2017 Berlin ePrix

The 2017 Berlin ePrix (formally the 2017 FIA Formula E Berlin ePrix) were a pair of Formula E electric car races held on 10 and 11 June 2017 at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit in Berlin before a two-day crowd of 24,000 people. They were the seventh and eighth rounds of the 2016–17 Formula E Championship and the third Berlin ePrix. The 44-lap race contested on 10 June was won by Mahindra driver Felix Rosenqvist from a second place start. Lucas di Grassi finished second for Audi Sport ABT and Rosenqvist's teammate Nick Heidfeld was third. The longer 46-lap race on 11 June was won by e.Dams-Renault driver Sébastien Buemi from second place. Rosenqvist took second and di Grassi was third.

Di Grassi won the pole position for the first race by recording the fastest lap in qualifying and maintained the lead by gradually building a gap over Rosenqvist in the opening five laps but the latter steadily reduced it over the following laps to three-tenths of a second before the mandatory pit stops. Rosenqvist passed di Grassi for the lead on the 22nd lap and retained the position after switching into his second car. He opened up a two-second lead over di Grassi. who had battery temperature problems, and maintained it for the rest of the race to claim his first Formula E victory. There was one lead change among two different drivers during the course of the first race.

Rosenqvist secured the pole position for the second race and built up a large lead over Buemi that remained steady over the following 22 laps despite being required to manage his electrical energy consumption. Despite narrowly avoiding contact with teammate Heidfeld after being released from his garage, Rosenqvist kept the lead following the mandatory switch into a second car. Rosenqvist was immediately investigated by the stewards who imposed a ten-second time penalty on him. Rosenqvist finished first on the road but his time penalty gave Buemi his sixth victory of the season and the 12th of his career. There were no lead changes as Rosenqvist led every lap from start to finish.

The results of the races reduced Buemi's Drivers' Championship lead over di Grassi to 32 points. Rosenqvist advanced from sixth to third while Prost fell to fourth and Heidfeld dropped to fifth. e.Dams-Renault maintained their lead in the Teams' Championship on 229 points but it was reduced to 58 points ahead of Audi Sport ABT in second position. Mahindra consolidated third position with 147 points with four races remaining in the season.

## Background to race weekend

### Preview

The Berlin ePrix was confirmed as part of Formula E's 2016–17 schedule in September 2016 by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. They were the seventh and eighth of twelve scheduled single-seater electric car races of the 2016–17 Championship, the third Berlin ePrix, the first of three double headers, and took place at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit in Berlin on 10 and 11 June 2017. It was confirmed as a double header in March 2017 following the cancellation of a planned race in Brussels because race organisers were unable to locate a suitable venue to hold the event, and the Berlin ePrix was moved away from the Karl-Marx-Allee Circuit in the city's downtown district, and back to Tempelhof, the location of the first German race in 2015. Other locations, such as the Kazak capital of Astana were considered, but the late switch made arrangements difficult.

Before the races, e.Dams-Renault driver Sébastien Buemi led the Drivers' Championship with 132 points, 43 ahead of Lucas di Grassi in second and a further 31 in front of third-placed Nico Prost. Nick Heidfeld was fourth on 47 points and Jean-Éric Vergne was fifth place with 40 points. e.Dams-Renault led the Teams' Championship with 190 points; Audi Sport ABT were in second with 115 points and Mahindra were 28 points behind in third position. Virgin were in fourth on 63 points and NextEV were 15 points behind in fifth.

After finishing well in the final two races, Felix Rosenqvist spoke of his aspiration to achieve more podium finishes with Mahindra, and at this late stage of the season, focused more on the championship, and no longer felt like a first year driver: "You have to try and take fewer risks to secure a strong result – especially with the double-headers. We have some great things coming from the team on the technical side, which is improving and both Nick and I are in the mix with those at the front of the grid." Buemi entered the race with the same perspective than he did in the past two races but was aware the track's concrete layout over the conventional asphalt used in past races but was ready to challenge for a points-scoring position. Di Grassi—nursing an right leg injury he sustained in a tackle during a charity football match at Stamford Bridge before the first race— said his team had the potential to draw closer to e.Dams-Renault in the championship if his team achieved "a perfect weekend".

The Templehof circuit underwent changes following the 2015 race. The anti-clockwise layout, revealed on 27 March, was shortened and simplified to complement the faster, more efficient cars with the long main and back straights protruding from the rest of the circuit. The drivers received the changes positively with Jérôme d'Ambrosio stating his like of "a technical circuit" and it showed the series did not have to completely contest their races on the streets of the host city. Buemi reiterated the statement, feeling there were places on the track where overtaking would occur: "The team have done a great job learning from season 1, and taking the lessons we learned then and making a track that is better for racing cars." Construction of the track started on 29 May, 13 days before the first race.

There were two driver changes pre-race. Having driven with Venturi since the start of the championship, Stéphane Sarrazin was granted permission to leave the team and moved to Techeetah to replace Esteban Gutiérrez who focused on deputising for the injured Dale Coyne Racing driver Sébastien Bourdais in the IndyCar Series. Sarrazin's Venturi car was driven by the team's reserve driver and reigning Formula V8 3.5 Series champion Tom Dillmann for the rest of the season. The switch was described by Gildo Pastor, the team principal of Venturi, as "a positive solution for all those involved": "With his experience, Stephane will be embraced by Techeetah and at the same time, the season will offer Tom the chance of gathering further important experience with Venturi."

### Format of the races

Two practice sessions—both on Saturday and Sunday morning—were held before the respective day's late afternoon race. The first session ran for 45 minutes and the second for 30 minutes. Both the afternoon's qualifying sessions ran for 60 minutes and were divided into four groups of five cars. 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 five 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 competitor's 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. A special feature of Formula E is the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 100 kilowatts (130 hp) of power to use in the driver's second car. The three drivers who were allowed to use the boost were determined by a fan vote.

## Race one

### Practice and qualifying

Both practice sessions took place in warm weather. In the first practice session, Buemi used the maximum of 200 kW (270 hp) available to him and set the fastest lap of 1 minute, 8.151 seconds, almost six-tenths of a second faster than teammate Prost in second and Rosenqvist third. After leading the field for most of the session, José María López was fourth-fastest, ahead of Bird and Vergne, Mitch Evans, Heidfeld, di Grassi and Adam Carroll. Daniel Abt stopped at the turn three exit, and later understeered into the turn-one run-off area, but was able to continue driving. Nelson Piquet Jr. oversteered into the turn four barrier. damaging his car's left-front corner. The session was later halted when Evans was stranded on the inside of turn nine and was moved from the track after he could not drive. Dillmann's first car had gearbox problems and was required to wait for his second car to be ready before venturing out onto the circuit. Heidfeld was the fastest driver in the second practice session with a time of 1 minute, 8.070 seconds; his teammate Rosenqvist was second, ahead of Maro Engel in third. Di Grassi was fourth-fastest; Sarrazin, López, Bird, Vergne, Buemi and Oliver Turvey completed the top ten.

In the first group of five qualifiers, where drivers waited for the right time to set their lap times, Bird led the session despite an oversteer on his car, ahead of Abt and Robin Frijns. Carroll was fourth and António Félix da Costa was off the pace and was the first group's slowest qualifier. Vergne drove cleanly and was the fastest driver in the second group. He was ahead of Prost who lost time in the first third of a lap and d'Ambrosio. Engel and Loïc Duval were fourth and fifth. In the third group, Rosenqvist set the overall fastest lap time of any competitor in the group stages at 1 minute, 8.171 seconds. López was second-fastest, nearly two-tenths of a second slower with di Grassi third. Both Piquet and Evans were off the pace and were the third group's slowest two drivers; the latter made minor contact with the barrier on his maximum power lap. In the fourth group, Heidfeld was the fastest driver, nearly-three tenths of a second in front of Turvey, who was in turn, two-tenths ahead of Sarrazin. Buemi was the first driver to venture onto the track in group four but struggled on his maximum power lap with a large amount of oversteer, and Dillmann rounded out the top five qualifiers. At the end of group qualifying, the lap times set by Rosenqvist, Bird, Heidfeld, López and di Grassi progressed them to super pole. Di Grassi clinched the second pole position of his career with a lap of 1 minute, 8.312 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by López who recorded a lap time 0.001 seconds slower. The margin of gap was the closest in Formula E history. Rosenqvist clipped the turn nine kerb, causing him to lose momentum, and slid lightly through turn ten, leaving him third. Heidfeld qualified fourth, and Bird struggled for pace, going one second slower than di Grassi in the first sector, for fifth. Behind him, the rest of the grid order was Vergne, Turvey, Abt, Prost, d'Ambrosio, Engel, Sarrazin, Piquet, Buemi, Dillmann, Evans, Frijns, Carroll, Duval and Félix da Costa.

