Rome E-Prix: Di Grassi fastest as FP1 ends with major crash

Di Grassi used attack mode to set a 1m38.785s benchmark and run 0.062s clear of Mercedes rival Stoffel Vandoorne as the top 11 all classified within a second of one another. 

However, Jean-Eric Vergne, Oliver Turvey and Jake Dennis were involved in a major multi-car pile-up on the start straight. 

It is customary after the practice session for cars to line up on the grid and practice their launch. 

Last time out in Saudi Arabia, Venturi Racing driver Edoardo Mortara suffered a brake-by-wire issue and failed to slow his car after his practice getaway.  

He crashed heavily into the barrier and was taken to hospital for pre-cautionary checks. 

In Italy, the cars again slowed but NIO 333 driver Oliver Turvey was caught unawares.

He rounded the bend and arrived unsighted at the back of the pack to career into the rear of BMW Andretti racer Dennis and two-time champion Jean-Eric Vergne. 

At least eight cars were on this stretch of track at the time of the shunt. 

This comes amid frustration from a lack of team radio reception in the EUR district. 

Vergne appeared to be in some minor pain after he excited the car. 

Heavy damage exposed the driveshaft of his DS Techeetah, which means the team run the risk of not making qualifying due to the extensive repairs required. 

Turvey’s teammate Tom Blomqvist has been the cause of a red flag that stopped the session with five and a half minutes remaining. 

Throughout opening practice, Blomqvist in particular had been clattering the inside kerb at the Turn 12 chicane. 

Then at the Turn 14 90-degree right-hander, while following Turvey, Blomqvist locked the rears and skidded into the outside wall to halt proceedings.

Blomqvist and Vergne had also experienced a turbulent start to proceedings when issues under braking forced both to straight line corners and take to the run-off areas. 

Similarly, Dennis lost close to a minute when he ran wide but could not engage reverse gear to turnaround and re-join the circuit. 

Meanwhile, Envision Virgin Racing driver Robin Frijns posted the third-fastest time to eclipse Sergio Sette Camara for Dragon Penske Autosport - the team opting not to bring in its new Penkse EV-5 car for Rome despite the April 5 homologation window now coming into effect. 

Rome E-Prix - FP1 results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	11	Lucas di Grassi	Team Abt	1'38.785
2	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team	1'38.847	0.062
3	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin Racing	1'39.031	0.246
4	7	Sergio Sette Camara	DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT	1'39.044	0.259
5	71	Norman Nato	Venturi	1'39.139	0.354
6	37	Nick Cassidy	Virgin Racing	1'39.140	0.355
7	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar Racing	1'39.270	0.485
8	22	Oliver Rowland	DAMS	1'39.558	0.773
9	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti Autosport	1'39.587	0.802
10	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	1'39.607	0.822
11	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah	1'39.616	0.831
12	6	Nico Müller	DRAGON / PENSKE AUTOSPORT	1'39.853	1.068
13	94	Alex Lynn	Mahindra Racing	1'39.905	1.120
14	28	Maximilian Gunther	Andretti Autosport	1'39.940	1.155
15	13	Antonio Felix da Costa	Techeetah	1'40.039	1.254
16	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team	1'40.139	1.354
17	8	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E Team	1'40.277	1.492
18	36	Andre Lotterer	Porsche Team	1'40.416	1.631
19	33	René Rast	Team Abt	1'40.490	1.705
20	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	1'40.699	1.914
21	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	1'40.741	1.956
22	99	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Team	1'41.708	2.923
23	88	Tom Blomqvist	NIO Formula E Team	1'42.631	3.846
24	23	Sébastien Buemi	DAMS	1'42.932	4.147
View full results