Practice report
Formula E London ePrix
London ePrix: Buemi tops first practice for title decider
Sebastien Buemi began the title-deciding second leg of the London ePrix in the best possible style by topping morning practice at Battersea Park, leading teammate Nicolas Prost in a Renault e.dams 1-2.
Jamie Klein Darshan Chokhani
Edited: Jul 3, 2016, 11:53 AM
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Buemi, who begins the final day of the second Formula E season three points behind title rival Lucas di Grassi, led the way for the majority of the session.
The Swiss driver had established a benchmark of 1m25.062s by the time of a red flag midway through the session, which was brought about when Team Aguri's Antonio Felix da Costa spun and was stranded in the middle of the track approaching Turn 8.
The Portuguese caused a minor roadblock, as teammate Ma Qing Hua and reigning champion Nelson Piquet Jr were caught out by Felix da Costa's spin.
Andretti's Simona de Silvestro too had a moment in the final corner when she clipped the wall. She was able to get going, but had significant damage to her car and didn't reappear for the rest of the session.
Once the action resumed with 24 minutes left, Mike Conway quickly vaulted to the top of the times on a 1m24.258s, with Buemi setting a string of improvements that kept him in second.
Jean-Eric Vergne then became the first driver to set a lap using full power in the final five minutes, the Frenchman setting a 1m23.331s to go almost a second up on Conway.
But Buemi's 200kw attempt was even better, a 1m22.393s putting him 0.637s clear of teammate Prost, who made a late jump to second following his victory on Saturday.
Vergne held on to third place, ahead of Conway and di Grassi, who was 2.646s off the pace having not set a full-power lap. His teammate Daniel Abt was one place behind in sixth.
Completing the top 10 were Sam Bird, Loic Duval, Jerome d'Ambrosio and Bruno Senna, fresh from his career-first Formula E podium on Saturday.
FP1 results:
PosDriverTeamLapsTimeGap 1 
Sébastien Buemi 
DAMS 17 1'22.393 2 Nicolas Prost DAMS 18 1'23.030 0.637 3 Jean-Eric Vergne 
Virgin Racing 17 1'23.331 0.938 4 Mike Conway 
Venturi 20 1'24.258 1.865 5 
Lucas di Grassi 
Team Abt 21 1'25.039 2.646 6 Daniel Abt Team Abt 14 1'25.056 2.663 7 Sam Bird Virgin Racing 17 1'25.359 2.966 8 Loic Duval 
Dragon Racing 20 1'25.460 3.067 9 
Jérôme d'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 16 1'25.491 3.098 10 Bruno Senna 
Mahindra Racing 18 1'25.515 3.122 11 Nelson Piquet Jr. 
China Racing 15 1'25.582 3.189 12 Stéphane Sarrazin Venturi 20 1'25.888 3.495 13 
Robin Frijns Andretti Autosport 16 1'25.912 3.519 14 Nick Heidfeld Mahindra Racing 18 1'25.916 3.523 15 Oliver Turvey China Racing 20 1'25.971 3.578 16 
Antonio Felix da Costa 
Team Aguri 15 1'26.397 4.004 17 Simona de Silvestro Andretti Autosport 5 1'27.549 5.156 18 Ma Qing Hua Team Aguri 20 1'28.583 6.190
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