### Race

The first race began at 16:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00). The weather at the start were dry and sunny with an air temperature between 23.25 to 23.8 °C (73.85 to 74.84 °F) and a track temperature ranging from 31 to 33.9 °C (87.8 to 93.0 °F). When the race started, di Grassi maintained the lead heading into the first corner. Mahindra teammates Rosenqvist and Heidfeld made fast starts and overtook the slow starting López for second and third respectively. Abt passed Vergne for sixth and Sarrazin overtook Piquet for 12th. Evans gained places through the first corner, but after the field bunched up in turns two and three, he was unsighted by Sarrazin who squeezed the Jaguar into the concrete barrier, breaking his suspension and damaging both rims. Buemi did not gain any positions and appeared to make contact with Piquet's car with a section of the NextEV's bodywork lodged in his car's open slot. At the end of the first lap, di Grassi led from Rosenqvist, Heidfeld, López, Bird, Abt, Vergne, Engel, Prost and Turvey.

Evans limped his damaged Jaguar back to the pit lane where he switched to his second car and his team refocused their efforts to setting the race's fastest lap. By the fifth lap, di Grassi held a 1.3-second lead over Rosenqvist with Heidfeld in third, ahead of the Virgin duo of López and Bird. Buemi gained one position by passing Sarrazin for 12th place at turn nine. Soon after, Buemi, di Grassi and Abt were announced as the winners of the first FanBoost vote. Dillmann incurred a drive-through penalty for overusing electrical energy. Rosenqvist required additional battery life to go a lap longer than di Grassi before his pit stop while Andretti teammates Félix da Costa and Frijns elected to make their stops later to try to gain positions and have more electrical energy to use for an attack for the final laps. Attention focused on Buemi who passed Turvey for tenth and Engel on the outside of turn nine for ninth place. At the front, Rosenqvist started to draw closer to di Grassi with his additional electrical energy while Heidfeld pulled away from López and Bird.

Evans recorded the race's fastest lap of 1 minute, 10.224 seconds on lap 16, earning him one point. Entering the pit stop phase, Rosenqvist reduced di Grassi's lead to three-tenths of a second after the latter locked his tyres. Di Grassi lifted and coasted early, allowing Rosenqvist to pass him on the inside for the lead into the first corner on lap 22. The mandatory pit stops for drivers to change into a second car began at the conclusion of the lap when the top three drivers entered the pit lane. Rosenqvist rejoined the track in the lead with di Grassi second and Heidfeld third. Abt fell behind Prost in seventh while Bird lost three positions to emerge in eighth. Félix da Costa and Frijns's strategy did not work and fell to 18th and 19th. While di Grassi elected to hold back on using his FanBoost to attack Rosenqvist, Buemi overtook Abt for eight and began closing up to Bird. Despite gaining positions after the pit stops, Vergne was under investigation for being released into Dillmann's path. Meanwhile, Heidfeld started to draw closer to di Grassi with 15 laps left. Buemi braked later than Bird to pass him for seventh place on the inside of turn nine.

Entering the final laps, Buemi had closed up to Bird and teammate Prost; the latter did not defend as Buemi took over sixth place. Vergne was imposed a five-second time penalty for his pit stop release and Buemi responded by allowing Vergne to pull away slightly. Rosenqvist opened up a two-second lead over di Grassi, who had battery temperature issues. Rosenqvist's teammate Heidfeld had closed up to di Grassi who responded by using his FanBoost to defend second place. Rosenqvist maintained the lead and crossed the start/finish line after 44 laps to secure his and Mahindra's first victory in Formula E. Di Grassi finished second, 2.2 seconds behind, with Heidfeld securing his third consecutive third-place finish. López finished fourth, with Buemi fifth on the road. Prost, Abt and Bird were in the next three positions while Vergne's five-second time penalty dropped him from fifth to ninth. Engel was the last of the points-scoring finishers in tenth. Turvey, Sarrazin, Piquet, d'Ambrosio and Carroll, Duval, Félix da Costa and Frijns were the final drivers. There was one lead change in the race; two drivers reached the front of the field. Rosenqvist led once for a total of 23 laps, more than any other driver.

### Post-race

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Rosenqvist said the result had been awaiting Mahindra for a long period of time and stated that he felt as if his team could win many races over the course of the season and the first Berlin race was an event that had "all the puzzle pieces came together." He added that despite small errors, he was still able to win: "We work so hard and you can really see the suffering sometimes but when you have days like this it's all worth it." Di Grassi stated his car was not satisfactory and Audi started the day "very lost" and made car set-up alterations: "If you look at the pure pace from the morning – this was not the best race for us, so I tried to hang on as much as I could." He revealed he lost regeneration from his overheating battery at the end of his first stint which persisted in his second stint. However di Grassi affirmed his team would improve his car and challenge for the victory in the following day's race. Third-place finisher Heidfeld said Mahindra's finish was "a really outstanding result" and stated he struggled in the first car but could mount a challenge to di Grassi in his second car.

Mahindra team principal Dilbagh Gill eulogised his team's maiden victory, calling it "a massive breakthrough for Mahindra and Indian sport" but stated the company would not get eager for more wins but believed further successes would come: "We knew it would happen soon because we have had increased confidence with multiple podiums. For some reason when I woke up this morning I knew we would win." After starting from 14th and finishing fifth, Buemi was disqualified after post-race scrutineering determined that all four tyres on both his cars were below the minimum mandated pressure of 1.60-bar (160 kPa) set by control tyre supplier Michelin, causing him to be in breach of Formula E's sporting regulations. Buemi's disqualification promoted teammate Prost, Bird, Vergne and Engel by one place and Turvey moved to tenth. e.Dams-Renault co-owner Alain Prost admitted it was an error by the team but stated their task was to improve for the following day's race and allow Buemi to remain in championship contention. Buemi spoke of his disappointment in the outcome but said he would remain focused and return stronger in the second race.

The result kept Buemi in the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 132 points but his disqualification reduced his lead over di Grassi to 22 points. Prost remained in third place on 68 points with race winner Rosenqvist moving from sixth to fourth. Heidfeld fell to fifth three points in arrears of his teammate. e.Dams-Renault still led the Teams' Championship but Audi Sport ABT moved to within 56 points of the French team. Mahindra consolidated third place with 127 points while Virgin maintained fourth position and moved a further 17 points ahead of NextEV with five races left in the season.

### Standings after the race

- Bold text indicates who still had a theoretical chance of becoming Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings

Teams' Championship standings

- Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

## Race two

### Practice and qualifying

Both practice sessions were held in warm weather. Buemi was the only driver to utilise the full 200 kW (270 hp) available to him and recorded the fastest lap of the first practice session at 1 minute, 7.712 seconds, which had no major incidents apart from minor contact with the barriers, more than one second faster than Engel in second. López, Di Grassi, Rosenqvist, Vergne, Bird, Heidfeld, Sarrazin and Prost followed in the top ten. López set an early benchmark lap with the maximum amount of power available to him in the second session and remained fastest with a time of 1 minute, 7.670 seconds; Rosenqvist was 0.083 seconds off his pace in second. Buemi, Bird, Abt, Vergne, Prost, Turvey, di Grassi and Engel occupied positions three to ten.

Qualifying took place in warm weather. In the first group of five drivers, where they all elected to take time to increase tyre temperature, Rosenqvist paced the session, half a second faster than second-placed Engel and Sarrazin was third. Piquet was fourth-fastest, while Heidfeld was affected by a throttle sensor malfunction that prevented him from recording a maximum power lap. After completing his lap, Heidfeld stopped his car on the track to rectify the problem which caused him to start from 20th. Buemi drove cleanly was the fastest driver in the second group; Abt was 0.013 seconds slower than Buemi in second and Prost third. Dillmann and Carroll (who missed the turn nine apex) were the slowest drivers of the second group. In the third group, López recorded the fastest time, ahead of Turvey and di Grassi. Evans took fourth and Félix da Costa rounded out the top five. Despite losing time in the second sector, Bird set the fastest overall time of any competitor in the group qualifying stages in the fourth group at 1 minute, 7.805 seconds. Vergne was second-fastest, ahead of the Dragon duo of Duval and d'Ambrosio. Frijns was the slowest driver in the fourth group, and at the end of group qualifying, the times set by Bird, López, Vergne, Buemi and Rosenqvist advanced them to super pole. Rosenqvist clinched the second position of his career with a lap of 1 minute, 8.208 seconds despite driving an oversteering car. He was joined on the grid's front row by Buemi. López struggled with wheelspin, and lost time with oversteer entering turn six, restricting him to third. Bird was close to Rosenqvist's pace in the first sector, but took fourth after drifting slightly through turn seven. A handling imbalance left Vergne with an oversteer and persistent brake locking, causing him to start from fifth place. The rest of the field lined up as Turvey, di Grassi, Abt, Evans, Prost, Duval, d'Ambrosio, Engel, Frijns, Dillmann, Sarrazin, Félix da Costa, Piquet, Carroll and Heidfeld.

