For the first session of the day here in Santiago, it was Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi who posted the fastest time of the practice session – 1:08.630s – on the new Parque O’Higgins circuit in Santiago.
The Brazilian driver was followed by Mahindra Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein in second (1:08.776s) and Envision Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird in third (1:08.988s).
Locking up into Turn 6/7, Nissan e.dams Sebastien Buemi collided with the wall, damaging the front right and the floor of his car with thirty minutes of the session remaining.
With the red flag out, all cars returned to the garages while Buemi’s stricken car was recovered. With the engineers busily repairing Buemi’s car, there’s a chance the Swiss driver might not make the second practice session.