FE: Buemi triumphs in Beijing opener

Sebastien Buemi took a dominant victory in the opening round of the 2015-'16 Formula E season in Beijing, China. The Renault e.dams man led from pole position and was never headed as he eased to an eventual 11-second winning margin.

Buemi's cause was aided by teammate Nicolas Prost having an erratic race, which began with a slightly slow getaway that allowed Nick Heidfeld to pass around the outside into Turn 1.

Prost then ran wide at Turn 3 on the second lap, dropping behind Lucas di Grassi, and spent the first half of the race stuck in fourth place. That portion of the encounter included the championship's first full-course yellow, instigated by Simona de Silvestro's nosing her Andretti-run car into the barriers at Turn 3.

Buemi moved well clear by mid-distance, then initiated the first batch of car swaps.

Heidfeld spent too long in the pitlane, and only just held on from Prost, though Abt Audi Sport driver di Grassi jumped both.

A second caution was required to deal with Antonio Felix da Costa's stricken Spark SRT_01E, after the Team Aguri driver had collided with Jacques Villeneuve at Turn 2, and at the green flag Prost was quick to take third from Heidfeld.

As Buemi managed an eight-second lead, Prost caught di Grassi rapidly, but his rear wing collapsed and he was shown a mechanical failure flag. The Frenchman continued for a while but eventually retired in the pits, leaving di Grassi to take a comfortable second and elevating Heidfeld back into a podium position.

By this time, though, Dragon Racing's Loic Duval, who was one of the most efficient drivers in the opening stint, had caught the German. Duval attacked and was rebuffed, allowing his teammate Jerome d'Ambrosio to join the fight and launch a wild and unsuccessful lunge two laps from the end.

Duval regrouped and threw everything at Heidfeld, including his own lunge at the second chicane, but they remained in position to the flag.

Behind, an excellent energy-preserving drive from Oliver Turvey netted him sixth from 15th on the grid, having also gone a lap longer than most and benefited from other drivers circulating under the yellow. His Team China Racing teammate and reigning champion Nelson Piquet Jr. had made a similar strategy work to run eighth, but a mechanical problem caused him to temporarily stop on track shortly after the stops.

Piquet finished a lapped 15th, and his delays promoted debutant Nathanael Berthon to seventh for a while, though he lost the place to DS Virgin Racing's Sam Bird on the final lap.

It was a disappointing race for that squad, as both Bird and teammate Jean-Eric Vergne dropped down the order after separate problems. Bird ran straight on at Turn 3 and dropped from seventh to 11th, while Vergne was in a long-running battle with Duval before eventually finishing 12th.

Originally on Autosport.com