### Race

The weather at the start were dry and sunny with an air temperature between 28.2 to 29.25 °C (82.76 to 84.65 °F) and a track temperature ranging from 31.6 to 33.35 °C (88.88 to 92.03 °F). When the second race began at 16:00 local time, Rosenqvist maintained the lead into the first turn. Buemi, behind remained in second position. Both Virgin cars of López and Bird drove alongside each other entering the first corner but López stopped his teammate from moving into third place. Rosenqvist managed to build a significant gap over Buemi by the time they left the turn three chicane. As the field went three abreast, Engel attempted to pass Duval around the outside at turn six but was unsighted by the Dragon vehicle and the two cars collided. Sections of Engel's front suspension were bent and he made an unscheduled pit stop to repair his car. Heidfeld gained five positions by the end of the first lap, while Duval lost nine places over the same distance. At the end of the first lap, Rosenqvist led Buemi by two seconds, who was followed in turn by López, Bird, Vergne, Turvey, di Grassi, Abt, Prost, Evans.

Turvey had energy management problems and was overtaken by both Audi Sport ABT cars of di Grassi and Abt on lap four. Prost closed up to Turvey and passed him for eighth place soon after. Heidfeld continued to gain positions, passing the Andretti cars of Félix da Costa and Frijns to move into 12th place. Rosenqvist was lapping four seconds faster than his teammate Heidfeld and their engineers radioed the teammates to lift and coast for energy preservation. Heidfeld used much of his electrical energy to draw closer to d'Ambrosio. Engel set the race's fastest lap of circuit in 1 minute, 9.519 seconds on lap seven, earning him one point. Soon after, Buemi, di Grassi and Abt were announced as the winners of the second FanBoost vote. Tyre rubber started to accumulate on the outer limits of the track's barriers, causing one driver to make contact with the wall. By the 13th lap, Heidfeld was closing up to Evans for tenth. At the front, Rosenqvist and Buemi had pulled away from López with the two separated by one second. López was being challenged by teammate Bird for third position but the latter had difficulty in overtaking him.

On lap 17, Bird attempted to overtake López before the first turn, but the two cars made contact in the corner, causing Bird to run wide. Bird fell to sixth after Vergne and di Grassi passed him and was placed under pressure by Abt. Bird lost two further positions when Abt and Prost passed him and López fell to fourth when Vergne overtook him. Di Grassi passed López entering the first corner soon after. Buemi was 1.3 seconds behind race leader Rosenqvist by the 20th lap but the latter was aware of the situation and glanced at his rear-view mirrors to ensure he had large enough of an gap to remain ahead after the pit stop phase. The mandatory pit stop phase for the switch into a second car began on lap 23 when the leaders entered the pit lane. After driving out of his team's garage in his second car, Rosenqvist was released into the path of Heidfeld in the other Mahindra car, causing his teammate to swerve to the outside and nearly entered another team's pit gantry. Heidfeld stopped without damaging his car. Although he was briefly delayed, Rosenqvist kept the lead. The stewards immediately investigated Rosenqvist for the pit stop release.

Aware of the possible implications, Rosenqvist pulled away to build a steady advantage over Buemi. Evans's team forgot to change the gear in his second car, delaying his exit from his garage as he required additional time to get into the correct gear. This caused him to emerge at the back of the field in 18th position. As the field became comfortable in the second half, di Grassi began to challenge Vergne for third. Following aggressive defensive manoeuvres which drew a verbal warning from his team, Vergne narrowly avoided hitting di Grassi at the final turn. Vergne was put off the racing line under braking by di Grassi who overtook him for third at the first corner on lap 32. Abt activated his FanBoost to try to pass Vergne on the next lap but was unsuccessful. Contact prevented Abt from overtaking Vergne, but not long after, passed him for fourth place. Duval stopped on the circuit but later drove his car into the pit lane to retire.

Having reviewed Rosenqvist's pit stop release, the stewards imposed a ten-second time penalty on him during lap 34. López lined up a pass on Vergne and overtook him on the outside braking for turn nine for fifth position six laps later. Vergne became vulnerable from attack from Bird, but stopped battling him after Vergne continued to aggressively defend sixth place. Unhindered in the closing stages of the race, Rosenqvist crossed the start/finish line after 46 laps to finish first on the road, 2.9 seconds ahead of Buemi. With the application of Rosenqvist's ten-second time penalty, Buemi inherited the victory. Di Grassi was a further 3.6 seconds behind in third. Abt, López, Vergne, Bird, Prost, Turvey and Heidfeld rounded out the top ten. Félix da Costa, Piquet, d'Ambrosio, Sarrazin and Dillmann, Carroll, Evans and Frijns were the final finishers. It was Buemi's sixth victory of the season and the twelfth of his career. There were no lead changes as Rosenqvist was the only driver to lead every lap of the race.

### Post-race

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. On the way back to pit lane, Buemi declared his satisfaction over his success to commentator Dario Franchitti but he admitted the victory was handed to him "on a plate". He stated he felt Rosenqvist was the deserving victor but was happy with the pace of his car: "I think we were more or less the same pace [as Rosenqvist]. I’m very happy with that result, it just tastes a little bit different than normal." Rosenqvist spoke of his belief in the short-term he would look back at the weekend positively for himself and Mahindra but was "disappointed" to finish second: "Today, we were under pressure from Sébastien, we knew that we would be close as they looked very strong compared to yesterday. I knew that I had to drive a perfect race, every corner we had to drive perfect. I think we did a great job." Third-place finisher di Grassi said he enjoyed his battle against Vergne and claimed his car was quicker than in the second race due to speed his team extricated from it the previous day: "There is still a couple of tenths we need to find to be able to fight [for the win]."

Rosenqvist was confused over the ten-second time penalty for his pit stop release, which had him narrowly avoid hitting his teammate Heidfeld, saying he realised his teammate was entering the pit lane and applied his brakes to allow for an overtake: "I feel like I was always behind and it was not really my fault. That's why I'm a bit confused why I got the penalty." Mahindra was also fined €1,500 for unsafely releasing Heidfeld from his garage and into the path of Piquet. Dilbagh Gill described Heidfeld's rise up the field to finish tenth as a "master class in wheel-to-wheel racing" and said his team would look forward to preparing for the season's final races. Heidfeld called the result "bittersweet" as he stated his strong form meant had his sensor problem emerged in qualifying he could have finished in a higher position. Rosenqvist believed his team's strong pace in Berlin would allow him to increase his advantage over Prost in the Drivers' Championship: "It was a very long and tough weekend! We kept our heads together and had a near-perfect run. We had a really, really solid car. We are the ones to watch at the moment – it’s a bit of a game changer!"

The result meant Buemi remained the Drivers' Championship leader on 157 points, increasing his advantage over di Grassi to 32 points. Rosenqvist's second-place finish advanced him into the third position with 86 points. Prost fell to fourth place on 72 points and was nine points ahead of fifth-placed Heidfeld. e.Dams-Renault increased their Teams' Championship advantage to 58 points ahead of Audi Sport ABT. Mahindra consolidated third on 149 points. Virgin remained in fourth position with 97 points and Techeetah passed NextEV for fifth place with four races left in the season. 24,000 people attended the race weekend. Despite his lead, Buemi lamented he could have left Berlin with the same advantage before the ePrix and sought an arrangement with his team to enter in the New York City ePrix which clashed with another racing event he was due to attend.

### Standings after the race

- Bold text indicates who still had a theoretical chance of becoming Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings

Teams' Championship standings

- Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

## Classification

### Qualifying one

### Race one

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.

Notes:

- — Three points for pole position.
- — One point for fastest lap.
- — Jean-Éric Vergne had five seconds added to his race time for an unsafe pit stop release.
- — Sébastien Buemi was disqualified because all four tyres on both his cars were under the minimum mandated pressure.

### Qualifying two

### Race two

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.

Notes:

- — Felix Rosenqvist had ten seconds added to his race time for an unsafe pit stop release.
- — Three points for pole position.
- — One point for fastest lap.

Formula E races in 2017


Good Vibrations

"Good Vibrations" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was composed by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love. It was released as a single on October 10, 1966 and was an immediate critical and commercial hit, topping record charts in several countries including the United States and the United Kingdom. Characterized by its complex soundscapes, episodic structure and subversions of pop music formula, it was the most expensive single ever recorded. "Good Vibrations" later became widely acclaimed as one of the finest and most important works of the rock era.

Also produced by Wilson, the title derived from his fascination with cosmic vibrations, as his mother would tell him as a child that dogs sometimes bark at people in response to their "bad vibrations". He used the concept to suggest extrasensory perception, while Love's lyrics were inspired by the nascent Flower Power movement. The song was written as it was recorded and in a similar fashion to other compositions from Wilson's Smile period. It was issued as a standalone single, backed with "Let's Go Away for Awhile", and was to be included on the never-finished album Smile. Instead, the track appeared on the September 1967 release Smiley Smile.

