The 2017 Paris ePrix looked set to be a fairly processional race after the first few laps, but it soon livened up and then ended with complete confusion.
A late safety car with two laps to go brought the ePrix to a rather frustrating finish, with the BMW i8 peeling off into the pits at the end of the final tour – meaning the finishing order was locked in.
Well, that’s what we thought. But on the back straight, Abt’s FE machine shut down with a battery issue. Because the safety car was still out, those behind didn’t know what to do.
This caused a huge gap to those ahead and a massively bunched up field, before ex-F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez decided to just go for it and overtake Abt. It was a weird situation.
The cause of the safety car? Lucas di Grassi shunted at Turn 8 while trying to put in the fastest lap. You see, he’d already gone one lap down due to a drive-through penalty and the point for the best lap was the only thing left to take from the race.
He didn’t get fastest lap anyway and he ended the race in the barrier, sparking the safety car and underwhelming finish.
