Shootouts in the season finale are not very rare in determining the championship winner in sports like football, hockey, and cricket, but in motorsports? Well, that’s is what this year’s Formula E season came down to!
Going into the season finale at the Battersea Park street circuit in London, Abt Audi’s Lucas di Grassi and Renault e.dams’ Sebastian Buemi were in title contention.
Buemi finished 4th – one place ahead of di Grassi – in the first race while di Grassi took the pole in race 2, equalling the championship points in the process.
What ensured in the second race was pure drama. When the lights went off, fans were prepared for a nail-biting finisher but di Grassi shunted into Buemi at turn 3 of the very first lap and both cars were forced to limp back to pits with no chance of scoring points in the race.
The championship was then decided by the 2 bonus points that are given to the driver who sets the fastest lap of the race. The duo entered the circuit again with the aim of scooping the bonus points up and taking the championship home.
While Lucas di Grassi’s lap time topped the chart with 2 laps to go, Sebastian Buemi dished out a 1:24:15 lap which was less than a second quicker compared to di Grassi’s best lap. Thus, the Swiss driver clinched his Formula E driver’s championship after losing out to Nelson Piquet Jr in the previous season.
With 270 points Renault e.dams (with Nicholas Prost piloting the team’s other car) won the constructor’s championship with 270 points.