2020 Santiago ePrix
Race 3 of 11 of the2019–20 Formula E season ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	18 January 2020 (2020-01-18)
Official name	2020Antofagasta Minerals Santiago E-Prix
Location	Parque O'Higgins Circuit,Santiago
Course	Semi-permanent circuit
Course length	2.287 km (1.421 mi)
Distance	40 laps, 91.480 km (56.843 mi)
Weather	Dry
Attendance	740[a]
Pole position
Driver	Mitch Evans	Jaguar
Time	1:04.827
Fastest lap
Driver	Oliver Rowland	e.dams-Nissan
Time	1:06.405 on lap 26
Podium
First	Maximilian Günther	Andretti-BMW
Second	António Félix da Costa	Techeetah-DS
Third	Mitch Evans	Jaguar
Lap leaders

The2020 Santiago ePrix (formally the2020 Antofagasta Minerals Santiago E-Prix) was aFormula Eelectric car race held at theParque O'Higgins Circuit in theParque O'Higgins ofSantiago, Chile on 18 January 2020. It served as the third round of the2019–20 Formula E season and was the third annual edition of theevent.^[1] The race was won byMaximilian Günther, driving forBMW i Andretti Motorsport, who started from 2nd on the grid, and became the youngest ever Formula E race winner, withAntónio Félix da Costa coming in second, while pole-sitterMitch Evans finished the race third.

Finishing in 6th overall was sufficient to elevateStoffel Vandoorne to the top the Drivers' Championship standings with 38, after the then-championship leader,Alexander Sims retired from the race with collision damage, demoting him to second, with 35 points.Sam Bird's 10th place and fastest lap point enabled him to stay 3rd in the championship standings, with 28 points, whileGünther's race win elevated him to 4th in the championship standings, with 25 points.Lucas di Grassi's recovery drive from 22nd on the grid to 7th, netting him 6 points was also sufficient to keep him 5th in the championship standings, with 24 points.

In the Teams' Championship,BMW i Andretti Motorsport led with 60 points, while theMercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team slid to 2nd, with 56 points.Envision Virgin Racing slid to 3rd, with 38 points, whileAudi Sport Abt Schaeffler remained in 4th, with 32 points.Panasonic Jaguar Racing rose to 5th, with 31 points.

On 15 June 2019,Formula E announced the provisional calendar for the2019–20 Formula E season, which would be the sixth season of the championship, with 14 races to be held across 12 cities globally. On this provisional calendar, the Santiago ePrix was planned as the 4th round of the championship.^[2]

On 5 October 2019,Formula E announced the finalised calendar for theseason, which would see 14 races to be held across 12 cities globally.^[3] This finalised calendar would see the race bumped up to the 3rd round of the championship, with the TBA round in December being cancelled.^[4]

Ahead of the race, in November 2019, concerns were raised about the race, due to the2019–20 Chilean protests, which had seen postponements and suspensions of football fixtures earlier in the month, with the APEC and COP25 summits, which had been set to be hosted in the city also being cancelled, while theCopa Libertadores final was moved to Lima, Peru andRally Chile was cancelled.^[5] In spite of the concerns, the event was officially launched of 13 November, while Formula E would continue to monitor the social-political situation in the city.^[6] Formula E later reaffirmed its commitment to racing the city, while it was later revealed that unlike Rally Chile, the race was privately funded, with the money needed to put on the race in Santiago's O'Higgins Park coming from the event organisers, without government funding.^[7]

Ahead of the race, changes to the track layout were made, most notably at the curving back straight, where the chicane was removed, while the pit lane was moved to the other side of the track, to the inside of the circuit.^[8] In addition, the sweeping right hander which was the former Turn 1 was modified, with a new left hander being added ahead of the revised corner. The final sector of the lap also saw changes, with the zig-zagging section of the track being reversed compared to the previous year. The removal of the chicane came as Formula E looked to reduce the number of chicanes on the tracks in the championship, in the wake of several accidents happening at such locations in several races, with the highest profile incident seeing a pile-up at the first corner during the2019 Swiss ePrix blocking the track, and causing a lengthy red flag period.^[9]

