After losing pole position to Jean-Eric Vergne by the smallest of margins, Piquet seized his chance at the start after Vergne’s Andretti FE was caught out with too much wheel-spin off the line. From there Nelson extended his lead to just over 2 seconds, however began (uncharacteristically) using more energy than his rivals.
Needless to say, it was all part of NEXTEV Team China’s strategy. Pitting Piquet a lap earlier than championship rivals Lucas di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi, enabled Nelson to retain his advantage and switch back to his usual efficient driving style.
“It was kind of a reverse strategy”, said Piquet after the race. “You need to do these kind of things… Kind of flip it around a bit.”
His immediate title rivals endured a frustrating race. Buemi in particular was the unfortunate victim of an ‘own goal’ by eDAMS Renault after miscalculating their allotted pit-stop time by an amazing 10 seconds. The mistake was cited as a “miscommunication” according to team manager Alain Prost, where the team though they had 68 seconds instead of the correct 58 second timeframe stipulated by the FIA.
Further insult was added to injury after Buemi lost even more time after going off-track after passing Jean-Eric Vergne at the chicane during the final lap. Using common-sense and due diligence, Buemi slowed to allow Vergne back past, however an indecisive Vergne gave Buemi no choice but to continue. The Swiss driver eventually finished third to keep himself in the championship hunt heading into the final round.
Lucas di Grassi too had a torrid time in Moscow. Still reeling after his Berlin win was stripped from him, the Brazilian felt he had the car underneath him to challenge Piquet during the final laps, but for an overheating problem that forced di Grassi to consolidate his 2nd place behind his main title rival.
With two race remaining in London, the cracks are starting to show amongst the main protagonists. Whilst 12 points is a handy buffer, this season has shown that leads can vanish in the blink of an eye.