Formula E: Best test time from Nico Müller
FORMULA E On Saturday, Sébastien Buemi drove to second place in the third Formula E race in Marrakesh after leading for a long time. On Sunday, Nico Müller shone in the official FIA rookie test of all ten teams with the best time of the 20 new drivers. After the disaster in Hong Kong in December (just one point in two races), Sébastien Buemi seemed to be on [...]
After the disaster in Hong Kong in December (just one point in two races), Sébastien Buemi looked set to take his first win of the season from pole position on the street circuit in Marrakesh on Saturday. Shortly before the end of the race, however, the Swede Felix Rosenqvist squeezed past in his Mahindra, relegating the Renault driver to second place.
Sébastien Buemi: "Because there was a problem with the water pump, I had to swap the two race cars. I therefore started with the second car, which was sorted out for the use of the fan boost. When Felix overtook me towards the end of the race, I wanted to counter with the help of the fan boost, but the system didn't work in the car intended for the start. If I had known that, I would have closed the door more when Felix attacked. Who knows what would have happened then. But he was a bit faster, so he deserves to win. From that point of view, second place is not bad, but when you lead for so long, you want to win."
With his second win of the season after race 2 in Hong Kong, Rosenqvist leads the Formula E championship for the first time with 54 points, followed by Briton Sam Bird (50) from DS Virgin Racing. Sébastien Buemi has moved up to sixth place with 21 points from Morocco, directly behind Edoardo Mortara. The Genevan, who finished second in Hong Kong in Race 2, came away empty-handed this time.
Nico Müller sets new lap record on test day
On Sunday, all the teams handed over their electric racing cars to the previously nominated rookies. Nico Müller made a sensational debut. In the Audi e-tron FE04 from Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, the 25-year-old driver from Bern not only set the fastest lap of all the rookies, but also of the entire weekend. The weather conditions were obviously a little better than the day before, but Müller took almost a second off second-placed Pietro Fittipaldi and also left Formula 1 veterans such as Paul di Resta, Antonio Giovinazzi (substitute Sauber driver) and Gary Paffett in his wake.
Nico Müller: "I really enjoyed this test drive with a great car. Being fastest is obviously nice, but that's not the only thing that mattered. The important thing is that I was able to be useful to the team with my work."
