SEASON 5: FIRST FORMULA E Double champion: JEAN-ERIC VERGNE
PHOTO: coolbrandz.com
F RMULA
The season began with victory for the debutant team BMW in Ad Diriyah, where their lead driver António Félix da Costa claimed pole en-route to the Bavarian manufacturer's maiden triumph. BMW were subsequently on for a one-two finish at the following round in Marrakech, only for da Costa and teammate Alexander Sims to clash and hand victory to Jérôme d'Ambrosio of Mahindra Racing.
That's how one of the most dynamic seasons of Formula E's history began, with drivers suffering massive swings of fortune from one round to the next. The next three winners, Sam Bird (Envision Virgin), Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler) and Edoardo Mortara (Venturi) would have startling different seasons, with Mortara in particular failing to score another point after his maiden triumph.
Vergne, meanwhile, would claim his first win of the season in Sanya, while Mitch Evans secured his, and Jaguar's, maiden triumph in Rome. Robin Frijns subsequently made it eight different winners across the opening eight races, only for Vergne to end that streak of unique winners by claiming the win in Monte Carlo.
PHOTO: competition.totalenergies.com
With that Vergne became the man to beat in the Championship, although wins and strong results for fellow former champions di Grassi and Sébastien Buemi kept them in the title fight through to the season finale in New York City. Ultimately, Vergne would hold too much of a lead to be overhauled at the finale, and picked up his second Formula E title on the final day of the season, having broken away from his pursuers with a third win of the season in Bern a few weeks earlier.
The Teams Championship would also go down to the wire, with DS Techeetah managing to hold on at the finale to claim their first Championship. This season saw new drivers come to the fore across the season, headed by Formula One stars Pascal Wehrlein and Stoffel Vandoorne, the latter dominating FanBoost throughout the season.