Mitch Evans scored both his, andJaguar Racing's 2nd ever pole in theABB Formula E Championship, after topping the timesheets in both the qualifying groups, and the Superpole shootout. During the superpole shootout, he deniedMaximilian Günther pole by a margin of nearly 3 tenths, after clocking in an impressive time at the final sector of the track, being 0.22s faster than the rest of the competition, despite being the last to leave the pits for the track. Prior to the Kiwi's sensational run in the final sector of the track, it had appeared that the German would be set to clinch his first ever Formula E pole, having clocked the fastest time in the first 2 sectors of the track, to beat his fellow countryman,Pascal Wehrlein to provisional pole by nearly 6 tenths. The Mahindra driver had left the pits first for his Superpole lap, and ended up posting a lap slower than his effort in the Group stage.Felipe Massa came in fourth, edging outOliver Turvey, who had posted a phenomenal time in the final sector during the Group 4 session, in hisNIO 333 machine.Season 2 championSébastien Buemi came in 6th, and last in the Superpole session, after posting 2 slow sectors in hisNissan.^[10]

Behind the superpole runners, qualifying 7th was theVenturi runMercedes ofEdoardo Mortara, who had his lap affected, due to an incident with fellow Group 2 runnerRobin Frijns, after Frijns experienced a spin on his flying lap. A massive rear end snap under braking spun Frijns around on the approach to Turn 1, where he barely missed the tyre wall. As he attempted to rejoin the track, the Dutchman delayed Mortara by around 0.4 seconds. In spite of this, Mortara was still able to set the fastest time in Group 2, courtesy of a strong final sector, and held provisional pole at the time.^[11] Behind Mortara were the 2 factory-runMercedes ofNyck de Vries, and his teammateStoffel Vandoorne, whileAntónio Félix da Costa rounded out the top 10, in hisDS Techeetah. Reigning series championJean-Éric Vergne's tricky start to the season continued, the Frenchman coming in P11, over a second slower than his teammate, ahead of the leadingPorsche ofNeel Jani.Daniel Abt, in the lead Audi took 13th, ahead of the second Porsche ofAndré Lotterer.Alexander Sims saw his pole streak come to an end, the championship leader coming in 15th, ahead of theEnvision Virgin Racing run Audi ofSam Bird, and theDragon-Penske ofBrendon Hartley.James Calado came in 18th, while the sisterDragon car ofNico Müller came in 19th.Jérôme d'Ambrosio suffered car trouble towards the end of his flying lap, leaving him languishing down in 20th, after failing to start the second race atAd Diriyah due to a technical issue.^[12]

Behind d'Ambrosio, was theVirgin run Audi of Frijns, his spin dealing him a penalty in terms of his final laptime, whileLucas di Grassi had his lap affected by a crash byOliver Rowland, which initially cost him a few tenths, before theSeason 3 champion ruined his own laptime by running wide at Turn 9. Behind him, was the Nissan of Rowland, the Brit crashing heavily during the Group 1 session, and forcing his team,e.DAMS to scramble against the clock to prepare his car in time for the race.^[13]Ma Qinghua propped up the grid, and did not participate in the session, after he crashed in Practice 2, and theNIO 333 FE Team mechanics were unable to repair his car in time for the session.^[14]

Maximilian Günther scored his first everFormula E race victory, becoming the youngest ever Formula E race winner, after triumphing in a last lap battle withAntónio Félix da Costa. PolesitterMitch Evans came in 3rd for PanasonicJaguar Racing, benefitting from a penalty issued toNyck de Vries, who had come in third on the road. De Vries lost his maiden podium, due to an infringement of the minimum battery coolant temperature.^[15] This penalty also bumpedPascal Wehrlein to fourth overall in the pecking order.

At the start, Evans held the lead off the line, while Mahindra Racing's Pascal Wehrlein forced his way past Günther, who suffered from a poor start, at the tight off-track approach to Turn 2, which the field used throughout the race. Following this, Günther gradually fell down the order, while Evans consolidated his lead out front.

From this point onwards, the race quietened down, until past the 40th minute, when Günther's teammate, the championship leader Alexander Sims, ground to a halt on track, prompting a full-course yellow, while the stewards removed his car, with the FCY being lifted at the 37 minute mark on the clock. In less than a lap after the restart, Oliver Rowland made contact with Sam Bird, damaging his front wing and putting Bird into a spin. Rowland would enter the pits to replace the wing shortly after the incident.

Using his Attack Mode power boost, Günther advanced on Edoardo Mortara, using the extra power to sweep past the Venturi driver and to move back into third. With Mortara in fourth and his teammate Felipe Massa in fifth, the two Venturi cars trailed the podium sitters, seemingly ready to pick up a podium, should any of the top 3 suffer from issues. However, this was not to be, as the duo activated Attack Mode against each other in a bid to attack overtake and defend from the other. Heading into Turn 10, Mortara made a lunge on Massa, putting the Brazilian into the wall, dropping him into Seventh. Reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne took advantage of this, to slip into 5th.

Meanwhile, up front, Günther activated Attack Mode to pass Wehrlein for second and with still a minute on his attack mode, Günther went for the lead, slipping past Evans on the approach to Turn 9, the extra power on hand for the German giving the Kiwi no chance to defend his position.

With 14 minutes to go, Vergne and his teammateAntónio Félix da Costa became the next drivers to pass the Mahindra ofPascal Wehrlein, the pair bumping Wehrlein down to fifth. Having made eight-places since the start of the race, damage to Vergne's front wing finally appeared to be affecting the Frenchman's car, his front-left tire starting to rub on the wing, leaving a trail of smoke behind him. Just 2 laps later, with just seven minutes to go, the wing broke, forcing the reigning champion into the pits.

Following this, Da Costa passed Evans on the long Turn 8, and set about hunting down Günther for the win. With both cars coming into Turn 10 together, Da Costa forced the BMW driver wide, locking up his fronts at the turn-10 hairpin and bumping along the side of the BMW, pulling into first place. However, in spite of this, Da Costa soon found his lead under threat from Günther, due to him having to nurse battery temperatures,^[16] and on the last lap, Günther (BMW iFE.20) stormed past Da Costa at Turn 9 (DS E-TENSE FE20), pulling away from the Portuguese, and winning by a margin of 2.067s.^[17]

Group draw[18]
Group 1	SIM (1)	VAN (2)	BIR (3)	ROW (4)	DIG (5)	LOT (6)
Group 2	MOR (7)	FRI (8)	DEV (9)	ABT (10)	CAL (11)	JEV (12)
Group 3	DAC (13)	HAR (14)	DAM (15)	EVA (16)	WEH (17)	GUE (18)
Group 4	MAS (19)	BUE (20)	JAN (21)	TUR (22)	QMA (23)	MUL (24)

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	GS	SP	Grid
1	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	1:04.941	1:04.827	1
2	28	Maximilian Günther	Andretti-BMW	1:05.102	1:05.169	2
3	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Mahindra	1:05.525	1:05.645	3
4	19	Felipe Massa	Venturi-Mercedes	1:05.463	1:05.645	4
5	3	Oliver Turvey	NIO	1:05.510	1:05.788	5
6	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	1:05.390	1:05.809	6
7	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes	1:05.547	—	7
8	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	1:05.560	—	8
9	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1:05.566	—	9
10	13	António Félix da Costa	Techeetah-DS	1:05.574	—	10
11	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-DS	1:05.625	—	11
12	18	Neel Jani	Porsche	1:05.696	—	12
13	66	Daniel Abt	Audi	1:05.745	—	13
14	36	André Lotterer	Porsche	1:05.801	—	14
15	27	Alexander Sims	Andretti-BMW	1:05.848	—	15
16	2	Sam Bird	Virgin-Audi	1:05.886	—	16
17	6	Brendon Hartley	Dragon-Penske	1:06.126	—	17
18	51	James Calado	Jaguar	1:06.305	—	18
19	7	Nico Müller	Dragon-Penske	1:06.367	—	19
20	64	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Mahindra	1:07.692	—	20
21	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin-Audi	1:09.089	—	21
22	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	1:26.526	—	22
23	22	Oliver Rowland	e.dams-Nissan	no time1	—	23
24	33	Ma Qinghua	NIO	no time	—	242
Source:[19][20]

