Formula E returned for the final time this weekend and for the final time this season for the second race of the Montreal ePrix. In race one, Lucas di Grassi won while Sebastien Buemi found himself disqualified from the final result, swinging the championship in Di Grassi’s favour. 18 points separated the pair going into the final race and everything was still to play for. Felix Rosenqvist took pole in the final qualifying session of the season while Di Grassi lined up in fifth. A disappointing session saw Buemi qualify in 14th, meaning that he had a lot of work to do to stand a chance of retaining the championship.
Lucas di Grassi wins Formula E Season 3 title as Vergne secures maiden win in Montreal
When the lights went out, Rosenqvist held onto the lead into turn 1 while Jean Eric Vergne got the jump on Sam Bird for second place. When the field bunched up into the first corner, Stephane Sarrazin spun around while Sebastien Buemi faced a heavy hit to the rear of his car from Antonio Felix da Costa. This dislodged the Swiss racer’s right rear tyre guard and he was shown the black and orange flag, meaning that he had to pit to repair the damage to his car.
Jose Maria Lopez had a strong start for DS Virgin Racing to move in front of Di Grassi, pushing the championship leader down to seventh while his wing man in Daniel Abt dropped to ninth when passed by Jerome D’Ambrosio.
On lap 3, Buemi pitted to repair the damage to the rear of his car, however, when the loose tyre guard fell off on his in-lap, the pit stop became pointless. Renault e.dams immediately released Buemi back into the race, although this unscheduled stop dropped him to the back of the pack.
After the initial race start, the field began to settle down although the pack in the middle continued to jostle for position, with Oliver Turvey, Antonio Felix da Costa, Mitch Evans, and Robin Frijns battling hard out on track.
Nick Heidfeld moved into the podium positions at the front, passing Sam Bird out on track when the Briton picked up steering damage that was similar to Buemi’s from race one. Bird then started sniffing at the back of Heidfeld, trying to regain his podium position but the real overtake came from Lopez, who passed Tom Dillmann to move directly behind his team mate. Bird finally cleared Heidfeld on lap 13 to regain third while Lopez followed him through for fourth.
Buemi was the man on the move having moved up into 16th before the pit stop phase, passing Nico Prost and Adam Carroll out on track and Nelson Piquet Jr and Maro Engel when the pair pitted.
The pit stop window opened on lap 18 and the majority of the field pitted to switch cars for the second half of the race. Jean Eric Vergne stayed out for one more lap in order to have more usable power in the second half of the race. Felix Rosenqvist emerged as the leader however, once everyone in the field had pitted.
Buemi’s charge then continued, clearing Da Costa, Piquet, Frijns, and Turvey to move into 14th. Di Grassi then began to recover from his slow pit stop which had cost him a number of positions. He passed Dillmann and Engel to move into sixth.
There was then a lead change at the front when Vergne, who had more usable energy due to his later pit stop, passed Rosenqvist on lap 29. Jose Maria Lopez then overtook Sam Bird for third place.
With the laps winding down, Buemi continued to charge and passed Mitch Evans, Loic Duval, and Maro Engel to get into 11th place, just outside of the points.
When Duval hit the wall with only a few laps to go, the race looked set to finish behind the safety car, however, the season continued to the bitter end and concluded under the green flag. Jean Eric Vergne ended his season the way he wanted, taking his first ever Formula E win. Rosenqvist finished in second to secure third in the Drivers’ Championship while Lopez rounded out the podium in third.
Sam Bird headed up the rest of the finishers, followed by Nick Heidfeld, Daniel Abt, Lucas di Grassi, Stephane Sarrazin, Jerome D’Ambrosio, and Tom Dillmann.
Through his seventh place finish, Lucas di Grassi secured the Formula E championship title and took it away from Sebastien Buemi. This means that he is the third different champion of the series in three seasons of racing. Renault e.dams secured the Teams’ Championship despite having a difficult final race of the season which saw them fail to finish inside the points, holding off Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport to win a third consecutive title.
Results from the Montreal ePrix Race 2:
- Jean Eric Vergne, Techeetah, 25 points
- Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, 18 points
- Jose Maria Lopez, DS Virgin Racing, 15 points
- Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, 12 points
- Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, 10 points
- Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 8 points
- Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 6 points
- Stephane Sarrazin, Techeetah, 4 points
- Jerome D’Ambrosio, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, 2 points
- Tom Dillmann, Venturi Formula E, 1 point
- Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, 0 points
- Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 0 points
- Robin Frijns, Andretti Formula E, 0 points
- Adam Carroll, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 0 points
- Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti Formula E, 0 points
- Nelson Piquet Jr, Nextev Nio, 0 points
- Oliver Turvey, Nextev Nio, 0 points
- Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E, 0 points
- Loic Duval, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, Ret
- Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, Ret
Final Drivers’ Championship Standings:
- Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 181 points
- Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, 157 points
- Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, 127 points
- Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, 122 points
- Jean Eric Vergne, Techeetah, 117 points
- Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, 93 points
- Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, 88 points
- Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 67 points
- Jose Maria Lopez, DS Virgin Racing, 36 points
- Stephane Sarrazin, Techeetah, 33 points
- Nelson Piquet Jr, Nextev Nio, 26 points
- Oliver Turvey, Nextev Nio, 26 points
- Robin Frijns, Andretti Formula E, 24 points
- Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 22 points
- Loic Duval, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, 20 points
- Pierre Gasly, Renault e.dams, 18 points
- Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E, 16 points
- Jerome D’Ambrosio, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, 13 points
- Tom Dillmann, Venturi Formula E, 12 points
- Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti Formula E, 10 points
- Adam Carroll, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 5 points
- Esteban Gutierrez, Techeetah, 5 points
- Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing, 3 points
Final Teams’ Championship Standings:
- Renault e.dams, 268 points
- Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 248
- Mahindra Racing, 215 points
- DS Virgin Racing, 190 points
- Techeetah, 156 points
- Nextev Nio, 59 points
- Andretti Formula E, 34 points
- Faraday Future Dragon Racing, 33 points
- Venturi Formula E, 30 points
- Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 27 points
