After a difficult qualifying, Sebastien Buemi and Envision Racing pulled off a good strategy to score points during the first race of the double-header weekend in Jeddah.
Despite setting numerous quick times throughout the Free Practice sessions, the Envision Racing duo of Sebastien Buemi and Joel Eriksson faced a difficult qualifying, leaving them both with a lot of work to do in the race.
Buemi’s side of the garage were able to execute a smart strategy, saving Attack Mode until the latter stages and charging through to P7. Eriksson suffered a lonely race, after a drive through penalty for a Pit Boost infringement left him with no hopes of points.
The team and drivers will get a second attempt tomorrow, with the first double-header of the season giving everyone a chance to reset and extract the most performance from the car to bring back more points.
QUALIFYING
After strong pace shown throughout the Free Practice sessions, with Buemi setting lap times classifying him P2 and P3 overall in the 300kw power modes, the team headed into qualifying feeling positive. However, the grip in the cars had completely changed during the 10-minute group stages when new tyres were bolted onto the car, making it impossible for Buemi to deliver a time worthy of progressing through to the duels. Eriksson had a solid effort during Group B, but missed out on the duels by 2 tenths of a second.
This left Buemi starting in P18 and Eriksson P14 – not what the team wanted after both drivers performed well in practice.
THE RACE
Under the lights of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the 20-car field lined up to the start, however Mahindra Racing’s Nyck De Vries had an issue which delayed lights out slightly whilst his car was recovered.
Once underway, the Envision Racing pair slotted into position, with Eriksson in P15 and Buemi P16, before an early Safety Car was deployed for the Lola of Zane Maloney, who had stopped on the circuit.
On Lap 16, Eriksson came in for his Pit Boost stop, which was a messy stop and he was then handed a drive-through penalty for pitting whilst not in the energy window for Pit Boost to be activated. This unfortunately put an end to any further progress and the remaining laps were used to gather data and more learnings for the new race day tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the race was going well for Buemi – who had his practice tyres refitted for the race – after taking his Pit Boost and using the extra energy to close the gap to the front pack. After all drivers emerged from the pits, the Swiss driver was in P14 with his eyes set on a points finishing result.
With just one Attack Mode to use during this race, the team saved Buemi’s 6-minute activation until the end with seven laps remaining. This enabled him to climb up to P7, bringing home solid points and another strong recovery drive.
Overall, mixed emotions for the team, but the double-header offers a new opportunity tomorrow to prove the pace in qualifying and hopefully start higher up the order.
Driver Standings (after Rd4)
- Pascal Wehrlein, 64pts
- Nick Cassidy, 48pts
- Edoardo Mortara, 47pts
- Nico Muller, 45pts
- Mitch Evans, 41pts
—–
8. Sebastien Buemi, 19pts
9. Joel Eriksson, 18pts
Team Standings (after Rd4)
1. Porsche Formula E Team, 109pts
2. Mahindra Racing, 59pts
3. Citroen Racing, 56pts
4. Jaguar TCS Racing, 55pts
6. Envision Racing, 37pts
