2016 Berlin ePrix

A special feature of Formula E is the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 100 kW (130 hp) of power to use in the driver's second car. The three drivers allowed to use the boost were determined by a fan vote.^[20] For the Berlin race, Buemi, Sarrazin and Heidfeld were handed the extra power.^[32] The weather at the start was dry and sunny with the air temperature between 23.5–24.05 °C (74.30–75.29 °F) and a track temperature of 24 °C (75 °F).^[1] 15,000 people attended the race.^[33] The race started at 16:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2). The chassis damage to Sarrazin's car meant his team initially announced he would not race, but repairs to it were completed in time, allowing him to drive.^[34] On the grid, Buemi accelerated faster than the distracted Vergne and passed him for the lead into the first turn,^[35] using its braking zone to keep the position.^[32] Di Grassi overtook NextEV drivers Piquet and Turvey to move into sixth.^[36] Piquet lost grip in the first turn; he began to slide but regained control of his car and continued. An error by Senna saw him collide with the rear of Rast's car, causing bodywork damage to both cars.^[37]

At the end of the first lap, Vergne out-braked Buemi into the first corner and positioned himself on the inside to reclaim the lead in a near carbon-copy manoeuvre to which he had been subjected to by Buemi the previous lap.^[32][35] As the top six concertinaed together, the damage to the cars of Rast, Piquet and Turvey prompted officials to show the trio a black flag with an orange circle, mandating their entry to the pit lane for repairs.^[36] Initially Vergne began to open up a small advantage over Buemi,^[38] as the latter had elected to hold off in making a move on Vergne until lap six.^[37] Buemi retook the lead from Vergne by passing him on the inside into turn five and the two narrowly avoided contact.^[36][38] Vergne's exit out of the corner was compromised and he had to hold off Abt.^[32] At the front, Buemi pulled away from the rest of the field.^[37] On the 10th lap, Abt executed a similar manoeuvre to Buemi on the first lap and passed Vergne for second at the turn one hairpin.^[1][35] Bird had been pressuring Abt for third earlier in the race but was ordered to enter the pit lane as he took a kerb too fast, loosening his front wing end-plate.^[36] Bird emerged in 14th,^[36] and protested the penalty by radio.^[38]

While Buemi increased his lead over Abt to five seconds, di Grassi was in a tight bunch of cars consisting of Vergne in fourth and Prost in fifth. Di Grassi's team told him that they would attempt to keep him on the track for one lap longer than his rivals.^[35] Further down the field, Frijns fought his way through into the top ten and slid and drifted through the first turn in a pass on Duval.^[37] Heidfeld had also moved through the field to run in the top ten and later mounted the kerb to overtake Conway for ninth place. Prost then drew closer to Vergne and the pressure put onto Vergne caused the latter to hit the bollards at the chicane. This shattered the front right section on Vergne's front wing.^[32][36] Vergne then took too much kerb again into the same chicane on lap 24, removing his front wing. Debris was littered on the track and Prost passed Vergne for third position.^[35][37] The leaders began making their mandatory pit stops to change into a second car on lap 24.^[20][1] Di Grassi's strategy allowed him to remain on the track for one extra lap,^[37] and made his pit stop on the 25th lap.^[1] After the pit stops, Buemi kept the lead with Abt second, Prost third and di Grassi passed Vergne for fourth.^[36]

With the debris from Vergne's car littered across the track at the chicane, officials called for the full course yellow flag on lap 28 to allow marshals to clean the track.^[35] Racing resumed one lap later with Buemi leading Abt by 11 seconds.^[37][38] Bird moved into 12th by passing d'Ambrosio during lap 32.^[36] Attention focused on the battle for third place as di Grassi was closing up to Prost.^[32] Di Grassi had more electrical energy than Prost and his first move on the latter saw him steer onto the outside on the 38th lap. Di Grassi then drew alongside Prost but noted the lack of room available and could not overtake him. As he completed the following lap, Di Grassi passed Prost on the inside for third place at turn one.^[36] Senna recorded the race's fastest lap of 59.067 seconds on the 39th lap to earn two points.^[1] Soon after, it was announced di Grassi was under investigation for speeding during the full course yellow procedure as he drew closer to teammate Abt.^[35]

