In the last free practice session of Season 9, the Jaguar-powered cars continue to dominate at the London E-Prix with Evans, Bird and Buemi in the front.
Photo credit: Formula E Media Bank / Nick Dungan
Sad times have came upon us – it’s the last day of the FIA ABB Formula E World Championship Season 9, and that means it’s the last free practice session of the season. We’re excited to see what the day will bring, considering the absolute madness and chaos of the day before, but we’re also sad it’s the last day we’ll report on for you live. Let’s hope everyone will stay safe today and we’re curious to find out which team will clench the Constructors Championship today. Will it be Envision? Will it be Jaguar? Or will it be one of the Porsche-powered teams? So many questions that we’ll know the answers to by the end of today. For now, let’s focus on the free practice.
Green lights and most of the drivers went out to explore to get a feel of the track before the qualifying and race in few hours time. In comparison to yesterday’s free practice, today the conditions are dry. The first driver to set a lap time was Jake Hughes of McLaren, with the time of 1:18.150s. The times began to tumble down with Buemi pushing for 1:11.757s, the first driver to get the lap below 1:12s.
After the initial ten minutes of the session the Top 10 was: Evans, Vergne, Fenestraz, Bird, Ticktum, Dennis, Cassidy, Gunther, Frijns and Vandoorne in P10. A few drivers decided to explore the track outside of the racing line, such as Dennis, Mortara, Gunther and Cassidy, but all of them continued the session without an issue.
With the chaotic race behind us, it seemed like all of the drivers decided to take it easy in the practice session, to not cause any more damage to the cars before qualifying and race later today.
Soon enough, three Jaguar-powered cars line up in the front, with Buemi in P1, Evans in P2 and Cassidy in P3. Hughes had a travel outside of the Turn 10 just like Mortara, Gunther and Cassidy earlier on, but just like them he continued the session without issues.
Cassidy goes faster with 1:10.579s, one of the five drivers who pushed the time below 1:11s. All four Jaguar-powered cars were in Top 5 at that stage of the session. This signals an intense battle later on, as every point counts for the Constructors Championship, where teams position will be decisive for the prize money after Season 9.
With ten minutes left on the clock, it was Bird in P1, followed by Cassidy, Buemi, Dennis, Evans, Mortara, Gunther, Nato, Fenestraz and Wehrlein. Before the end of the session the track got busy and there’s been a bit of traffic, as everyone tries to push for the final time. Fortunately there were no incidents in the session, and everyone made it out safe to the checkered flag.
The final classification after the free practice session:
