Formula E witnesses its first big crash in the inaugural race

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The electrifying Formula E’s first race took place last weekend on the streets of Beijing in the People’s Republic. While Lucas di Grassi scored a pole position, our very own Karun Chandhok, driving for the Indian outfit Mahindra Racing, secured a fifth position in the race. The outcome of the race however, would have been completely different, hadn’t it been for the racing tournament’s first crash which took place in the last moments of the race.

The accident occurred in the last lap of the race as Nick Heidfeld tried an overtaking manoeuvre to grab the lead from Nicolas Prost. As soon as Nick took the line and attempted to overtake him, Nicolas turned right into the Venturi racing car, thereby launching Nick into the air and towards a wall. While the video footage of the race does show Nicolas checking his rear-view mirrors before running into Nick’s path, it seems that the French driver was not anticipating the move by Nick.

Team Audi Sport ABT’s Lucas di Grassi easily went past both the drivers, securing the pole position in the tournament’s inaugural race. Both the drivers were not seriously injured and Nicolas Prost took the blame of the accident and publicly apologised on twitter.

Crashes are guilty pleasures of motor racing. While no one ever wants to be involved in a crash, many of us enjoy secretly watching racing car accidents and close shaves. But you have to remember that crashes not only cause losses for the racing team, but also injuries for the drivers involved, and in some extreme cases, loss of life.