Review of the Montreal ePrix: di Grassi champion ahead of Buemi, the fable of the tortoise and the hare

The concept is now set in stone. As in 2015 and 2016, Formula E offered a finale in grandeur, with two races in two days. But this year, London’s Battersea Park was abandoned in favor of Montreal, a new city added to the calendar.

At 2.7 kilometers long, the new track layout offered an intriguing configuration for the drivers. Especially on a smooth tarmac, significantly less bumpy than other sites already visited! Quite fast, the mix between one of the longest straights of the season and some tight turns proved to be very exciting. Especially the fifth turn, devilishly narrow, on a slight uphill! The track was spectacular to the end, with the final chicane, a left-right replica of the famous Bus Stop on a former version of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

The session where everything changed.

It only took a few minutes of driving to ruin the efforts of a season. Those of Sébastien Buemi, who was leading the drivers’ standings, 57 points ahead of Sam Bird, 53 ahead of Felix Rosenqvist, but most importantly 10 ahead of Lucas di Grassi, his main rival since season 1. But the Swiss can only blame himself!

Too eager inside the chicane, a judgment error planted his Renault e.dams along the inside wall, tearing off his left front wheel. His race ended on the tecpro located on the other side. Unharmed, the force of the impact seriously damaged a large part of his single-seater. The mechanics then had to work tirelessly to get the car back in shape, with the battery change nonetheless imposing a ten-place penalty on the starting grid.

From then on, the way was clear for di Grassi, who didn’t hold back! Last on track during the super-pole, the Brazilian dominated… the returning Buemi, by 0.196 seconds. By extension, Stéphane Sarrazin inherited second place, ahead of Nico Prost and Felix Rosenqvist. Buemi was relegated to the sixth row, alongside a certain Daniel Abt. The domino effect initiated by his FP2 crash was just beginning…

Buemi, so many twists before the conviction!

The race on Saturday therefore officially marked a turning point. For the first time this season, Lucas di Grassi took charge after an impressive victory!

On the track, the Brazilian did not let anyone disturb his forward march. His start was convincing and the rest was smooth. Meanwhile, Buemi was caught in the heart of the fray. And that’s not an understatement! The Vaudois was first a victim of early-race contact with Robin Frijns in his Andretti. Coming from the inside, the Dutchman damaged his steering.

Falling back to 16th position, Buemi carved his way through the midfield pack. Around the points zone halfway through the race, the Swiss driver followed the herd and dove into the pit lane during a full-course yellow triggered by a collision between Loic Duval and Nick Heidfeld.

No luck, Daniel Abt was in his way. The strategy of di Grassi’s teammate worked perfectly. The German skillfully slowed down his speed in the pits, causing Buemi to become furious. But despite this, Buemi came out ahead during the stop. Having not appreciated this insult, Abt accelerated in anger and hit the rear of the Renault e.dams. A Vettel-like revenge, which remained unpunished by the stewards…

Accused, the main party defended himself without getting flustered: He might have thought I was deliberately slowing him down! But I wasn’t in the title race: I was just running my race! He was certainly angry about his performance.

In the front, a poorly negotiated stop cost Rosenqvist the third place to the benefit of Jean-Eric Vergne’s Techeetah. The Frenchman can be frustrated: catching up quickly to di Grassi and assisted by Sarrazin’s pass, he contended for victory at the end after the Safety Car was deployed to remove José Maria Lopez’s wreck. However, a fanboost skillfully used by di Grassi after the restart allowed him to maintain the lead without flinching. And to race towards his second victory of the season, the most precious one yet!

Regarding Buemi, the Safety Car offered him a great opportunity to gain additional points. Sixth during the interruption, he passed Nico Prost, who was playing the team game in turn. Then, Rosenqvist dropped down the rankings and hit the wall under his pressure. The podium wasn’t even far off, on the track anyway. A fierce battle with Stéphane Sarrazin in the last lap provided some great footage. It certainly increased the Swiss driver’s frustration, as he sought to settle scores with all the drivers who wronged him.

The main friction occurred with Robin Frijns.

« We have to finish the races, and when I see some drivers behaving like this, for what? To finish the race at the second corner? »

For the driver Andretti, the conclusion is quite different; the worst was avoided.

« He should have thanked me instead! I passed him on the first corner. Then he braked right in front of me. I locked my tires and tried to avoid him. On top of that, I let him pass five or six laps later. It’s a bit ridiculous the way he acts sometimes. »

However, the final blow of a crazy day came a few hours after the checkered flag. Hastily rebuilt, Buemi’s second car was deemed under the weight limit by the stewards. The heroic work of the mechanics went up in smoke, as did the twelve points collected by Buemi. Di Grassi thus strengthened his lead, with an 18-point advantage by Saturday evening.

This decision will have had at least the merit of making Mitch Evans happy, seventh on behalf of Jaguar behind Bird and Prost.