The making of "Good Vibrations" was unprecedented for any kind of recording. Building on his approach for Pet Sounds, Wilson recorded a surplus of short, interchangeable musical fragments with his bandmates and a host of session musicians at four different Hollywood studios from February to September 1966, a process reflected in the song's several dramatic shifts in key, texture, instrumentation and mood. Over 90 hours of tape was consumed in the sessions, with the total cost of production estimated to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Band publicist Derek Taylor dubbed the unusual work a "pocket symphony". It helped develop the use of the studio as an instrument and heralded a wave of pop experimentation and the onset of psychedelic and progressive rock. The track featured a novel mix of instruments, including jaw harp and Electro-Theremin, and although the latter is not a true theremin, the song's success led to a renewed interest and sales of theremins and synthesizers.

"Good Vibrations" received a Grammy nomination for Best Vocal Group performance in 1966 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994. The song was voted number one in Mojo's "Top 100 Records of All Time" and number six on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and it was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". In later years, the song has been cited as a forerunner to the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" (1967) and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975). A 1976 cover version by Todd Rundgren peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Beach Boys followed up "Good Vibrations" with another single pieced from sections, "Heroes and Villains" (1967), but it was less successful.

## Inspiration and writing

### Concept and early lyrics

The Beach Boys' leader, Brian Wilson, was responsible for the musical composition and virtually all of the arrangement for "Good Vibrations". Most of the song's structure and arrangement was written as it was recorded. During the recording sessions for the 1966 album Pet Sounds, Wilson began changing his writing process. For "Good Vibrations", Wilson said, "I had a lot of unfinished ideas, fragments of music I called 'feels.' Each feel represented a mood or an emotion I'd felt, and I planned to fit them together like a mosaic." Engineer Chuck Britz is quoted saying that Wilson considered the song to be "his whole life performance in one track". Wilson stated: "I was an energetic 23-year-old. ... I said: 'This is going to be better than [the Phil Spector production] "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'.

Wilson said that "Good Vibrations" was inspired by his mother: "[She] used to tell me about vibrations. I didn't really understand too much of what it meant when I was just a boy. It scared me, the word 'vibrations.' She told me about dogs that would bark at people and then not bark at others, that a dog would pick up vibrations from these people that you can't see, but you can feel." Brian first enlisted Pet Sounds lyricist Tony Asher for help in putting words to the idea. When Brian presented the song on piano, Asher thought that it had an interesting premise with the potential for hit status, but could not fathom the end result due to Brian's primitive piano playing style. Asher remembered:

> Brian was playing what amounts to the hook of the song: "Good, good, good, good vibrations." He started telling me the story about his mother. ... He said he’d always thought that it would be fun to write a song about vibes and picking them up from other people. ... So as we started to work, he played this little rhythmic pattern—a riff on the piano, the thing that goes under the chorus."

Wilson wanted to call the song "Good Vibes", but Asher advised that it was "lightweight use of the language", and suggested that "Good Vibrations" would sound less "trendy". The two proceeded to write lyrics for the verses that were ultimately discarded.

### Theremin and cello

From the start, Wilson envisioned a theremin for the track. AllMusic reviewer John Bush pointed out: "Radio listeners could easily pick up the link between the title and the obviously electronic riffs sounding in the background of the chorus, but Wilson's use of the theremin added another delicious parallel—between the single's theme and its use of an instrument the player never even touched."

"Good Vibrations" does not technically feature a theremin, but rather an Electro-Theremin, which is physically controlled by a slider that turns a knob inside the instrument. It was dubbed a "theremin" simply for convenience. At that time, theremins were most often associated with the 1945 Alfred Hitchcock film Spellbound, but their most common presence was in the theme music for the television sitcom My Favorite Martian, which ran from 1963 to 1966. Britz speculates: "He just walked in and said, 'I have this new sound for you.' I think he must have heard the sound somewhere and loved it, and built a song around it." It is unclear whether Wilson knew that the instrument was not a real theremin.

Brian credited his brother and bandmate Carl for suggesting the use of a cello on the track. He further stated that its triplet beat on the chorus was his own idea and that it was based on the Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" (1963), produced by Spector. Conversely, arranger and session musician Van Dyke Parks said that it was himself who suggested having the cellist play triplets to Brian. Parks believed that having Brian exploit the cello "to such a hyperbolic degree" was what encouraged the duo to immediately collaborate on the never-finished album Smile. At some point, Wilson asked Parks to pen lyrics for "Good Vibrations", although Parks declined.

### Influences and final lyrics

Wilson's cousin and bandmate Mike Love submitted the final lyrics for "Good Vibrations" and contributed its bass-baritone vocals in the chorus. He recalled that when he heard the unfinished backing track: "[It] was already so avant-garde, especially with the theremin, I wondered how our fans were going to relate to it. How's this going to go over in the Midwest or Birmingham? It was such a departure from 'Surfin' U.S.A.' or 'Help Me, Rhonda.'"

Love said that he wrote the words while on the drive to the studio. Feeling that the song could be "the Beach Boys' psychedelic anthem or flower power offering," he based the lyrics on the burgeoning psychedelic music and Flower Power movements occurring in San Francisco and some parts of the Los Angeles area. He described the lyrics as "just a flowery poem. Kind of almost like 'If you’re going to San Francisco be sure to wear flowers in your hair.'" Writing in his 1975 book The Beach Boys: Southern California Pastoral, Bruce Golden observed:

> The new pastoral landscape suddenly being uncovered by the young generation provided a quiet, peaceful, harmonious trip into inner space. The hassles and frustrations of the external world were cast aside, and new visions put in their place. "Good Vibrations" succeeds in suggesting the healthy emanations that should result from psychic tranquility and inner peace. The word "vibrations" had been employed by students of Eastern philosophy and acid-heads for a variety of purposes, but Wilson uses it here to suggest a kind of extrasensory experience.

Capitol Records executives were worried that the lyrics contained psychedelic overtones, and Brian was accused of having based the song's production on his LSD experiences. Brian clarified that the song was written under the influence of marijuana, not LSD. He explained: "I made ‘Good Vibrations’ on drugs; I used drugs to make that. ... I learned how to function behind drugs, and it improved my brain ... it made me more rooted in my sanity." In Steven Gaines's 1986 biography, Wilson is quoted on the lyrics: "We talked about good vibrations with the song and the idea, and we decided on one hand that you could say ... those are sensual things. And then you'd say, 'I'm picking up good vibrations,' which is a contrast against the sensual, the extrasensory perception that we have. That's what we're really talking about."

Wilson said in 2012 that the song's "gotta keep those good vibrations" bridge was inspired by Stephen Foster. Bandmate Al Jardine compared that section to Foster and the Negro spiritual "Down by the Riverside". According to Love, the lyric "'she goes with me to a blossom world' was originally meant to be followed by the words 'we find'", but Wilson elected to cut off the line to highlight the bass track linking into the chorus.

## Recording and production

### Modular approach

"Good Vibrations" established a new method of operation for Wilson. Instead of working on whole songs with clear large-scale syntactical structures, Wilson limited himself to recording short interchangeable fragments (or "modules"). Through the method of tape splicing, each fragment could then be assembled into a linear sequence, allowing any number of larger structures and divergent moods to be produced at a later time. This was the same modular approach used during the sessions for Smile and Smiley Smile. To mask each tape edit, vast reverb decays were added at the mixing and sub-mixing stages.

For instrumentation, Wilson employed the services of "the Wrecking Crew", the nickname for a conglomerate of session musicians active in Los Angeles at that time. Production for "Good Vibrations" spanned more than a dozen recording sessions at four different Hollywood studios, at a time when most pop singles were typically recorded in a day or two. It was reported to have used over 90 hours of magnetic recording tape, with an eventual budget estimated in the tens of thousands, making it the costliest single recorded to that date. Biographer Peter Ames Carlin wrote that Wilson was so puzzled by the arranging of "Good Vibrations" that he would often arrive at a session, consider a few possibilities, and then leave without recording anything, which exacerbated costs.

One estimate of the overall production expenses is between \$50,000 and \$75,000 (equivalent to \$ and \$ in ), By comparison, the whole of Pet Sounds had cost \$70,000 (\$), itself an unusually high cost for an album. In 2018, Wilson disputed the \$50,000 figure for "Good Vibrations", saying that the overall expenses were closer to \$25,000.

Contemporary advertisements reported \$10,000 (\$) as the track's total production costs. Domenic Priore wrote that the track cost between \$10,000 and \$15,000 (\$). When asked in a 2005 interview if it was true that the Electro-Theremin work alone cost \$100,000, Wilson replied "No. \$15,000."

### Development

The instrumental of the first version of the song was recorded on February 17, 1966, at Gold Star Studios and was logged as a Pet Sounds session. On that day's session log, it was given the name "#1 Untitled" or "Good, Good, Good Vibrations", but on its master tape, Wilson distinctly states: "'Good Vibrations' ... take one." After twenty-six takes, a rough mono mix completed the session. Some additional instruments and rough guide vocals were overdubbed on February 23. Brian and Carl shared vocals for this mix.

