Discover more
This weekend’s Qualcomm New York City ePrix will be the first time Formula E has raced in New York, but the fourth and fifth races to take place in the USA.
Formula E’s first visit to the United States came in March 2015, when the Miami ePrix took place. The track compromised a series of 90-degree bends and worked its way around the Miami Heat stadium.
In qualifying there was a fantastic duel between Nelson Piquet Jr and Jean-Eric Vergne, with the latter coming out on top by just 0.05s to seal his second pole position for Andretti. Piquet would not line up on the front row, however, as he’d picked up a five-place penalty at the previous race in Buenos Aires.
Sam Bird was the man on the move in the early stages, fighting his way into the lead, but among all the excitement of his charge the Virgin team miscalculated his energy usage and he had to crawl around at severely reduced pace to make his car change. This dropped him back and he worked his way back to eighth place by the finish.
Slow pitstops for Vergne and Piquet – who’d stretched his energy longer than his rivals and could have rejoined in the lead – meant after the car swap the order had been completely mixed up, with Daniel Abt leading the way and Nico Prost, Lucas di Grassi and Scott Speed all lined up behind him.
In a sensational finish, di Grassi slowed with overheating issues, while Prost and Speed battled their way by Abt with just two laps to go. Speed almost capped a great debut with a win, but Prost just held on for his maiden Formula E victory.
Speed took second, Abt held on for third, while Jerome D’Ambrosio produced his best result to date with fourth. Piquet had to be content with fifth and the two bonus points for fastest lap. But he’d have his revenge next time out in Long Beach.
The Californian street track was the scene of Nelson Piquet Snr’s first Formula 1 win, so in tribute, Nelsinho wore a replica of his dad’s famous red and white lid. In yet another thrilling qualifying session, Piquet was just 0.037s behind maiden pole man Daniel Abt but was third on the grid!
A stunning start meant that Piquet led into the first corner and he went on to control the race from the front for his first Formula E win. Behind him Vergne drove a strong race to take second – still his best result in the series – while di Grassi moved above Prost and into the lead of the championship with third place.
When Formula E returned to Long Beach a year later, the rules had been opened up and the new powertrains had been introduced. Unfortunately for Piquet, NextEV’s version wasn’t one of the more competitive and no chance of defending his win.
Pole position went to Sam Bird, and it was the Brit who led the way in the early stages. But behind him di Grassi never let him get too far away and the Brazilian pulled off a great pass to snatch the lead on lap 11.
Bird kept him in sight though and di Grassi could not afford to relax as they headed in for the mandatory car change. However, on the lap after the stops Bird made a crucial error and went straight down an escape road.
This promoted Stephane Sarrazin to second, although the Venturi driver was too far back to challenge. But when Piquet hit the wall at the chicane late in the race the Qualcomm Safety Car was deployed and the field was bunched up. This gave Sarrazin a fighting chance, but di Grassi aced the restart and brought it home for his third career win.
Second was Sarrazin’s best Formula E result, while Abt took third. In ninth place Simona de Silvestro made history by becoming the first female racer to score points in Formula E.
More history will be made this weekend as Formula E races in New York for the first time. If the races are as exciting as the previous encounters on US asphalt, we’ll be in for a cracker.