Sébastien Buemi grabbed e.dams-Renault’s first podium finish in Formula E at the Putrajaya ePrix on Saturday, overcoming a difficult qualifying session, while team-mate Nico Prost followed him across the line in fourth.
Both Buemi and Prost were left to start from the rear end of the grid following Prost’s ten place gird penalty for his collision with Venturi GP’s Nick Heidfeld in the Beijng ePrix, while Buemi was unable to put together a fast lap.
It meant Prost started eleventh despite taking pole position in, while Buemi was at the back for the 31 lap race, despite both showing impressive pace in Formula E so far in their lap times.
“Obviously, I’m over the moon with my second pole position even if I wasn’t able to take advantage of it on the grid,” said Prost. “I felt that I’d done a great lap; it was a pleasure. The car was very quick and I’d like to thank the whole team for that.”
They needed that pace in the race, and managed to demonstrate their speed while avoiding many of the collision that littered the Putrajaya ePrix on their way to third and fourth.
Beumi was elated to turn their pace into a first podium, and hopes to continue the performance for the Punta del Este ePrix in Uruguay.
“I’m very pleased to give the team its first podium finish,” said Buemi. “It rewards them for the great job they did today. It wasn’t easy after the problem we had in qualifying and the fact that I had to start from the last row. The race went off well; we didn’t make any mistakes and we were spot on with our strategy. It’s a great boost for everybody to open our score, and it means that we’ll set off for Uruguay full of positive energy.”
On the other hand, Prost was happy to avoid the collisions and heaped praise on his team-mate.
“The race was pretty rough with a lot of pushing and shoving in the pack at certain moments,” said Prost. “At the finish I was very happy with the result and also with Sébastien’s third place. It’s very important for the team. In Uruguay we’ll try and set a third consecutive pole and score an even better result.”