The original version of "Good Vibrations" contained the characteristics of a "funky rhythm and blues number" and would not yet resemble a "pocket symphony". There was no cello at this juncture, but the Electro-Theremin was present, played by its inventor, Paul Tanner. It was Brian's second ever recorded use of the instrument, just three days after the Pet Sounds track "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times". Brian then placed "Good Vibrations" on hold in order to devote attention to the Pet Sounds album, which saw release on May 16. More instrumental sections for "Good Vibrations" were recorded between April and June. Brian then forwent additional instrumental tracking until early September, when it was decided to revisit the song's bridge section and apply Electro-Theremin overdubs.

According to Brian's then-new friend David Anderle, during an early stage, Brian considered giving "Good Vibrations" to one of the black R&B groups signed with Warner Bros. Records such as Wilson Pickett, and then at Anderle's suggestion to singer Danny Hutton. He thought about abandoning the track, but after receiving encouragement from Anderle, eventually decided on it as the next Beach Boys single. In the meantime, he worked on writing and recording material for the group's forthcoming album, Smile.

The first Beach Boy to hear "Good Vibrations" in a semi-completed form, other than Brian, was Carl. Following a performance with the touring group in North Dakota, he remembered: "I came back up into my hotel room one night and the phone rang. It was Brian on the other end. He called me from the recording studio and played this really bizarre sounding music over the phone. There were drums smashing, that kind of stuff, and then it refined itself and got into the cello. It was a real funky track." In 1976, Brian revealed that before the final mixdown, he had been confronted with resistance by members of the group, whom Brian declined to name. The subject of their worries and complaints was the song's length and "modern" sound: "I said no, it's not going to be too long a record, it's going to be just right. ... They didn't quite understand what this jumping from studio to studio was all about. And they couldn't conceive of the record as I did. I saw the record as a totality piece."

The vocals for "Good Vibrations" were recorded at CBS Columbia Square, starting on August 24 and continuing sporadically until the very last day of assembly on September 21. The episodic structure of the composition was continuously revised as the group experimented with different ideas. Brian remembers that he began recording the "bop bop good vibrations" parts first, and that he came up with "the high parts" a week later. Mike Love recalled: "I can remember doing 25–30 vocal overdubs of the same part, and when I mean the same part, I mean same section of a record, maybe no more than two, three, four, five seconds long." Dennis Wilson was to have sung the lead vocal, but due to a bout of laryngitis, Carl replaced him at the last minute. In early September, the master tapes for "Good Vibrations" were stolen. Mysteriously, they reappeared inside Brian's home two days later.

On September 21, Brian completed the track after Tanner added a final Electro-Theremin overdub. In 1976 he elaborated on the event: "It was at Columbia. I remember I had it right in the sack. I could just feel it when I dubbed it down, made the final mix from the 16-track down to mono. It was a feeling of power, it was a rush. A feeling of exaltation. Artistic beauty. It was everything ... I remember saying, 'Oh my God. Sit back and listen to this!'"

## Composition and analysis

### Genre and dynamics

There are six unique sections to the piece. Music theorist Daniel Harrison refers to these sections individually as the verse, the refrain (or chorus), the "first episodic digression", the "second episodic digression", the "retro-refrain", and the coda. Each has a distinct musical texture, partly due to the nature of the song's recording. The track's instrumentation changes radically from section to section, and for the AM radio standards of late 1966, the song's final runtime (3 minutes 35 seconds) was considered a "very long" duration. Wilson is quoted in 1979:

> It had a lot of riff changes ... movements ... It was a pocket symphony—changes, changes, changes, building harmonies here, drop this voice out, this comes in, bring this echo in, put the theremin here, bring the cello up a little louder here ... It was the biggest production of our lives!

He characterized the song as "advanced rhythm and blues". Tom Roland of American Songwriter described the piece, "with its interlocking segments—a sort of pop version of the classical sonata, consisting of a series of musical movements". New York Magazine compared it to "a fugue with a rhythmic beat". John Bush compared the track's fragmented cut-and-paste style to 1960s experimentalists such as William S. Burroughs. Music journal Sound on Sound argued that the song "has as many dramatic changes in mood as a piece of serious classical music lasting more than half an hour". It explained that the song subverts pop forms to a considerable degree:

> Typical pop songs of that era (or indeed any era) usually have a basic groove running throughout the track which doesn't change a great deal from start to finish ... pop records were either guitar, bass and drum combos or traditional orchestrated arrangements for vocalists ... The exotic instruments, the complex vocal arrangements, and the many dynamic crescendos and decrescendos all combine to set this record apart from most pop music. In short, if there's an instruction manual for writing and arranging pop songs, this one breaks every rule.

According to historian Lorenzo Candelaria, "Good Vibrations" has since been marketed as pop music "possibly because it comes across relatively innocent compared with the hard-edged rock we have since come to know." Uncut called the song "three minutes and thirty-six seconds of avant-garde pop". Mixdown described it as a "masterpiece of avant-pop". The theremin and cello has been called the song's "psychedelic ingredient". In his book discussing music of the counterculture era, James Perrone stated that the song represented a type of impressionistic psychedelia, in particular for its cello playing repeated bass notes and its theremin. Professor of American history John Robert Greene named "Good Vibrations" among examples of psychedelic or acid rock. Stebbins wrote that the song was "replete with sunshine [and] psychedelia". Steve Valdez says that, like Pet Sounds, Brian was attempting a more experimental rock style.

Comparing "Good Vibrations" to Wilson's previous work Pet Sounds, biographer Andrew Hickey said that the "best way of thinking about [the song] is that it's taking the lowest common denominator of 'Here Today' and 'God Only Knows' and turned the result into an R&B track. We have the same minor-key change between verse and chorus we've seen throughout Pet Sounds, the same descending scalar chord sequences, the same mobile bass parts, but here, rather than to express melancholy, these things are used in a way that's as close as Brian Wilson ever got to funky." Author Jon Stebbins adds that "unlike Pet Sounds the chorus of 'Good Vibrations' projects a definite 'rock and roll' energy and feel."

According to academic Rikky Rooksby, "Good Vibrations" is an example of Brian Wilson's growing interest in musical development within a composition, something antithetical to popular music of the time. Suppressing tonic strength and cadential drive, the song makes use of descending harmonic motions through scale degrees controlled by a single tonic and "radical disjunctions" in key, texture, instrumentation, and mood while refusing to develop into a predictable formal pattern. It instead develops "under its own power" and "luxuriates in harmonic variety" exemplified by beginning and ending not only in different keys but also in different modes.

### Verses and refrains (0:00–1:40)

"Good Vibrations" begins without introduction in a traditional verse/refrain format, opening with Carl Wilson singing the word "I", a triplet eighth note before the downbeat. The sparse first verse contains a repetition of chords played on a Hammond organ filtered through a Leslie speaker; underneath is a two-bar Fender bass melody. This sequence repeats once (0:15), but with the addition of two piccolos sustaining over a falling flute line. For percussion, bongo drums double the bass rhythm and every fourth-beat is struck by either a tambourine or a bass-drum-and-snare combination, in alternation. The beat projects a triplet feel despite being in time; this is sometimes called a "shuffle beat" or "threes over fours". The chord progression used is i–VII–VI–V, also called an Andalusian cadence. Although the verses begin in the minor mode of E, the mode is not used to express sadness or drudgery. Occurring at the very end of these verses is a passing chord, D.

The refrain (0:25) begins in the newly tonicized relative major G, which suggests III. Providing a backdrop to the Electro-Theremin is a cello and string bass playing a bowed tremolo triplet, a feature that was an exceedingly rare effect in pop music. The Fender bass is steady at one note per beat while tom drums and tambourine provide a backbeat. This time, the rhythm is stable, and is split into four 4-bar sections which gradually build its vocals. The first section consists of only the couplet "I'm picking up good vibrations/she's giving me the excitation" sung by Mike Love in his bass-baritone register; the second repeats the lines and adds an "ooo bop bop" figure, sung in multiple-part harmony; the third time also adds a "good, good, good, good vibrations" in yet a higher harmony. This type of polyphony (counterpoint) is also rare in contemporary popular styles. Each repeat of the vocal lines also transposes up by a whole step, ascending from G to A and then B. It then returns to the verse, thus making a perfect cadence back into E minor. The verse and refrain then repeat without any changes to the patterns of its instrumentation and harmony. This is unusual, in that normally, a song's arrangement adds something once it reaches the second verse.

### Episodic digressions

#### First episode (1:41–2:13)

The first episode (1:41+) begins disjunctively with an abrupt tape splice. The refrain's B, which had received a dominant (V) charge, is now maintained as a tonic (I). There is harmonic ambiguity, in that the chord progression may be either interpreted as I–IV–I (in B) or V–I–V (in E). Stebbins says that this section "might be called a bridge under normal circumstances, but the song's structure takes such an abstract route that traditional labels don't really apply." A new sound is created by tack piano, jaw harp, and bass relegated to strong beats which is subsequently (1:55) augmented by a new electric organ, bass harmonica, and sleigh bells shaken on every beat. The lone line of vocals (aside from non-lexical harmonies) is "I don't know where, but she sends me there" sung in Mike Love's upper-register baritone. This section lasts for ten measures (6 + 2 + 2), which is unexpectedly long in light of previous patterns.

