Sébastien Buemi’s third place clinched after a no-holds-barred battle on the Tempelhof circuit has helped the French team to retain its lead in the teams’ championship. Overall, it’s not a bad result after a Saturday on which the e.dams-Renault team had to spend more time defending than attacking! – especially Nicolas Prost who had to cope with a loss of energy – to hold off the German offensive of Audi Abt, which resulted in Lucas di Grassi’s victory.
The drivers’ encouraging performances in free practice boded well for a good day. But the team’s hopes were already dampened in qualifying with Buemi third and Prost seventh on the grid. The tendency was confirmed in the race. The e-dams-Renault Swiss driver was unable to match the pace of di Grassi, and despite putting up tough resistance he couldn’t prevent D’Ambrosio from snatching second. He saw the flag in third place (helped by the fan boost so a big thanks to our fans!), and he is still in this position in the drivers’ ratings, 20 points behind the leader. Prost had a race from hell as he had continual problems with his energy supply. Despite his best efforts he came home 11th just outside the points. With two rounds and three races to go till the end of the season, e-dams-Renault still holds a solid lead in the teams’ championship. However, as it is up against rivals who are continually improving their cars, the team’s aim is to up its game starting at the next round in Moscow.
Alain Prost – Jean-Paul Driot (joint-owners): “We just heard about the disqualification of Lucas Di Grassi, we won’t make any comment but just aknowledge the decision of the FIA. Even if this decision help us we know that we didn’t perform very well this weekend and we need to improve our performences for the next races.
Sébastien Buemi: “My third place isn’t a bad result, as I had a fairly good race. I was able to pass Trulli with the help of the fan boost and I’d like to thank all those who voted for me; it really helped me score a top-three finish. However, this atypical track led to a lot of tyre degradation and it’s obvious that we didn’t have the best set up chassis for the race. We’ll have to have a look at that in view of the next round in Russia. It’s a pity to have lost ten points to di Grassi and Audi Abt but we’re still well placed and we’ll continue to fight our corner.”
Nicolas Prost: “I’m pretty disappointed. It’s been my worst weekend of the season. It was all looking good after free practice, but during the race I found myself in great difficulty, in dire straits, in fact. I can’t yet explain what happened but what’s sure is that we have a lot of work to do to bounce back in Moscow.” ”
Berlin summary
Qualifying. Buemi P3, Prost P7
Race. Buemi P2, Prost P10.
Next round: Moscow (Russia), 6th June.