Prost, Evans, Mortara and Jani were all forced to stop on track, while the rest of the field entered the pit lane and awaited further instruction from the race director. Shortly after, the drivers who were stranded at the first chicane were allowed to drive back onto the circuit so that they could line up in the correct running order. The race restarted after more than a half hour delay under the safety car for one lap. Vergne led at the restart, followed by Bird who immediately duelled him. Di Grassi immediately began attacking his teammate Abt by turning right in the second corner but did not pass him. On lap five, Buemi attacked di Grassi by driving on the inside line going into the first turn and the two made contact since di Grassi drove defensively and gave Buemi a small amount of room. At the same time, Filippi closed up to Rosenqvist but sent the latter into a spin at the first corner, dropping Rosenqvist to 15th position and damaging his radiator. Heidfeld attempted to overtake Turvey around the outside heading towards the second corner but Heidfeld locked his brakes which meant he could not complete the move. Consequently, this loss of momentum allowed Abt to draw alongside Heidfeld and moved past him for fourth. Di Grassi and Buemi got involved in the battle for third place shortly afterwards. Di Grassi was the first driver to enter the pit lane on the sixteenth lap because Audi claimed that his right-rear suspension had sustained damage from his earlier contact with Buemi. Di Grassi switched into his second car soon after but this would leave him with less electrical energy than the rest of the field. Turvey had not been able to remain with the leading two drivers but slowed suddenly with a technical problem and drove to the pit lane to switch into his second car. Vergne and Bird led the rest of the field by nine seconds. After initially failing to pass Vergne, Bird turned right and passed him for first at turn seven on lap 20. Vergne entered the pit lane on lap 21 for the mandatory switch into his second car while Bird completed one extra lap. When Bird made his pit stop, he locked his tyres on some dust, and slid into the side of his garage. Bird hit team equipment and narrowly avoided injuring a Virgin Racing staff member. Bird abandoned his car at the side of the garage but kept the lead. After the pit stops, Bird led Vergne by seven seconds, who was followed in turn, by Engel, Piquet and Rosenqvist.