#### Second episode (2:13–2:56)

Another tape splice occurs at 2:13, transitioning to an electric organ playing sustained chords set in the key of F accompanied by a maraca shaken on every beat. Sound on Sound highlights this change as the "most savage edit in the track ... most people would go straight into a big splash hook-line section. Brian Wilson decided to slow the track even further, moving into a 23-bar section of church organ ... Most arrangers would steer clear of this kind of drop in pace, on the grounds that it would be chart suicide, but not Brian." Harrison says:

> The appearance of episode 1 was unusual enough but could be explained as an extended break between verse and refrain sections. Episode 2 however, makes that interpretation untenable, and both listener and analyst must entertain the idea that "Good Vibrations" develops under its own power, as it were, without the guidance of overdetermined formal patterns. Brian’s  [sic] own description of the song—a three-and-a-half-minute 'pocket symphony'—is a telling clue about his formal ambitions here.

The slowed pace is complemented by the lyric ("Gotta keep those loving good vibrations a-happening with her"), sung once first as a solo voice, with the melody repeated an octave higher the second time with an accompanying harmony. This two-part vocal fades as a solo harmonica plays a melody on top of the persistent quarter-note bass line and maraca that maintain the only rhythm throughout Episode 2. The section ends with a five-part harmony vocalizing a whole-note chord that is sustained by reverb for a further four beats. Lambert calls it the song's "wake-up chord at the end of the meditation that transports the concept into a whole new realm: it's an iconic moment among iconic moments. As it rouses us from a blissful dream and echoes into the silence leading into the chorus, it seems to capture every sound and message the song has to say."

### Retro-refrain and coda (2:57–3:35)

A brief break at the end of the second musical digression creates tension which leads into the final sequence of the song. The refrain reappears for an additional five measures, marching through a transpositional structure that begins in B, repeats at A, and then ends at G for an unexpectedly short single measure. The section uses a descending progression, which mirrors the ascending progression of the previous two refrains. There follows a short section of vocalizing in three-part counterpoint that references the original refrain by reproducing upward transposition. However, this time it settles on A, the concluding key of the song. By the end of "Good Vibrations," all seven scale degrees of the opening E-minor tonic are activated on some level.

## Release and promotion

In a July 1966 advertisement for Pet Sounds in Billboard magazine, the band thanked the music industry for the sales of their album, and said that "We're moved over the fact that our Pet Sounds brought on nothing but Good Vibrations." This was the first public hint of the new single. Later in the year, Brian told journalist Tom Nolan that the new Beach Boys single was "about a guy who picks up good vibrations from a girl" and that it would be a "monster". He then suggested: "It's still sticking pretty close to that same boy-girl thing, you know, but with a difference. And it's a start, it's definitely a start." Derek Taylor, who had recently been engaged as the band's publicist, is credited for coining the term a "pocket symphony" to describe the song. In a press release for the single, he stated: "Wilson's instinctive talents for mixing sounds could most nearly equate to those of the old painters whose special secret was in the blending of their oils. And what is most amazing about all outstanding creative artists is that they are using only those basic materials which are freely available to everyone else."

To promote the single, four different music videos were shot. The first of these—which had Caleb Deschanel as cameraman—features the group at a fire station, sliding down its pole, and roaming the streets of Los Angeles in a fashion comparable to The Monkees. The second features the group during vocal rehearsals at United Western Recorders. The third contains footage recorded during the making of The Beach Boys in London, a documentary by Peter Whitehead of their concert performances. The fourth clip is an alternative edit of the third. Brian also made a rare television appearance on local station KHJ-TV for its Teen Rock and Roll Dance Program, introducing the song to the show's in-studio audience and presenting an exclusive preview of the completed record.

On October 15, 1966, Billboard predicted that the single would reach the top 20 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Good Vibrations" was the Beach Boys' third US number one hit, after "I Get Around" and "Help Me, Rhonda", reaching the top of the Hot 100 in December. It was also their first number one in Britain. The single sold over 230,000 copies in the US within four days of its release and entered the Cash Box chart at number 61 on October 22. Record World described it as "highly imaginative." In the UK, the song sold over 50,000 copies in the first 15 days of its release. "Good Vibrations" quickly became the Beach Boys' first million-selling single. In December 1966, the record was their first single certified gold by the RIAA for sales of one million copies. On March 30, 2016, the digital single was certified platinum by the RIAA for the same sales level.

In the US, Cash Box said that it is a "catchy, easy-driving ditty loaded with the Boys’ money-making sound." In Britain, the single received favorable reviews from the New Musical Express and Melody Maker. Soon after, the Beach Boys were voted the number one band in the world in the NME readers' poll, ahead of the Beatles, the Walker Brothers, the Rolling Stones, and the Four Tops. Billboard said that this result was probably influenced by the success of "Good Vibrations" when the votes were cast, together with the band's recent tour, whereas the Beatles had neither a recent single nor had they toured the UK throughout 1966; the reporter added that "The sensational success of the Beach Boys, however, is being taken as a portent that the popularity of the top British groups of the last three years is past its peak." In a readers' poll conducted by a Danish newspaper, Brian Wilson won the "best foreign-produced recording award", marking the first time that an American had won in that category.

The single achieved sales of over 50,000 copies in Australia, being eligible for the award of a Gold Disc.

## Influence and legacy

### Historical reception

Virtually every pop music critic recognizes "Good Vibrations" as one of the most important compositions and recordings of the entire rock era. It is a regular fixture on "greatest of all-time" song lists and is frequently hailed as one of the finest pop productions of all time. In 2004 and 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Good Vibrations" at number 6 in "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", the highest position of seven Beach Boys songs cited in the list. In 2001, the song was voted 24th in the RIAA and NEA's Songs of the Century list. As of 2016, "Good Vibrations" is ranked as the number four song of all time in an aggregation of critics' lists at Acclaimed Music. The Guardian and Paste both ranked the song number one on their lists of the greatest Beach Boys songs.

The song served as an anthem for the counterculture of the 1960s. According to Noel Murray of The A.V. Club, it also helped turn around the initially poor perception of Pet Sounds in the US, where the album's "un-hip orchestrations and pervasive sadness [had] baffled some longtime fans, who didn't immediately get what Wilson was trying to do." Encouraged by the single's success, Wilson continued working on Smile, intending it as an entire album incorporating the writing and production techniques he had devised for "Good Vibrations". "Heroes and Villains", the Beach Boys' follow-up single, continued his modular recording practices, spanning nearly thirty recording sessions held between May 1966 and June 1967.

In contrast to the acclaim lavished on the song, some of Wilson's pop and rock contemporaries have been tempered in their praise of "Good Vibrations". When asked about the song in 1990, Paul McCartney responded: "I thought it was a great record. It didn't quite have the emotional thing that Pet Sounds had for me. I've often played Pet Sounds and cried. It's that kind of an album for me." Pete Townshend of the Who was quoted in the 1960s as saying, "'Good Vibrations' was probably a good record but who's to know? You had to play it about 90 bloody times to even hear what they were singing about." Townshend feared that the single would lead to a trend of overproduction. In a 1966 issue of Arts Magazine, Jonathan King said: "With justification, comments are being passed that 'Good Vibrations' is an inhuman work of art. Computerized pop, mechanized music. Take a machine, feed in various musical instruments, add a catch phrase, stir well, and press seven buttons. It is long and split. ... impressive, fantastic, commercial—yes. Emotional, soul-destroying, shattering—no." In the 2000s, record producer Phil Spector criticized the single for depending too much on tape manipulation, negatively referring to it as an "edit record ... It's like Psycho is a great film, but it's an 'edit film.' Without edits, it's not a film; with edits, it's a great film. But it's not Rebecca ... it's not a beautiful story."

### Advancements

#### Recording and popular music

"Good Vibrations" is credited for having further developed the use of recording studios as a musical instrument. Author Domenic Priore commented that the song's making was "unlike anything previous in the realms of classical, jazz, international, soundtrack, or any other kind of recording". A milestone in the development of rock music, the song, together with the Beatles' Revolver, was a prime proponent in rock's transformation from live concert performances to studio productions that could only exist on record. Musicologist Charlie Gillett called it "one of the first records to flaunt studio production as a quality in its own right, rather than as a means of presenting a performance". In a 1968 editorial for Jazz & Pop, Gene Sculatti predicted:

> "Good Vibrations" may yet prove to be the most significantly revolutionary piece of the current rock renaissance; executed as it is in conventional Beach Boys manner, it is one of the few organically complete rock works; every audible note and every silence contributes to the whole three minutes, 35 seconds, of the song. It is the ultimate in-studio production trip, very much rock 'n' roll in the emotional sense and yet un-rocklike in its spacial [sic], dimensional conceptions. In no minor way, "Good Vibrations" is a primary influential piece for all producing rock artists; everyone has felt its import to some degree, in such disparate things as the Yellow Balloon's "Yellow Balloon" and the Beatles' "A Day in the Life," in groups as far apart as (recent) Grateful Dead and the Association, as Van Dyke Parks and the Who.

