2015 Berlin ePrix

The 2.469 km (1.534 mi) anti-clockwise circuit was designed by Rodrigo Nunes, featuring 17 corners.[11][12] It was described as a "twisty and challenging circuit" by Formula E driver Nick Heidfeld (Venturi), who also stated that "overtaking will not be easy" due to the nature of the course.[12] Construction of the track started 14 May, nine days prior to the race.[13]

Between qualifying and the race, a new world record was set for the largest parade of electric vehicles, when 577 cars and scooters took to the track. The parade surpassed the previous record set in September 2014 in Silicon Valley, United States.[14][15]

Cars pass through turn ten.

Two free practice sessions were held before qualifying, running for 45 and 30 minutes respectively.[1] The first session started at 08:15 local time, with Sébastien Buemi topping the timesheets for e.dams-Renault in a time of 1:23.158.[17] The track got faster as the temperatures rose and more cars drove around the circuit; lap times improved by more than a second in the second session, which started at 10:30. This time, it was championship leader Lucas di Grassi who topped the timesheets with a lap time of 1:22.032.[17]

In contrast to other racing series such as Formula One, Formula E has a specific qualifying mode, in which the twenty drivers are divided up into four groups, leaving enough space on track for everyone to produce lap times without interference by other drivers. Each group had ten minutes on track and the fastest time of each driver determined the grid position. A lottery determined which drivers started in which group. With five-minute breaks between the groups, qualifying had an overall length of 55 minutes.[18]

Racing veteran Jarno Trulli (Trulli GP) started in the first group, as qualifying began at 12:00, and posted a strong time of 1:21.547 early in the session, being the first to lap the course in under 1:22. Also in the group was Nelson Piquet, Jr. – second in the championship – who ultimately managed only 13th place on the grid. As qualifying progressed, championship leader Lucas di Grassi and Monaco winner Sébastien Buemi came close to beating Trulli's time, but proved unable to do so, handing Trulli a surprising[19] pole position, his first in Formula E.[20]

A special feature of Formula E was the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 30 kilowatts (40 hp) of power to use for five seconds during the race. The three drivers, who were allowed to use the boost, were determined by a fan vote.[18] For the Berlin race, Nelson Piquet, Jr., Sébastien Buemi and Charles Pic (NEXTEV TCR) were handed the extra power. For Piquet, it was the third boost in a row, while both Buemi and Pic were able to use it for the first time.[19]

Local driver Daniel Abt spun early in the race, leaving him out of the points.

At the start of the race, Lucas di Grassi challenged Jarno Trulli for the lead, but Trulli closed the racing line into turn one. As Trulli lost the rear end of the car going into turn three, di Grassi took the lead. The other Audi Sport Abt of Daniel Abt was less fortunate, being sent into a spin at the same corner, dropping to the back of the field. Nelson Piquet, Jr. immediately made up for ground lost in qualifying, gaining three positions during the first lap, running in tenth place. At turn six on the following lap, he went past Stéphane Sarrazin (Venturi) for ninth. While di Grassi built an early lead, several manoeuvres were made behind him, with Nicolas Prost (e.dams-Renault) losing two positions to Jérôme d'Ambrosio (Dragon Racing) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (Trulli GP), dropping back to seventh. Pole sitter Jarno Trulli looked to be in trouble with his car and lost positions continuously, running in thirteenth after lap twelve. Third placed Nick Heidfeld was also unable to hold onto his podium position, being overtaken by d'Ambrosio on lap thirteen.

Loïc Duval finished third, his first podium finish in Formula E.

The mandatory pit stops, during which all drivers needed to change into a second car,[18] started on lap 17. Everyone came in at this point except the two NEXTEV TCR drivers Piquet and Charles Pic. D'Ambrosio managed to get ahead of Buemi into second place thanks to swift work from his crew. Piquet benefited from his late stop by moving ahead into eighth after everyone had pitted and having more power left to use towards the end of the race. Heidfeld ran into additional trouble during the second half of the race, losing two positions during the final laps to both Loïc Duval (Dragon Racing) and the fast running Piquet, who managed to finish fifth from thirteenth on the grid, even closing on Duval on the final lap. Meanwhile, di Grassi won comfortably from d'Ambrosio, the gap being more than twelve seconds.[19]

After the chequered flag fell, Lucas di Grassi's car stopped on the way back to pit lane.[19] Once his car returned to parc fermé, it failed post-race scrutineering, and was found to have a modified front wing, leading to his disqualification.[21] This meant that Jérôme d'Ambrosio was handed his first Formula E victory, moving him into fifth place in the drivers' championship. Nelson Piquet, Jr. recovered from his "dismal" qualifying performance to finish an eventual fourth, taking the championship lead.[19] While e.dams Renault retained their lead in the teams' championship, the strong result for the Dragon Racing squad meant they moved up into second.[22] The Abt team decided not to appeal the decision against Di Grassi, while emphasizing that the front wing did not lead to a performance advantage.[23] Di Grassi himself responded on Twitter, writing: "They are trying to make me win this championship in the hard mode. Don't worry, we will be back to kick some Piquet and Buemi ass on track."[24]

D'Ambrosio was delighted with the result, commenting: "It was a great weekend for us overall. I think in the last four races we've had the pace to be on the podium but we didn't always manage to put it all together in the race. [...] This time we did it and it paid off!" He however added regret about the fact that he and the team were unable to celebrate the win and a double podium at the respective ceremony.[22]

Lucas di Grassi was disqualified for using non-standardised components.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	33	48:26.566	6	25
2	9	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Renault	33	+2.433	3	18
3	6	Loïc Duval	Dragon Racing	33	+3.508	8	15
4	99	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	NEXTEV TCR	33	+3.975	13	12+21
5	23	Nick Heidfeld	Venturi	33	+13.046	4	10
6	30	Stéphane Sarrazin	Venturi	33	+13.335	9	8
7	27	Jean-Éric Vergne	Andretti	33	+13.678	10	6
8	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	33	+14.055	15	4
9	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Trulli	33	+15.636	11	2
10	8	Nicolas Prost	e.dams-Renault	33	+16.602	7	1
11	55	António Félix da Costa	Amlin Aguri	33	+16.797	19
12	3	Jaime Alguersuari	Virgin Racing	33	+20.594	14
13	28	Scott Speed	Andretti	33	+21.149	12
14	66	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT	33	+23.688	5
15	88	Charles Pic	NEXTEV TCR	33	+25.491	17
16	77	Salvador Durán	Amlin Aguri	33	+44.157	16
17	21	Bruno Senna	Mahindra Racing	33	+46.257	18
18	5	Karun Chandhok	Mahindra Racing	33	+52.7032	20
19	10	Jarno Trulli	Trulli	31	+2 laps	1	33
DSQ	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT	33	Disqualified4	2
Source:[17]

Notes

• ^1  – Two points for fastest lap.
• ^2  – Karun Chandhok have been given a drive through penalty converted into a 28 second time penalty for exceeding maximum power usage.
• ^3  – Three points for pole position.
• ^4  – Excluded from race for non-standardised components.