Sebastien Buemi Tops Formula E FP1 in Hong Kong

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer

Season Four for the FIA Formula E championship is underway.

The first practice session of the season went to Sebastien Buemi and Renault e.dams.

Buemi laid down a 1:03.310s lap to lead the way in free practice 1 for Saturday’s HKT Hong Kong E-Prix, besting Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans (1:03.776s) and Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Daniel Abt (1:03.856s) to lead the way for the Formula E paddock.

Lucas di Grassi (1:03.969s) and Sam Bird (1:04.097s) rounded out the top five, with Nicolas Prost (1:04.129s), Nelson Piquet Jr. (1:04.269s), Edoardo Mortaro (1:04.279), Jean-Eric Vergne (1:04.299s) and Oliver Turvey (1:04.380) completing the top 10.

The brief session saw a handful of issues and two full-course yellows for the Formula E field.

After an early full-course yellow to practice procedure, mechanical issues stalled one of Felix Rosenqvist’s Mahindra Racing machines on-track to force the session’s second slow-down.

Paddock newcomers Mortara and Neel Jani each got a taste of the barrier in their FE debuts, proving unable to handle slides as each driver tapped the wall in Turn 10. Bird and Prost were both forced to utilize one of the various runoff areas during the session, and many others dipped tires into the marbles.

The paddock will return for FP2 at 8:25 p.m. ET, followed by qualifications at 1 a.m. ET. Coverage for the HKT Hong Kong E-Prix is slated to begin at 2 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.