2018 Zurich ePrix
The consequence of the final positions meant Jean-Éric Vergne still led the Drivers' Championship despite a drive-through penalty for accelerating before a full course yellow was lifted to clear debris on the track.[n 1][8] The motion was adopted by the Federal Council in December, allowing electric vehicles to race in Switzerland from 1 April 2016 pending authorisation from local authorities with regards to maximum speeds.[20] Permits were granted by the office of the mayor of Zurich Corine Mauch to project leader Pascal Derron who led negotiations with local politicians.He sought for a referendum as the city was paying CHF 2 million towards the race and argued there was a risk of deteriorating the quality of life and disrupting local transport routes.[22] The layout of the 11-turn 2.46 km (1.53 mi) circuit was not designed by a professional planner like other tracks but by the CEO of e-Mobil Züri Roger Tognella and his son Andrin by using Google Earth on their home computer.[27] A half an hour untimed shakedown session was held on Saturday afternoon to enable teams to check the reliability of their cars and their electronic systems at low speed.[26][27] In the first practice session, held in warm weather, di Grassi used 200 kW (270 hp) of power to set the fastest lap of 1 minute, 11.995 seconds.[29] During practice, which saw several drivers venture deep onto the run-off areas, Bird was close by the electrical energy conservative López and was impeded by him at the final corner.Turvey damaged his suspension by glancing a barrier and Stéphane Sarrazin of Andretti and Luca Filippi for NIO stopped at turns one and two towards the session's conclusion.The rest of the top ten heading into qualifying were Virgin's Alex Lynn, Bird, Vergne, André Lotterer of Techeetah, Buemi and Piquet.[36] López locked his rear tyres under braking for turn one and slid sideways into the left-hand side TecPro barrier but he returned to the pit lane with minor bodywork damage.[41][42] Vergne was summoned to the stewards and reprimanded for violating series regulations because his team misread the line indicating the end of the second sector.However, nobody in group three recorded a lap that put them in the top five as Lynn was fastest, followed by Heidfeld, Edoardo Mortara of Venturi and Andretti driver António Félix da Costa.[49] The ePrix began at 18:04 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00) rather than the usual 16:04 because Formula E did not wish to clash with the men's singles finals of the French Open and race organisers held it on a Sunday for better localised traffic management.[50][51] Vergne overtook Engel to move into sixteenth place while di Grassi passed d'Ambrosio entering the Tramstop chicane around the inside for the fourth position on the next lap.[53] By the next lap, Piquet and Abt were shown the black flag with an orange disc, which required them to enter the pit lane for repairs to their cars.[48][54][56] By the ninth lap, Vergne moved into the top ten with successive overtakes on Lynn, Mortara and Heidfeld entering the first corner as he conserved electrical energy.[53] In response, race director Scot Elkins activated the full course yellow procedure to allow marshals to remove debris from the track.[60] Di Grassi kept the lead from Evans and Lotterer while Vergne lost 12 seconds because he had trouble starting his car when he tried to exit his garage, falling to ninth.[54] Eight laps later, it was announced Evans, Lotterer, Buemi, López and Vergne were under investigation by the stewards for exceeding the 50 km/h (31 mph) speed limit during the full course yellow procedure.Di Grassi spoke of his happiness over winning and dedicated it to his unborn son Leonardo,[62] adding that "The weekend was amazing and the event here was fantastic."[63] Bird said he was disappointed after qualifying third but was confident he could challenge di Grassi in the New York City ePrix double header, "We settled into a rhythm in the race and it’s become apparent that I have to lift more than the people around me."[64] Allan McNish, the team principal of Audi, commented on his surprise di Grassi won despite starting fifth, "When he got up in fourth and then the speed with which he caught Sam [Bird] then I thought, ‘crikey, this is on’.[68] Lotterer argued the stewards should improve the leniency in their decision making when no driver gained an advantage and felt the penalty he received prevented him from getting onto the podium, "It’s the rules, there’s no point complaining about it but it’s super frustrating."[69] Buemi said he felt his early reaction to the lifting of the full course yellow was caused by him not being able to hear the race director over his radio momentarily and it prompted him to brake sharply out of uncertainty.[68] Vergne accused Formula E of creating a new regulation during the event to allow for increased suspense in the championship at the season-ending New York City ePrix, "It's weird, it's five of us getting penalised.[5] The 2019 race was relocated to Bern after Zürich city officials expressed concerns about the ability of its infrastructure to handle a series of large-scale events in quick succession.
2017–18 Formula E ChampionshipPrevious raceNext raceZurich Street CircuitPole positionMitch EvansJaguarFastest lapAndré LottererTecheetah-RenaultLucas di GrassiSam BirdVirgin-CitroënJérôme d'AmbrosioDragon-PenskeFormula Eelectric car raceZurich1954 Swiss Grand PrixVirginDragonbatteryharvest electrical energy under brakingJean-Éric VergneSébastien BuemiFelix RosenqvistTecheetahBerlinMahindraDaniel AbtNew York CityFathi Derderelectric carsCouncil of StatesNational Councillorelectric car racingFederal Councilelectric vehiclesLuganoBerlin ePrix2017–18 ChampionshipFIA World Motor Sport Councilsingle seaterelectric carCircuit Bremgarten1955 Le Mans disasterCorine MauchGoogle EarthEnge HarbourMythenquaitramlinescobblestonespit lanedownforceset-upstraightsNelson Piquet Jr.Oliver TurveyJosé María Lópezrun-off areaselectrical energysuspensionStéphane SarrazinAndrettiLuca FilippiAlex LynnNico Prosthairpintrack-rodEdoardo MortaraVenturiAntónio Félix da CostaMaro Engele.Dams-RenaultNick HeidfeldAndretti-BMWCentral European Summer Timemen's singles finals of the French Open2016 London ePrixbattery temperaturespuncturedriveshaftAllan McNish2019 racepit stopFédération Internationale de l'AutomobileAargauer ZeitungTages-AnzeigerSchweizer Radio und FernsehenAutosportReutersLondonEnglandDigital TrendsLimmattaler ZeitungSwissinfoNeue Zürcher ZeitungSportsProPressReaderBILANZSwiss Telegraphic AgencyThe Independent20 MinutenAutoweekFranchitti, DarioVarsha, BobRosenqvist, Felixmotorsport.com2018 Berlin ePrixFIA Formula E2017–18 season2018 New York City ePrixZürich ePrixFormula E ePrix Season 1-102023–242022–232021–222020–212019–202018–192017–182016–172015–162014–152024–25São Paulo