Race 1 Standings (Saturday):

1. L. DI GRASSI (Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport: 35 laps

2. J-E. Vergne (Techhetah): +0.350

3. S. Sarrazin (Techeetah): +7.869

4. D. Abt (Abt Schaeffer Audi Sport: +8.592)

5. S. Bird (DS Virgin Racing): +8.913

6. N. Prost (Renault e.dams): +10.058

7. Mr. Evans (Jaguar Racing): +10.457

8. R. Frijns (Amlin Andretti): +15.836

9. F. Rosenqvist (Mahindra Racing): +16.764

10. T. Dillmann (Venturi): +19.320

… DSQ. S. Buemi (Renault e.dams, initially fourth at +8.256)

di Grassi ensures the essentials and clinches the crown on Sunday!

The favorite and the underdog swapped roles without warning. From then on, for di Grassi, it was enough to ensure Sunday went smoothly. This was accomplished during qualifying with a decent session that ended in the super pole and in fifth position, eight spots ahead of his new general ranking pursuer. Against the wall and forced to attack, a mistake by Buemi prevented him from progressing towards the top five drivers. Confirming his brilliant season, Felix Rosenqvist took the last pole of the season, his third personal. With a time of 1:22.344, the Swede dominated Jean-Eric Vergne and Sam Bird.

To keep things unchanged, bad luck continued to affect the Renault e.dams clan. An auxiliary battery of Nico Prost caught fire right at the end of Saturday’s race. A change of engine and electronic inverter sentenced him to a twenty-place penalty.

Riding the wave of success, di Grassi faced no issues on Sunday. The Brazilian secured the title with a sixth-place finish, while Buemi drank the cup to the dregs.

After wrongly grumbling against da Costa, the Portuguese driver this time truly jeopardized his race on Sunday. From the start, a contact dislodged a side deflector from the Renault e.dams, ready to fly off at any moment in the middle of the track. Although the holder of number 9 desperately tried to remove the appendage with steering maneuvers, the black flag with an orange disc forced him to return to the pits. Restarting in last place, Buemi’s last hopes of victory had just vanished.

The suspense actually turned towards the fight for victory in the final race. Coming into the pits a lap too early, Rosenqvist paid the price and lost his position to Jean-Eric Vergne, who had overtaken Bird in the first part of the race. After letting him go at the beginning of the second stint, the Parisian came back like a cannonball to make short work of him eight laps from the finish.

In the maneuver, the Swedish rookie showed no resistance in order to preserve his Mahindra team’s third place in the constructors’ standings.

Finally, Vergne delivered and clinched his first victory in Formula E, after four second-place finishes this season. The only driver to have raced for three different teams, his patience was finally rewarded in Quebec.

To complete the podium, Sam Bird gave up against the best DS Virgin, that of José Maria Lopez, who ended his season in style.

For his part, di Grassi experienced a more than average pit stop, fortunately without consequences for the finish. Especially since Daniel Abt perfectly played the role of bodyguard by following closely behind.

Thus, a simple seventh place was all the happiness in the world. After two frustrating finals in 2015 and 2016, di Grassi finally triumphs! The symbolism is also beautiful for Formula E, which rewards its very first driver involved in the project. Let’s remember that the former Virgin F1 driver won the first ePrix in history in Beijing in September 2014.

The Abt Schaeffler team almost achieved a perfect score, coming within 20 points of Renault e.dams, which experienced a rough weekend with its lowest point total in a race, the mere eight points from Prost’s sixth place finish in race 1.

Ranking of race 2 (Sunday):

1. J.E VERGNE (Techeetah): 37 laps

2. F. Rosenqvist (Mahindra Racing): +0.896

3. J.M Lopez (DS Virgin Racing): +4.468

4. S. Bird (DS Virgin Racing): 7.114

5. N. Heidfeld (Mahindra Racing): +21.933

6. D. Abt (Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport): +24.444

7. L. di Grassi (Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport): +24.485

8. S. Sarrazin (Techeetah): +26.038

9. J. d’Ambrosio (Dragon Racing): +28.282

10. T. Dillmann (Venturi): +28.591

11. S. Buemi (Renault e.dams): +35.170

For Sébastien Buemi, the blow is tough. His six victories in ten races ultimately didn’t weigh enough against the handicap of an absence in New York and more so, an unexpected crash during Saturday’s FP2. But Lucas di Grassi also deserves his moment of glory.

Let’s remember, for example, his tactical victory in Mexico, or his strong performance in the opening race in Hong Kong, finishing second after a wing change on the first lap. And it’s worth mentioning: the new champion raced the double ePrix in Berlin with a broken leg, after just a casual football match. A title can hinge on the smallest things! But as the saying goes, “the absent are always wrong!”

What does it mean to win the #FormulaE title? @LucasdiGrassi gives you an idea! #MontrealePrix #Champion pic.twitter.com/kOB8YWsl4O— FIA Formula E (@FIAformulaE) 30 juillet 2017

3 out of 3 in season 3 🏆🏆🏆 #WellDoneTeam #SeasonFinale #MontrealePrix pic.twitter.com/XUCcqeygtI

— RENAULT e.dams (@RENAULTedams) 30 juillet 2017

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