The Sanya ePrix was announced as part of the 2018–19 calendar in June 2018 by Formula E founder, Alejandro Agag,[1] and was confirmed as season 5's 6th race on 10 January 2019.[2] It was the first time an ePrix was held in Sanya and was run on the Haitang Bay Circuit.
Going into the race, Sam Bird led the championship with 54 points and a point over Jérôme d'Ambrosio and 2 points over Lucas di Grassi and Edoardo Mortara, who were tied on 52 points after Mortara's win in the previous round in Hong Kong.[3] In the teams championship, Virgin Racing led with 97 points, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler in second place with 86 points, after jumping ahead of Mahindra, by scoring a double points finish and Mahindra's double retirement in the previous round.[3]
Circuit
The Sanya ePrix was hosted on the Haitang Bay Circuit which located 24 km (15 mi) from the city. It was a 2.236 km (1.389 mi) temporary street circuit with 11 corners. The circuit ran anticlockwise. The circuit featured a number of tight 90° and 180° turns, whilst also enjoying two long straights that passed over two bridges. The pitlane exited between turns 2 and 3, and the "Attack Mode" boost was located on the outside of Turn 3's exit. The pit and paddock was a temporary construction in a car park.[4][5]
Before the circuit hosted the 2019 Sanya ePrix, it was treated with a resin to ensure it did not break up.[6]
Practice
Two practice sessions—both on Saturday morning—were held before the late afternoon race. The first session ran for 45 minutes and the second for half an hour.[7] During the session, Oliver Rowland led the way during the first Practice session after setting a time of 1:07.561, ahead of both BMW Andretti driver Antonio Felix da Costa and his teammate Alexander Sims.[8] During the session, several drivers ran deep into the run-off area at turn 5. The notable incidents happened when Virgin Racing driver Robin Frijns rubbing the wall multiple times during the session.[9]
The second practice session was underway an hour and a half later. The Nissan e.Dams driver Sébastien Buemi hit the wall at turn 3.[10] Despite the incident, he rejoined and set the fastest of the second practice with 1:07.288, ahead of Da Costa in second, and his teammate, Rowland in third.[11][12] During the session, Mahindra driver Pascal Wehrlein, and HWA driver Gary Paffett hit the wall at the exit of turn 6. Both drivers returned to the pits afterwards to fix the damage to their cars for the rest of the second practice.
Qualifying
Saturday's 75-minute afternoon qualifying session was divided into two groups of five cars and two groups of six entries. Each group was determined by a lottery system and was permitted six minutes of on-track activity. All drivers were limited to two timed laps with one at maximum power. The fastest six overall competitors in the four groups participated in a "super pole" session with one driver on the track at any time going out in reverse order from fifth to first. Each of the five drivers was limited to one timed lap and the starting order was determined by the competitors' fastest times (super pole from first to fifth, and group qualifying from sixth to twentieth). The driver and team who recorded the fastest time were awarded three points towards their respective championships.[7]
In group one, BMW Andretti driver Antonio Felix da Costa was fastest, ahead of d'Ambrosio, and Di Grassi. The championship leader, Sam Bird, would start from 16th in the overall qualifying session. ABT was fastest in group two, with Lotterer behind, but only 7th overall.[13] In the third group, Buemi set the fastest lap, ahead of BMW Andretti driver Alexander Sims, and his teammate, Oliver Rowland. Vergne and Massa were fourth and fifth ahead of the NIO driver of Oliver Turvey in sixth. In group four, Stoffel Vandoorne in the HWA Racelab set the fastest lap of the group four qualifying, with the Dragon driver José María López came in second, and NIO driver Tom Dillmann in third. In the super pole session, Rowland took his first pole position of the season with a time of 1:07.945, after his teammate Buemi hit the wall again in turn 3.[14][15][13] He would start in the front row alongside the DS Techeetah driver Jean-Éric Vergne, who was second. Alexander Sims didn't set his super pole time because a gear selection issue on his car.[14]
Post-qualifying
After qualifying, Sébastien Buemi was disqualified from the Super Pole session for brake infringement, dropping him to sixth, before he had to start from the pit lane after replacing a part of his car. The HWA Racelab driver Gary Paffett also started from the pit lane after fixing an issue of his car.
Race
Jean-Éric Vergne won the only Formula E race held in Sanya
At the start, everyone get off the line well except for Nasr because his Dragon failed to get off the line, he later move the car again before retiring. Soon after, Vandoorne and Bird collided, resulting in both drivers retiring, Jose Maria Lopez also retired and parked in the run-off area to maintain the race. When attack mode was activated, Massa, Turvey and Buemi went to the first attack, Lucas Di Grassi also used it but he tried three times before the mode activated.[clarify]. When 21 minutes and 59 seconds was left on the clock, Vergne went for the overtake on Rowland and moved into the lead. From there, he built a 1-second gap from Rowland to activate attack mode. Then Sims and Lotterer went side-by-side and Sims contacted the wall, ending his race and causing the full course yellow and then a red flag. When the race resumed after 12 minutes, every driver except for Mortara, da Costa Turvey, Dillmann did not activate the second attack mode. During the penultimate lap, Buemi shoved Frijns to di Grassi, which resulted in his retirement and a full-course yellow. This caused everyone to slow down, which allowed Vergne to win the race.
Post-race
After the race, Buemi been awarded a 10 seconds penalty for causing a collision. Mortara was awarded a drive-through penalty converted to 16 seconds after he failed to activate the attack mode for a second time. The penalty promoted Massa to tenth.
The Sanya ePrix was on the Formula E schedule for March 2020, but was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.[16] The race was due to return in March 2021, but it did not materialise and again for March 2023, before Formula E announced later that year in October it would return to China, but instead on a modified layout of the Shanghai International Circuit for the 2024 Formula E Season. [17][18]
