Formula E in Berlin: Serious accident for di Grassi in Free Practice 3, Felix da Costa loses wheel, Buemi fastest
Timo Pape

Craig Evans / Spacesuit Media
Sebastien Buemi was the fastest driver in Formula E's third free practice session in Berlin. However, the session will be remembered for two other scenes: Firstly, Antonio Felix da Costa lost a wheel, then Lucas di Grassi crashed into the track barrier at high speed. The Brazilian was uninjured. The session, which had already started late, was cancelled early.
Free practice was again delayed because it rained again in Berlin on Sunday morning. The session finally got underway at 9.15am, a quarter of an hour late. As the track was still wet, the drivers carefully approached the limits. Edo Mortara was the fastest in the first ten minutes. But Pascal Wehrlein, Stoffel Vandoorne, Nico Müller and debutant Felipe Drugovich were also fast.
After eleven minutes, there was a strange scene - as in the first free practice session, Porsche made a mockery of itself in the grandstands. The team had apparently not fully tightened the rear right wheel nuts when changing tyres. Antonio Felix da Costa drove a few more corners, but probably already realised that something was wrong. In turn 9, his right rear wheel finally came loose. His Porsche skidded a few metres into the run-off zone and was overtaken by its own wheel.
How the bizarre moment which bought out the Red Flag unfolded in FP3 ⤵️@Hankook_Sport #BerlinEPrix pic.twitter.com/Dqk66ltKEB
- Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) July 13, 2025
Race control interrupted the session with a red flag to have the Porsche towed away. The German team was shortly afterwards "Under investigation" for a potential "Unsafe release". In total, practice was paused for eleven minutes. Due to the late start, however, the session could not be extended any further. This left the drivers with just 18 minutes to prepare for qualifying in the best possible way.
Heavy impact, di Grassi uninjured
As the race continued, the focus was initially on Taylor Barnard: The McLaren driver first touched Nico Müller with an aggressive driving style and almost came into contact with Robin Frijns a little later. Müller, however, took the lead in the timesheets. Felix da Costa - meanwhile back in the Porsche pits - was clearly impatient to get a few more laps in practice. He used the jack on his own initiative to speed up the repairs to his car.
Barnard took the lead with around ten minutes to go, while his compatriot Oliver Rowland braked at the end of the start and finish straight and had to drive a wide arc. Sebastien Buemi set a new best time of 1:09.912 minutes.
Eight minutes before the end of the race, Lucas di Grassi crashed into the TecPro barrier at high speed at the end of the start and finish straight! The Lola driver drove into the spray of his team-mate Zane Maloney, who was already braking for turn 1. Di Grassi, on the other hand, was barely able to slow down. As he later explained to the team in the pits, the car continued to accelerate even though he was on the brakes! After the hard impact, Di Grassi apparently got out of the car unharmed.
A big moment for Di Grassi! Good to see him get out of the car.@Hankook_Sport #BerlinEPrix pic.twitter.com/vDohYTIueR
- Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) July 13, 2025
The session was not resumed after the serious accident, so Buemi remained fastest. Qualifying on Sunday is scheduled to start at 11:20 am, as long as the rain doesn't throw a spanner in the Formula E works again. Qualifying can be followed in the live ticker at e-Formula.news.
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