Just Electric
Sebastien Buemi, driving his green Envision Racing car

Buemi tops the timesheets in Sao Paulo

Sebastien Buemi set the pace in a swelteringly hot opening practice session this afternoon ahead of the inaugural Sao Paulo E-Prix.

In temperatures of 33c, the Swiss driver, driving for Envision Racing, set a 1m12.341 to go 0.112 faster than Sascha Fenestraz in the Nissan, with Dan Ticktum third fastest for NIO 333.

However, Buemi and Nick Cassidy in the other Envision Racing entry were both under investigation for low tyre pressures but the commentary team pointed out that this doesn’t normally come with any serious penalty.

Stoffel Vandoorne was fourth for DS Penske despite an incident earlier in the session where he couldn’t quite get the car stopped at Turn 1 and nudged the tyre barrier, damaging his nosecone and front wing.

Mitch Evans was fifth for Jaguar although his best lap was hindered by traffic in the final sector, Evans also set the fastest top speed of the session at 265.9 kph.

Both McLarens were next in sixth and seventh, with Rene Rast just ahead of Jake Hughes.

Maximillian Guenther was eighth quickest for Maserati, with the top ten being rounded out by Lucas di Grassi in the Mahindra, and Sergio Sette Camara in the other NIO 333.

The braking zone for Turn 1 proved to be the trickiest on the circuit as Sette Camara, Pascal Wehrlein, Di Grassi, Oliver Rowland, and on two occasions, Robin Frijns, all misjudged it ever so slightly and took to the run-off area with no damage done.

Rob Lomas

Privacy Policy

Click here to read our Privacy Policy.

%d bloggers like this: