Formula E Beijing: Buemi takes dominant win, Mahindra on podium

Sebastien Buemi cruised to a dominant win at the 2015/16 Formula E season opener in Beijing on Saturday, as Mahindra Racing scored their first podium

Sebastien Buemi of Renault e.dams took a dominant win in the opening round of the 2015/16 FIA Formula E Championship in Beijing. (Photo: FIA Formula E)

Late race drama for Buemi\'s teammate Nicolas Prost meant that Mahindra Racing\'s Nick Heidfeld scored the team\'s maiden podium finish. (Photo: FIA Formula E)

Sebastien Buemi cruised to a dominant win at the 2015/16 Formula E season opener in Beijing on Saturday, as Mahindra Racing scored their first podium finish with Nick Heidfeld behind the wheel.

Buemi led the race from pole position, resisting multiple full-course yellow flags to win by an imperious margin of 11 seconds. Last year’s Beijing winner Lucas di Grassi finished second, with Heidfeld rounding off the podium positions.

Heidfeld - who ran as high as second in the first stint - had to resist pressure from the Dragon cars of Loic Duval and Jerome D’Amboriso, who had considerably more useable energy towards the end of the race. In the end, the German just managed to hold on to third place, crossing the line with just 0.3 seconds in hand.

Meanwhile, Oliver Turvey finished a strong sixth for Team China Racing, having taken advantage of the the full-course yellow flag to switch cars. Nathanael Berthon was another beneficiary, and was classified eighth at the chequered flag.

Sam Bird finished seventh for DS Virgin, while Daniel Abt was an unimpressive ninth, finishing nearly a minute behind his teammate Di Grassi.

Stephane Sarrazin collected the final championship point in 10th, ahead of Robin Frinz (Andretti), Jean Eric Vergne (DS Virgin) and Bruno Senna (Mahindra). The Brazilian ran in the top five during the first half of the race, only to fall out of points scoring positions during the mid-race pitstop sequence.

Formula E returns to action with the Putrajaya ePrix in two weeks time. Buemi leads the drivers championship going into the second round, while Dragon Racing find themselves at the top of the teams' table.

Formula E Beijing ePrix - Race Results (Top 10)