Buemi extends his lead with a win in Paris

Sebastien Buemi has extended his lead at the front of the championship with another win in Paris.

The Renault e.dams driver took pole position and was left unchallenged through the majority of the race.

Jose Maria Lopez finished second. The Virgin driver tried to close in on Buemi, but didn’t have the pace to challenge the Renault.

Nick Heidfeld completed the podium, ahead of team mate Felix Rosenqvist.

Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne was looking to impress in front of his home crowd after a strong Paris ePrix last season. He stuck close to Buemi early in the race, but fell away from the leader.

He looked set for a comfortable second position when the steering broke late in the race. Vergne hit the wall, bringing out the safety car and ending his race.

Vergne wasn’t the first retirement. Antonio Felix Da Costa had already claimed that title. The Andretti man was defending against Lucas Di Grassi, when the two collided. Da Costa was sent into the wall but Di Grassi managed to continue.

The incident will be investigated following the race.

The full course yellow caused by the incident triggered a flurry of pit stops. Felix Rosenqvist, Mike Conway, and Oliver Turvey were the only men to not pit as soon as the yellow flags were brought out, though Rosenqvist and Turvey pitted the following lap.

The pit stops only caused more problems for Lucas Di Grassi. After a poor qualifying, the Brazilian hadn’t made up any positions before the crash, but jumped from 16th to sixth over the course of the pit stops. That was because Di Grassi’s pit stop was under the minimum pit stop time.

He and Adam Carroll, who was also under the minimum pit stop time, were handed drive through penalties, which dropped both back down the order.

At the back of the pack, Di Grassi turned his focus to the fastest lap, which would have awarded him a single point. But the Abt driver pushed a little too hard, hitting the wall in on the penultimate lap of the race.

It was a disappointing way for Di Grassi’s race to end, but it also caused problems for Robin Frijns and Esteban Gutierrez. Both had a five second penalty for speeding under full course yellows. The safety car was brought out to clear Di Grassi’s car, bunching up the pack and dropping the pair down the order.