Prost is fifth winner of FE's fifth race

Nicolas Prost, progeny of four-time F1 World Champion Alain Prost, clinched a dramatic victory for e.dams Renault in the fifth race of the inaugural Formula E Championship, thanks to a pass that gave him the lead during the second last lap of the 39-lap race. Audi Sport ABT’s Daniel Abt had slowed down to conserve energy to make it to the finish line, allowing Prost to slip past in Turn 8.

Soon after, Andretti Autosport’s Scott Speed, the only American in the Miami ePrix, passed on the inside of Abt going into Turn 1 to gain second position; he hounded Prost for the first, but was short by just 0.433 of a second. Abt earned his first podium finish in the series.

Jean-Eric Vergne of Andretti Autosport started from pole position and led the opening 18 laps, while Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird and Prost nipped on his tail. Despite being a FanBoost winner, Vergne burned through his available power faster than the rest of the field (the other FanBoost recipients were Bruno Senna and Salvador Duran); when there was less than 10% left in Vergne’s battery, Bird, who had been able to conserve more energy, overtook Vergne for the lead on Lap 19, which was when the pit stops to change cars began. Vergne and Abt pitted on this lap to change cars while Prost, Speed and Bird made their pit stops a lap later. As we have seen in past races in the series, the pit stop to change cars changed the race dramatically.

Abt inherited the lead on Lap 23 while Bird dropped to seventh place due to energy issues, which kept him out of contention for the rest of the race. Speed passed his teammate as Vergne’s car ran low on energy again, and was able to charge towards a podium finish.

Prost was the fifth winner in as many FE races, and the first ePrix ever to not require the safety car.

image: Reuters