Attack on Porsche "too risky" - Buemi celebrates best result with Envision, Frijns crashes after problem

Sebastien Buemi successfully started the "team title defence" mission for Envision with a second place at the Mexico City E-Prix. The Swiss driver was unable to launch a serious attack on race winner Pascal Wehrlein, but defended his second place against Nick Cassidy in the works Jaguar with aplomb. It was a completely different story for team-mate Robin Frijns, who crashed into the barriers after a technical error.

Even though he was just under a second down on Pascal Wehrlein in the end, Sebastien Buemi made it clear with a second place in the season opener that he wants to fight for the championship again in season 10 - some seven years after winning the title. "That was a clean race," he summarised after the race on the TV world feed. "The most important thing this weekend was the qualifying, because it's very difficult to overtake here (in Mexico)."

He made it through to the final and secured a place on the front row of the grid right next to pole-sitter Wehrlein. After the start, he had to fight off Max Günther as he entered the first corner, but was able to defend his second position. In the first half of the race, there were several position changes in the leading group due to the activation of the Attack Mode. However, nobody was able to benefit significantly from the additional power, which is why the order remained largely unchanged in the end.

In the second half of the race, Buemi had to let Wehrlein go and decided a few laps before the end that an attack on the Porsche driver would have had little chance of success: "Pascal was very fast. I used less energy than planned on the last laps. So I could have got even closer to him. But trying to overtake would have been too risky. As I knew that he was still being under investigation, I didn't try much. We are very happy with second place and take the points," said Buemi.

Frijns crashes after technical problem

Teammate Robin Frijns did not have a good race weekend on his return to Envision. After a botched start to the race, in which he lost several positions, the Dutchman crashed: Frijns lost control of his car in turn 16 in the technical section at the "Foro Sol" stadium and crashed into the barrier.

As his car had stopped in the middle of the track, race control decided to neutralise the race with a safety car. Immediately after the incident, Frijns said on the radio that he did not know what had happened. He wrote on Instagram the day after the race that he had had a problem with the car, which had caused the accident. The team has not yet responded to an enquiry from e-Formula.news as to what exactly happened to Frijns' car.

Overall Envision package is good

However, the overall pace of Envision, who are also likely to be among the fastest this season, was positive. Buemi and Frijns impressed with good pace in the free practice sessions and, like Jaguar, reached the duel phase of qualifying with both cars. Incidentally, both drivers were eliminated by Pascal Wehrlein then: Frijns in the quarter-final after a driving error and Buemi in the final.

The team will have its next chance to convert its good condition into championship points in just under two weeks' time at the Diriyah E-Prix.