Buemi’s Jakarta penalty overturned

Sebastien Buemi has had his podium finish from last month's Jakarta E-Prix re-instated after a post-race penalty dropped him down to eighth.

The Envision Racing driver was handed a five-second penalty (plus a penalty point on his license) in the race after being deemed to have caused a collision with Mahindra Racing’s Edoardo Mortara at Turn 13 early in the race. Mortara went on to finish second behind Dan Ticktum, while Buemi's penalty elevated Nico Mueller to third, his first podium for Andretti.

Envision petitioned to the FIA to have the penalty reviewed and with new evidence now to hand, namely the roll hoop camera footage from Buemi's car – and consultation from both drivers, with Mortara agreeing that the move was legitimate and that he "barely felt the contact" – the FIA has now overturned the penalty.

“The Stewards held a hearing with the team representative of Envision Racing, the team representative of Mahindra Racing, the driver of Car 16 and the driver of Car 48,” the FIA said in a bulletin issued on Friday. “During that hearing, the Stewards reviewed the videos that they had at their disposal when they took the Decision 12 but also the New Element.

“The Stewards were also able to listen to the drivers involved who gave their opinion on the New Element. The driver of Car 16 argued that the New Element shows that his overtaking manoeuvre was legit, that he was always in control of his car and that when the slight contact between the two cars occurred, he was fully alongside Car 48. The driver of Car 48 agreed with what the driver of Car 16 said and added that he barely felt the contact.

“Upon careful consideration of the circumstances, the Stewards find that no single party bears whole or predominant responsibility for the collision. Therefore, the Stewards decide to reverse the Decision 12. As a result the penalty (i.e. 5 second time penalty + 1 penalty point) ar 16 is removed and the Stewards determine that no further action will be taken in relation to this collision.”

The reversal of the penalty moves Buemi – who also got an extra point int he race for fastest lap – from 12th to 10th in the drivers' standings, while although Envision's position in the Teams' championship, its deficit to ninth place Cupra Kiro slims from 11 points to two.

Nissan has also similarly appealed Oliver Rowland's penalty for causing a collision with Maximilian Guenther. The championship leader was also hit with a five-second penalty for causing a collision, despite there being no apparent contact between the two.

Nissan has put forward the emergence of onboard camera footage from Guenther's car (both on the roll hoop and the right sidepod of the car), and the discussion between Rowland and James Rossiter during the post-race element of the Formula E television broadcast as the new elements to review the penalty.

Rowland finished seventh on the road but dropped to 10th as a result of the penalty.