Duval lost control of his car on the 42nd lap and slid backwards into the turn seven outside barrier. The incident necessitated the deployment of the safety car and the time gaps in the field were neutralised.^[32][37][39] Although Duval's vehicle was stuck in a place where it was difficult to retrieve, course marshals were able to move it quickly and allowing the race to restart with two laps left.^[35] Buemi kept the lead with Abt close behind.^[37] Abt was informed by his team di Grassi was faster than him and was ordered to let him pass.^[35][38] Abt attempted to let di Grassi past but the latter could not do so since Prost was drawing closer and Abt realised that switching positions with di Grassi carried the risk of losing a podium position. Buemi maintained the lead for the rest of the race to take his third victory of the season.^[35][38] Abt took his best Formula E finish at the time in second and teammate di Grassi was third. Off the podium, Prost secured fourth. Vergne, Frijns, Heidfeld, Conway, de Silvestro and Sarrazin completed the top ten. The British duo of Bird and Turvey took 11th and 12th, ahead of Piquet, Ma, Senna and d'Ambrosio were the final finishers.^[35]

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Buemi said he allowed Vergne to pass and attacked when the latter had used more electrical energy. He wanted for the fastest lap in his second car, and despite not achieving the goal, he described the race as "a good weekend" overall.^[33] Second-place finisher Abt stated the race was "simply amazing" and thanked his team for providing him with a fast car. He said from the start, he was aware he could perform well and the opposition he faced was strong.^[40] Di Grassi was happy to finish third despite the difficulties he faced with Vergne on his in-lap and the deployment of the safety car, adding "But we managed to pass Prost, who made it difficult to overtake but we managed to do another podium and stay in the lead by one point. It couldn't be closer than that going into London. Now everything is open. London, and London weather, will decide how the championship goes."^[40]

After the race, di Grassi revealed to the press he was not favourable towards team orders favouring one driver over the other with expectations for the season's final race in the event one driver challenged for the championship. He remarked that he would rather lose the title by losing points to his rivals than another driver handing them to him.^[41] Abt said for him it did not matter if he finished second or third but affirmed his team's objective was to win both championships: "Lucas has what he needs to win it by himself. He's an amazing racing driver."^[41] Hans-Jürgen Abt, the team owner of Audi Sport ABT, accepted his son's failure of not complying with a team order and agreed driver integrity was an important area that needed protecting, "If we lose it by three points maybe the team is not good enough. But we showed people fair motorsport and I think people will like it more."^[42] Turvey and Bird were perplexed by the number of penalties issued to drivers, with Turvey saying, "I don't know why you get a technical flag for visual damage to the car. It's frustrating. Nelson had the same issue. There were a number of cars that got technical flags, which is a shame. I don't understand why we got a penalty."^[43] Buemi joined him in his criticism, claiming the safety car was sent out when there was no danger present.^[43]

The result reduced di Grassi's advantage atop the Drivers' Championship to one point over Buemi. Bird maintained third place despite not scoring any points and d'Ambrosio kept fourth place. Prost's fourth-place result overtook Sarrazin for fifth.^[6] e.Dams-Renault extended their lead in the Teams' Championship to 11 points over Audi Sport ABT. Virgin gained one position to move into third while Dragon fell to fourth place. Mahindra were fifth with two races left in the season.^[6]

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.

Final race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	9	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Renault	48	53:46.086	2	25
2	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	48	+1.767	3	18
3	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	48	+2.381	8	15
4	8	Nico Prost	e.dams-Renault	48	+3.328	6	12
5	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Virgin	48	+4.927	1	10+31
6	27	Robin Frijns	Andretti	48	+6.501	12	8
7	23	Nick Heidfeld	Mahindra	48	+7.700	16	6
8	12	Mike Conway	Venturi	48	+8.305	11	4
9	28	Simona de Silvestro	Andretti	48	+12.473	10	2
10	4	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi	48	+13.241	PL	1
11	2	Sam Bird	Virgin	47	+1 Lap	4
12	88	Oliver Turvey	NextEV TCR	47	+1 Lap	7
13	1	Nelson Piquet Jr.	NextEV TCR	47	+1 Lap	5
14	77	Ma Qinghua	Aguri	47	+1 Lap	14
15	21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra	46	+2 Laps	15	22
16	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon	45	+3 Laps	17
NC	55	René Rast	Aguri	42	+6 Laps	13
Ret	6	Loïc Duval	Dragon	39	Accident	9
Source:[1][2]

Notes:

• ^1 – Three points for pole position.^[20]
• ^2 – Two points for fastest lap.^[20]

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

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