Buemi calls on Renault to solve Putrajaya problems

Buemi comfortably took pole position this morning, and dominated the opening stages of the race.

Just when it looked like he was going to stroll to a second consecutive victory, the Beijing winner slowed on Lap 15, dropping well down through the field as he crawled back to the pits to change cars.

Despite the loss of time, and having had to switch to his second car two laps earlier than required to comfortably make the finish with enough energy, Buemi did an impressive job to preserve power and looked set to salvage some points – only for the car to stop again.

The unreliability left Buemi hugely frustrated at the finish, the Switzerland admitting it was probably a race win that got away.

“It’s down to the team now to look at the issues,” he told Motorsport.com.

“Obviously, I’m very disappointed with what happened because we were easily in the lead. I won’t say I would have won the race, but I would have been easily there.

“I’m very, very disappointed. It’s difficult to explain what happened, but basically the car stopped twice.

“It could have been a full weekend again, because I had the fastest lap and the pole. But that’s the way it is, I can’t do anything anymore. But clearly, losing 25 points is never easy.

“[Being quick] is for sure good, but if you don’t finish the race, you don’t score points.”

Buemi was ultimately classified 12th after finishing more than a minute behind winner Lucas di Grassi, while teammate Nico Prost scored a solitary point for 10th thanks to the late-race carnage.