Formula E: Overheating behind Piquet's fanboost call

Long Beach Formula E winner Nelson Piquet Jr. decided not to use his fanboost during the race as a precaution for reliability reasons.

The Brazilian became the series' sixth winner in as many races in its inaugural season, controlling things from the front after moving into the lead at the start. Piquet was so comfortable out front that at no stage did he need to use the 40-horsepower boost to defend his position, so he opted to play it safe and avoid the risk of the extra power doing any damage to his battery.

Speaking about his fanboost, Piquet, who won the vote along with Jean-Eric Vergne and Sam Bird, said: "Unfortunately I didn't use it. I didn't use it because I didn't want to mess things up – it's one more variable on the car.

"I know I should have used it because that's what it's there for. But with the battery overheating a little bit I didn't want to have any chance of something going wrong.

"Obviously, if Jean-Eric was pushing me I'm sure I would have used it, but I just made sure I kept the distance over him so I didn't need to."

Vergne made use of his fanboost to pass Nicolas Prost on a restart after a safety car period.

"I'm really pleased about that," said Vergne, who has won the vote at every Formula E race he has contested. "It's the first time I had a fanboost that was working. "Thanks to my fans I could pass Prost, and it was a good move."

OPINION: The right decision
Glenn Freeman

At face value, the fact that the latest Formula E race winner didn't use the much-vaunted fanboost system seems a bit of a shame, but it would be wrong to criticize Nelson Piquet Jr. for that. The technology under the skin of Formula E cars is still in its infancy, and at hotter races in particular, the teams and drivers are constantly working on temperature management.

Other cars this season have encountered problems when using the fanboost power at the wrong time, so it was a smart call from Piquet to keep his in reserve. Temperatures in his car were marginal – particularly after he misheard an instruction to start coasting more and in fact started pushing harder – so the risk he spoke of was very real.

Listening to him explain his decision you could feel that he knew it might not be well-received – it was as if he felt guilty for not using one of Formula E's most high-profile innovative ideas. But you would hope that those same fans that voted for him in the first place would be appeased by the fact that their chosen man was on the top step of the podium at the end of the race.

Originally on Autosport.com