Writing for Popmatters in 2015, Scott Interrante stated: "'Good Vibrations' changed the way a pop record could be made, the way a pop record could sound, and the lyrics a pop record could have." The recording contains previously untried mixes of instruments, and it was the first pop hit to have cellos in a juddering rhythm. Microtonal composer Frank Oteri said that it "sounds like no other pop song recorded up to that point". According to Stebbins: "This signature sound would be duplicated, cloned, commercialized, and re-fabricated in songs, commercials, TV shows, movies, and elevators to the point of completely diluting the genius of the original. But 'Good Vibrations' was probably the quintessential 'sunshine pop' recording of the century." He added that the single "vaulted nearly every other rock act in their delivery of a Flower Power classic. It was just strange enough to be taken seriously, but still vibrant, happy, accessibly Beach Boys-esque pop." John Bush wrote that the single "announced the coming era of pop experimentation with a rush of riff changes, echo-chamber effects, and intricate harmonies". Gillett noted: "For the rest of the sixties, countless musicians and groups attempted to represent an equivalently blissful state, but none of them ever applied the intense discipline and concentration that Wilson had devoted to the recording."

Priore says that the song was a forerunner to works such as Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) and Isaac Hayes' Shaft (1971) which presented soul music in a similar, multi-textured context imbued with ethereal sonic landscapes. In his appraisal for American Songwriter, Roland cites the song's "format" as the model for recordings by Wings ("Band on the Run"), the Beatles ("A Day in the Life"), and Elton John ("Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding"). The song's approach was repeated in Queen's 1975 single "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was similarly pieced together using different sections. Wilson praised Queen's effort, calling it "the most competitive thing that's come along in ages" and "a fulfillment and an answer to a teenage prayer—of artistic music".

#### Psychedelic and progressive rock

With "Good Vibrations", the Beach Boys ended 1966 as the only band besides the Beatles to have had a high-charting psychedelic rock song, at a time when the genre was still in its formative stages. Writing in 2009, Barney Hoskyns deemed it to be the era's "ultimate psychedelic pop record" from Los Angeles. Interrante adds: "Its influence on the ensuing psychedelic and progressive rock movements can’t be overstated, but its legacy as a pop hit is impressive as well." Former Atlantic Records executive Phillip Rauls recalled: "I was in the music business at the time, and my very first recognition of acid rock—we didn't call it progressive rock then—was, of all people, the Beach Boys and the song 'Good Vibrations' ... That [theremin] sent so many musicians back to the studio to create this music on acid." Author Bill Martin suggested that the Beach Boys were clearing a pathway toward the development of progressive rock, writing: "The fact is, the same reasons why much progressive rock is difficult to dance to apply just as much to 'Good Vibrations' and 'A Day in the Life.'"

#### Use of theremin

Although the song does not technically contain a theremin, "Good Vibrations" is the most frequently cited example of the instrument's use in pop music. Upon release, the single prompted an unexpected revival in theremins and increased the awareness of analog synthesizers. The notion that "Good Vibrations" features a theremin has been erroneously repeated in books, CD liner notes, and quotes from the recording's participants. While having a similar sound, a theremin is an aerial-controlled instrument, unlike the Electro-Theremin.

When the Beach Boys needed to reproduce its sound onstage, Wilson first requested that Tanner play the Electro-Theremin live with the group, but he declined due to commitments. Tanner recalls saying to Wilson, "I've got the wrong sort of hair to be on stage with you fellas", to which Wilson replied: "We'll give you a Prince Valiant wig." The Beach Boys then requested the services of Walter Sear, who asked Bob Moog to design a ribbon controller, since the group was used to playing the fretboards of a guitar. Sear remembers marking fretboard-like lines on the ribbon "so they could play the damn thing." Moog began manufacturing his own models of theremins. He later noted: "The pop record scene cleaned us out of our stock which we expected to last through Christmas."

In Steven M. Martin's 1993 documentary Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, in which Wilson makes an appearance, it was revealed that the attention being paid to the theremin due to "Good Vibrations" caused Russian authorities to exile its inventor, Leon Theremin.

### Cover versions

The song has been covered by artists such as Groove Holmes, the Troggs, Charlie McCoy, and Psychic TV. John Bush commented: "'Good Vibrations' was rarely reprised by other acts, even during the cover-happy '60s. Its fragmented style made it essentially cover-proof." In 1976, a nearly identical cover version was released as a single by Todd Rundgren for his album Faithful. When asked for his opinion, Brian said: "Oh, he did a marvelous job, he did a great job. I was very proud of his version." Rundgren's single peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100. Rundgren explained: "I used to like the sound of the Beach Boys, but it wasn't until they began to compete with the Beatles that I felt that what they were doing was really interesting—like around Pet Sounds and 'Good Vibrations' ... when they started to shed that whole surf music kind of burden and start to branch out into something that was a little more universal. ... I tried to do [the song] as literally as I could because in the intervening 10 years, radio had changed so much. Radio had become so formatted and so structured that that whole experience was already gone."

In 2004, Wilson re-recorded the song as a solo artist for his album Brian Wilson Presents Smile. It was sequenced as the album's closing track, following "In Blue Hawaii". In this version, "Good Vibrations" was the project's only track that eschewed the modular recording method. The song's verses and chorus were recorded as part of one whole take, and were not spliced together.

In 2012, Wilson Phillips, a trio consisting of Wilson's daughters Carnie and Wendy, and John Phillips' daughter Chynna, released an album containing covers of songs by the Beach Boys and the Mamas & the Papas titled Dedicated. Their version of "Good Vibrations", with Carnie Wilson on lead vocals, was released as a single from the album and peaked at number 25 on Billboard's A/C chart.

### In popular culture

- In 1996, experimental rock group His Name Is Alive released an homage titled "Universal Frequencies" on their album Stars on E.S.P. Warren Defever reportedly listened to "Good Vibrations" repeatedly for a week before deciding that the song "needed a sequel"; he added: "'Good Vibrations' is one of the first pop hits where you can actually hear the tape edits and I think that's wonderful."
- The song's lyrics "I'm picking up good vibrations" are quoted in Cyndi Lauper's 1984 single "She Bop".
- In 2001, the song was used prominently in a scene with Tom Cruise, Tilda Swinton, and Kurt Russell in the psychological thriller Vanilla Sky.
- A live version of the song, from the album Live in London, appears as a playable track in the 2010 video game Rock Band 3.
- In 2019, the song was used prominently in a scene for Jordan Peele's psychological horror thriller film Us.

## Release history

In early 2011, the single was remastered and reissued as a four-sided 78 rpm vinyl for Record Store Day, as a teaser for the forthcoming The Smile Sessions box set. It contained "Heroes and Villains" as a B-side, along with previously released alternate takes and mixes.

### Stereo version

Due to the loss of the original multi-track tape, there had never been an official true stereo release of the final track until the 2012 remastered version of Smiley Smile. The stereo mix was made possible through the invention of new digital technology by Derry Fitzgerald, and received the blessing of Brian Wilson and Mark Linett. Fitzgerald's software extracted individual instrumental and vocal stems from the original mono master—as the multi-track vocals remained missing—to construct the stereo version that appears on the 2012 reissue of Smiley Smile.

### 40th Anniversary Edition

In celebration of its 40th year, the Good Vibrations: 40th Anniversary Edition EP was released. The EP includes "Good Vibrations", four alternate versions of the song, and the stereo mix of "Let's Go Away for Awhile". The EP artwork recreates that of the original 7-inch single sleeve. In 2016, the EP was reissued as a 12" record for the single's 50th anniversary.

## Personnel

The details in this section are adapted from The Smile Sessions liner notes, which includes a sessionography compiled by band archivist Craig Slowinski, and the website Bellagio 10452, maintained by music historian Andrew G. Doe.

