Renault at a loss to explain Prost wing failure
Renault eDAMS chief Jean Paul-Driot admitted the team was perplexed by the rear wing failure that ended Nicolas Prost's challenge in the first race of the new Formula E season in Beijing.
Nicolas Prost, Renault e.Dams
FIA Formula E
Prost had been running third during the curtain-raising Beijing ePrix close to the tail of second place man Lucas di Grassi, only for his rear wing to suddenly partially collapse.
Although his pace wasn't badly affected, Prost was shown the black-and-orange flag for safety reasons, forcing his retirement from the race.
“We are not happy about what happened to Nicolas in the race,” Driot told Motorsport.com. “We had the same issue here at Beijing with Buemi last year. It looks very similar to that.
"We then had a procedure in place to cure it, but we don’t know right now why [the rear wing] went. The rear wheel bumper went first and after that the wing came down.
"We could have carried on, as it was not moving so much but we got the orange flag and that was it for us as you can’t take big risks."
No reliability issues a relief
While Prost ended the Beijing race with zero points on the board, teammate Sebastien Buemi cruised to a dominant win from pole position, and Driot felt the victory showed that Renault’s single motor powertrain solution performed beyond expectations.
“Efficiency wise we are very happy and we hit all targets,” Driot said. "We have had no reliability issues and that is good because it was a big question mark with all the new equipment.
"We are satisfied with the performance as you have to say the win, pole and fastest lap by such a margin is a big reward for the big push from Renault and the whole team we have around us.
“Overall, we are highly satisfied with the performance of the new powertrain, but Malaysia will be a big test with the temperature, there will be additional question marks."
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