 on the grid.
THE RACE
The team were prepared for the race to be extremely high on energy saving and therefore opted for a sensible start, with the duo of Frijns and Buemi settling into P4 and P5. By Lap 9, Buemi opted to take the first of his two Attack Mode allocations – using two of the eight available minutes. The #16 used this wisely to work his way up from P7 to P2.
As the race progressed, Frijns eventually activated his first Attack Mode on Lap 15, climbing back up the order from P10 to P3, whilst team-mate Buemi dropped down the order to save energy.
There was a brief Safety Car for one lap due to Nyck De Vries stopping on track on Lap 17. Quickly after this, Buemi went for his final Attack Mode, although this was hampered due to another Safety Car being deployed – meaning he could not benefit from the extra power available.
This Safety Car was then converted into a Red Flag in order for the marshals to recover the damage from the incident which involved Hughes, Guenther and Evans.
With only four laps remaining, this left both Envision Racing drivers in a compromised position – for Buemi it was that all other cars around him were going to be taking Attack Mode once the race restarted and therefore have much more power compared to him.
On the other side of the garage for the #4 of Frijns, there was not enough time left in the race to use up all of the six remaining minutes of Attack Mode.
The race restarted on Lap 22 of 26, and despite Frijns crossing the line in a deserved podium position in P3, a 10-second time penalty was added which dropped him to P8. Buemi fought hard, but with less power it was challenging and crossed the line in P16 and then promoted to P13 once several other drivers were penalised for the same infringement as Robin.
STANDINGS
Driver Standings (after Rd5)
- Oliver Rowland, 68pts
- Antonio Felix Da Costa, 54pts
- Pascal Wehrlein, 51pts
- Taylor Barnard, 51pts
- Maximillian Gunther, 37pts
- Jake Hughes, 27pts
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19. Sebastien Buemi, 6pts
20. Robin Frijns, 4pts
Team Standings (after Rd5)
1.,TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, 105pts
2. Nissan Formula E Team, 79pts
3. NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, 67pts
4. DS Penske, 63pts
5. Mahindra Racing, 51pts
6. Maserati MSG Racing 43pts
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11. Envision Racing, 10pts
