First session on the streets of São Paulo seen Envision, Nissan and NIO in the mix for top 3.
Credit: Envision Racing Media Bank
Round 6 of the 2023 Formula E season will be hosted by the streets of São Paulo for the first time ever with two Brazilian drivers on the grid.
38-year-old Lucas Di Grassi will race in his hometown for the first time this weekend racing with Mahindra. Meanwhile, former Formula 2 driver Sergio Sette Camara becomes the second Brazilian driver to race in an E-Prix at Brazil with both drivers looking to give a good account of themselves. Robin Frijns returns to the Formula E grid following an accident which fractured his wrist at the season opener in Mexico, and will be looking to score ABT CUPRA’S first points of the season this weekend after their poor start to the season.
With team garages being positioned on both sides of the pitlane, drivers weren’t required to wait in their garages for the green light and all 22 cars left the pitlane once the lights went green with both Neom McLaren’s leading the field.
A bumpy and slippery circuit proved difficult to handle for DS Penske driver Stoffel Vandoorne who locked up 10 minutes into the session at turn 1 and hit the barrier damaging his front wing. Nio 333 Racing driver Sergio Sette Camara also out braked himself at turn 1 but managed to avoid the barrier.
Championship leader Pascal Wehrlein set the quickest lap after the first few minutes and went top with a 1:14.833, Stoffel Vandoorne was second ,0.273 tenths behind the Porsche driver and Jake Hughes’ McLaren was third, 0.294 tenths behind Wehrlein.
At the halfway point, Jake Hughes set a 1.13.816 putting him in provisional P1, TCS Jaguar’s Mitch Evans was only 0.084 tenths behind in second and Porsche’s Antonio Felix Da Costa was third 0.112 tenths behind Hughes.
The final few minutes witnessed Monaco-style traffic with Stoffel Vandoorne struggling to set a lap time at the end after being blocked by a handful of drivers. Meanwhile, Mahindra’s Oliver Rowland and returning Robin Frijns went on at turn 1 on their final push laps with a few other drivers following the new racing line.
Quickest of FP1 was Envision Racings Sebastian Buemi with a 1.12.341, Sacha Fenestraz 0.112 tenths behind in second and Nio 333 Racings Dan Ticktum rounding off the top 3 0.123 tenths behind Buemi. Brazilians Lucas Di Grassi and Sergio Sette Camara finished 9th and 10th meanwhile Robin Frijns rounded off the grid last, 2.257 seconds adrift from first place.
