Lucas Di Grassi took the lead of the Formula E championship with a win in Montreal whilst title rival Sebastian Buemi was left frustrated with a difficult race.
The Renault e.dams driver had been leading the title fight going into the race, but a penalty for a battery change following his crash in free practice dropped Buemi down to 12th on the grid. He moved backwards on the opening lap, contact with Robin Frijns damaging his steering.
Still, he was able to improve throughout the first stint, and was running in the bottom end of the top 10 when Nick Heidfeld and Loic Duval collided, bringing out the full course yellow.
Buemi and Daniel Abt, who was ahead of him on track, both dived into the pits. The slow moving Audi Abt car appeared to be holding Buemi up as they made their way to the pit box. Buemi go his own back moments later when he exited his pit box into the path of Abt, forcing the German to hit the brakes.
The incident was investigated, but no further action was warranted.
As they left the pits, Abt knocked the back of the Renault as Buemi slowed to the FCY speed limit.
The pair continued to progress up through the field, Sam Bird on their tail for the majority of the second stint. They finished fourth, fifth, and sixth on track, behind Di Grassi and the Techeetah duo.
Jean-Eric Vergne took second. A late safety car allowed the Techeetah to close in on Di Grassi, but he wasn’t close enough to challenge for the race win. Team-mate Stephane Sarrazin completed the podium.
Buemi’s team-mate Nico Prost fell back to seventh after his best qualifying of the season, finishing just ahead of Mitch Evans and Robin Frijns.
Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist rounded off the top 10. He had been running at the front of the field when, in the closing stages of the race, he hit the wall, damaging the steering. He was able to finish, but dropped back down the order from fourth to 10th.
Buemi is six points behind Di Grassi going into the final race of the championship tomorrow.
Feature image credit: FIA Formula E Media
