Formula E: Sebastien Buemi penalized following 2019 Sanya ePrix
By Asher Fair
Sebastien Buemi has been penalized for triggering an accident toward the end of the sixth race of the 2018-2019 Formula E season, the Sanya ePrix.
Nissan e.dams’ Sebastien Buemi originally finished the Sanya ePrix, which was the sixth of 13 races on the 2018-2019 Formula E schedule, in sixth place in his #23 Spark-Nissan. However, he was relegated to an eighth place finish after receiving a penalty following the conclusion of the race.
With just two laps of the 36-lap race around the 11-turn, 1.156-mile (1.860-kilometer) Sanya Street Circuit temporary street circuit in Sanya, China remaining, Buemi hit the #4 Spark-Audi of Envision Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijns under breaking for the the hairpin turn, turn eight.
This contact sent Frijns’s #4 Spark-Audi into the #11 Spark-Audi of Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi. Both Frijns and di Grassi were running well within the top 10 at the time, and both lost top 10 results and thus points as a result of this accident.
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Frijns ended up finishing the race in 14th place, which was last among the 14 drivers who finished the race. He was the only one of these 14 drivers who finished one lap off the lead lap. Meanwhile, di Grassi was officially classified as having finished in 15th, two laps off the the lead lap, although he did not actually finish the race.
Buemi was issued a 10-second time penalty for causing this collision. After originally finishing the race 9.405 seconds behind race winner Jean-Eric Vergne of DS Techeetah in sixth place, he has officially been scored in eighth, 19.405 seconds behind Vergne.
Mahinda Racing teammates Jerome d’Ambrosio and Pascal Wehrlein, who originally finished the race in seventh and eighth place, respectively, ended up being promoted to sixth and seventh, respectively, as a result of the penalty that was issued to Buemi.
As a result, Buemi and Nissan e.dams lost four points in the driver standings and the team standings, respectively, while the Mahindra Racing teammates each gained two points in the driver standings and the team gained a total of four points in the team standings.
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The Formula E Team Power Rankings and Formula E Driver Power Rankings following the Sanya ePrix had already been released prior to Sebastien Buemi being issued this penalty. However, his penalty has been accurately reflected in the power rankings formula variables for both of these sets of rankings ahead of the next race on the Formula E schedule, which is the Rome ePrix. This race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 13 at Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR in Rome, Italy, so be not to miss it.