Bethonie WaringJean-Eric Vergne topped the times in the first free practice session ahead of the Bern E-Prix.
Vergne was the first driver to set a full power lap around the streets of Bern, lowering the benchmark lap time to 1m19.281s. Though the majority of the field suit with a full power lap in the closing minutes of the session, none could match Vergne’s time.
DS Techeetah team-mate Andre Lotterer came closest, finishing the session 0.111s behind his team-mate.
Despite Bern being a new track for everyone on the grid, there were no major dramas in the opening session. Traffic was the biggest problem for most of the field, though Vergne managed to get a completely clear track during his quickest lap.
Lucas Di Grassi, who was one of the pacesetters when running at Attack Mode power, finished third quickest, ahead of Robin Frijns, Mitch Evans, and Daniel Abt.
Maximilian Guenther topped the order early in the session. He dropped back as others found improvements, but bounced back up the order with his full power lap to go seventh quickest.
Both Venturi drivers were under investigation for overpowering during regen early in the session. It didn’t affect either driver’s overall position; Eduardo Mortara finished FP1 eighth and Felipe Massa came home P14.
Jerome D’Ambrosio and Tom Dillmann completed the top 10.