### Single edit

The Beach Boys

- Al Jardine – backing vocals
- Bruce Johnston – backing vocals
- Mike Love – lead and backing vocals
- Brian Wilson – lead and backing vocals, tack piano (choruses), overdubbed tambourine (choruses)
- Carl Wilson – lead and backing vocals, electric rhythm guitar (choruses and chorus fade), shaker (second bridge)
- Dennis Wilson – backing vocals, Hammond organ (second bridge)

Additional players

- Hal Blaine – drums (verses and choruses), timpani (choruses), shaker (second bridge)
- Jimmy Bond – upright bass (first bridge)
- Frank Capp – bongos with sticks
- Gary Coleman – sleigh bells (third bridge and chorus fade)
- Steve Douglas – tenor flute (verses and first bridge)
- Jesse Ehrlich – cello
- Jim Gordon – drums (third bridge and chorus fade)
- Bill Green – contra-clarinet, bass saxophone
- Jim Horn – piccolo (first bridge)

- Larry Knechtel – Hammond organ (verses)
- Plas Johnson – piccolo (verses and chorus fade), flutes (chorus fade)
- Al De Lory – tack piano
- Mike Melvoin – upright piano (chorus fade)
- Jay Migliori – flutes (verses and chorus fade)
- Tommy Morgan – bass harmonica, overdubbed jaw harp, harmonica
- Bill Pitman – Danelectro bass (first bridge, third bridge, and chorus fade)
- Ray Pohlman – Fender bass (verses and first bridge)
- Don Randi – electric harpsichord
- Lyle Ritz – upright bass (verses and second bridge), Fender bass (choruses)
- Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin
- Terry (surname unknown, possibly Terry Melcher) – tambourine (verses)
- Arthur Wright – Fender bass (third bridge and chorus fade)
- unknown (possibly Hal Blaine) – tambourine (first bridge)

Technical staff

- Chuck Britz – engineer
- Cal Harris – engineer
- Jim Lockert – engineer

### Partial sessionography

- February 17 – Gold Star (this session produced the verses heard in the final master)
  - Hal Blaine – drums
  - Frank Capp – bongos with sticks (cups instead of bongos on some takes)
  - Al Casey – electric rhythm guitar
  - Steve Douglas – tenor flute
  - Bill Green – contra-clarinet
  - Larry Knechtel – Hammond organ
  - Plas Johnson – piccolo
  - Jay Migliori – flute (verses and first bridge)
  - Ray Pohlman – Fender bass (fuzz bass in chorus)
  - Don Randi – grand piano (piano with taped strings on earlier takes)
  - Lyle Ritz – upright bass
  - Billy Strange – 12-string electric rhythm guitar (lead on earlier takes)
  - Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin
  - Terry (surname unknown, possibly Terry Melcher) – tambourine
  - Tony (surname unknown, possibly Tony Asher) – sleigh bells

- March 3 – Gold Star (discarded overdubs recorded on February 17 backing track)
  - Brian Wilson – vocals
  - Carl Wilson – vocals
  - unknown (possibly Carl Wilson) – Fender bass (choruses)
  - unknown (possibly Tony Asher) – jaw harp

- April 9 – Gold Star (discarded alternate version)
  - Hal Blaine – drums
  - Frank Capp – bongos with sticks
  - Steve Douglas – tenor flute
  - Carl Fortina – accordion
  - Bill Green – contra-clarinet
  - Carol Kaye – 12-string electric guitar
  - Larry Knechtel – Hammond organ
  - Al de Lory – piano with taped strings
  - Mike Melvoin – tack piano
  - Jay Migliori – flute
  - Tommy Morgan – bass harmonica
  - Ray Pohlman – Fender bass (fuzz bass in chorus)
  - Lyle Ritz – upright bass
  - Arthur C. Smith – piccolo, ocarina
  - Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin

- May 4 – Western ["First Chorus", "Second Chorus", and "Fade"] (this session produced the first bridge heard in the final master)
  - Jimmy Bond – upright bass
  - Frank Capp – bongos with sticks, tambourine, overdubbed sleigh bells
  - Al Casey – electric guitar
  - Jerry Cole – electric guitar
  - Jim Gordon – overdubbed sleigh bells
  - Bill Green – bass saxophone
  - Jim Horn – piccolo
  - Al de Lory – tack pianos (including overdub)
  - Tommy Morgan – bass harmonica, overdubbed jaw harp
  - Ray Pohlman – Fender bass
  - Bill Pitman – Danelectro bass (with fuzz tone)
  - Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin
  - unknown (possibly Hal Blaine) – tambourine

- May 24 – Sunset Sound ["Part 1", "Part 2", "Part 3", and "Part 4"] (discarded bridge and choruses)
  - Gary Coleman – castanets, sleigh bells, clavs
  - Steve Douglas – tambourine
  - Jim Gordon – drums, timpani
  - Bill Green – alto flute
  - Jim Horn – flute, piccolo (bridge)
  - Carol Kaye – Danelectro bass
  - Al de Lory – pianos with taped strings (including overdub)
  - Jay Migliori – flute (bridge), kazoos (including overdub)
  - Lyle Ritz – upright bass
  - Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin
  - Carl Wilson – Fender bass

- May 25 – Sunset Sound ["Part 1", "Part 2", "Part 3", and "Part 4"] (discarded overdubs recorded on May 24 backing tracks)
  - Arthur "Skeets" Herfurt – clarinet
  - Jim Horn – piccolo
  - Abe Most – clarinet

- May 27 – Western ["Part C", "Chorus", and "Fade Sequence"] (this session produced the third bridge and chorus fade heard in the final master)
  - Gary Coleman – timpanis ("Part C"), sleigh bells ("Chorus")
  - Steve Douglas – tambourine
  - Jim Gordon – drums
  - Jim Horn – piccolos, flutes
  - Plas Johnson – piccolos, flutes
  - Mike Melvoin – upright piano, overdubbed piano with taped strings
  - Bill Pitman – Danelectro bass (including fuzz tone)
  - Emil Richards – overdubbed vibraphones
  - Lyle Ritz – upright bass (arco in "Part C")
  - Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin
  - Carl Wilson – electric rhythm guitar (chorus fade)
  - Arthur Wright – Fender bass

- June 2 – Western ["Inspiration"] (this session produced the first, second and third choruses heard in the final master, as well as a discarded bridge)
  - Hal Blaine – drums, overdubbed tambourine (bridge), timpani, cups (bridge)
  - Bill Pitman – Danelectro bass (with fuzz tone)
  - Don Randi – electric harpsichord
  - Lyle Ritz – Fender bass
  - Brian Wilson – tack piano (choruses), overdubbed tambourine (choruses)
  - Carl Wilson – electric rhythm guitar

- June 12 – Western ["Inspiration"] (overdubs recorded on June 2 backing tracks)
  - Hal Blaine – tambourine (bridge)
  - Jesse Ehrlich – cello (choruses)
  - Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin (bridge)

- June 16 – Western ["Part 1", "Part 2", "Verse", and "Part 3"] (discarded alternate verse, chorus, and bridge)
  - Hal Blaine – overdubbed drums ("Part 1"), drums with sticks ("Part 2")
  - Steve Douglas – grand piano, overdubbed soprano saxophone ("Part 1" and "Part 2")
  - Jim Horn – overdubbed clarinet ("Part 1" and "Part 2")
  - Al de Lory – electric harpsichord
  - Mike Melvoin – Hammond organ
  - Jay Migliori – overdubbed bass clarinet ("Part 1" and "Part 2")
  - Tommy Morgan – overdubbed bass harmonica ("Part 1"), overdubbed harmonica ("Part 2")
  - Bill Pitman – Danelectro bass (with fuzz tone in chorus and bridge)
  - Lyle Ritz – upright bass
  - Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin
  - Carl Wilson – Fender bass
  - unknown (possibly Brian Wilson) – tambourine ("Part 1")

- June 18 – Western ["Part 1" and "Part 2"] (as above)
  - Bill Green – clarinet
  - Plas Johnson – clarinet
  - Carol Kaye – Fender bass
  - Al de Lory – tack piano ("Part 1"), Hammond organ ("Part 2")
  - Jay Migliori – clarinet
  - Tommy Morgan – bass harmonica ("Part 1"), harmonica ("Part 2")
  - Bill Pitman – Danelectro bass (with fuzz tone in bridge)
  - Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin
  - Brian Wilson – upright bass
  - Carl Wilson – electric guitar

- c. August 24 through September 1 – Columbia (two vocal sessions; incomplete documentation due to missing tape)
  - Dennis Wilson – lead vocal

- September 1 – Western ["Inspiration" and "Persuasion"] (this session produced the second bridge heard in the final master)
  - Hal Blaine – shaker
  - Tommy Morgan – harmonica, overdubbed bass harmonica
  - Lyle Ritz – upright bass
  - Carl Wilson – shaker
  - Dennis Wilson – Hammond organ

- September 12 – Columbia (this session produced part of the vocals heard in the final master)
  - Al Jardine – backing vocals
  - Bruce Johnston – backing vocals
  - Mike Love – lead and backing vocals
  - Brian Wilson – lead and backing vocals
  - Carl Wilson – lead and backing vocals
  - Dennis Wilson – backing vocals

- September 21 – Columbia (this session produced part of the vocals and part of the Electro-Theremin heard in the final master)
  - Al Jardine – backing vocals
  - Bruce Johnston – backing vocals
  - Mike Love – lead and backing vocals
  - Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin
  - Brian Wilson – lead and backing vocals
  - Carl Wilson – lead and backing vocals
  - Dennis Wilson – backing vocals

## Charts

### Weekly charts

Original release

1976 reissue

Todd Rundgren version (1976)

### Year-end charts

## Certifications

## Awards and accolades

1966 single by the Beach Boys

Song recordings produced by Brian Wilson

Song recordings with Wall of Sound arrangements