Notes:

• ^1  –Oliver Rowland was asked to exit theParc fermé before other cars released to allow repairs at the cars because of an incident during the session, and his lap time was deleted as a result.^[21]
• ^2  –Ma Qinghua did not take part in his session as repairs were continuing after his crash in Free Practice 2. Ma was given permission to start from the back of the grid.^[22]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	28	Maximilian Günther	Andretti-BMW	40	46:11.511	2	25
2	13	António Félix da Costa	Techeetah-DS	40	+2.067	10	18
3	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	40	+5.119	1	15+1+37
4	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Mahindra	40	+7.050	3	12
5	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	40	+9.8831	8	10
6	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	40	+11.237	9	8
7	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	40	+14.437	22	6
8	51	James Calado	Jaguar	40	+18.255	18	4
9	19	Felipe Massa	Venturi-Mercedes	40	+20.430	4	2
10	2	Sam Bird	Virgin-Audi	40	+21.780	16	1+18
11	3	Oliver Turvey	NIO	40	+27.778	5
12	7	Nico Müller	Dragon-Penske	40	+33.7862	19
13	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	40	+43.2573	6
14	66	Daniel Abt	Audi	40	+47.1984	13
15	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin-Audi	39	+1 Lap	21
16	33	Ma Qinghua	NIO	39	+1 Lap5	24
17	22	Oliver Rowland	e.dams-Nissan	36	+4 Laps	23
NC	64	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Mahindra	40	+1:57.6243	20
Ret	6	Brendon Hartley	Dragon-Penske	35	Retired in pits	17
Ret	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-DS	32	Front wing damage	11
Ret	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi-Mercedes	29	Collision damage	7
Ret	27	Alexander Sims	Andretti-BMW	4	Collision damage	15
Ret	16	Neel Jani	Porsche	2	Collision damage	12
DSQ6	36	André Lotterer	Porsche	28	Energy overusage (Collision damage)	14
Source:[23]

Notes:

• ^1  –Nyck de Vries received a five-second time penalty for not respecting the minimum coolant temperature.^[24]
• ^2  –Nico Müller received a ten-second penalty for causing a collision.^[25]
• ^3  –Sébastien Buemi andJérôme d'Ambrosio both received a drive-through penalty converted into a 30-second time penalty for not respecting the homologated throttle pedal map.^[26][27]
• ^4  –Daniel Abt received a drive-through penalty converted into a 30-second time penalty for causing a collision.^[28]
• ^5  –Ma Qinghua received a five-second penalty for not respecting the power availability^[29] and a ten-second stop-and-go penalty converted into a 45-second time penalty for not using the attack mode.^[30]
• ^6  –André Lotterer was disqualified from the race for exceeding the maximum power usage of 200 kW (230.51 kW).^[31]
• ^7  – Fastest in group stage; pole.
• ^8  – Fastest lap.

Drivers' Championship standings[32] +/– Pos Driver Points 1 1 Stoffel Vandoorne 38 1 2 Alexander Sims 35 (–3) 3 Sam Bird 28 (–10) 14 4 Maximilian Günther 25 (–13) 5 Lucas di Grassi 24 (–14)

Teams' Championship standings[33] +/– Pos Constructor Points 1 1 Andretti-BMW 60 1 2 Mercedes 56 (–4) 1 3 Virgin-Audi 38 (–22) 4 Audi 32 (–28) 3 5 Jaguar 31 (–29)

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• Santiago ePrix
• 2019–20 Formula E season
• 2020 in Chilean sport
• January 2020 in Chile
• January 2020 sports events in South America

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