SEASON 1: PIQUET JR. BECOMES
THE FIRST FORMULA E CHAMPION
PHOTO: telegraph.co.uk
F RMULA
The 2014–15 FIA Formula E season was the inaugural season of a new FIA championship for electrically powered cars. It began on 13 September 2014 at Beijing in China and finished on 28 June 2015 in London after eleven races. Nelson Piquet Jr. came first in the overall standings, and so became the first ever Formula E champion.
For the first season, all teams were supplied an electric racing car built by Spark Racing Technology, called the Spark-Renault SRT_01E. The chassis was designed by Dallara, with an electric motor developed by McLaren (the same as that used in its P1 supercar), a battery system created by Williams Grand Prix Engineering and a Hewland five-speed gearbox. Michelin were the official tyre supplier. Points were awarded the same way as in Formula 1 for top 10, with 3 points being awarded for pole-position and 2 for fastest lap.
Six different drivers won the opening six ePrix before Sébastien Buemi won his second race of the season in Monaco, with four races remaining. Buemi would win a third race, as the title battle went all the way to the season finale at the Second London ePrix.
PHOTO: evperformance.co.uk
Most memorable moment of the first ever Formula E race was in the last corner of the last lap when Nick Heidfeld tried to pass Nicolas Prost for the lead, but it ended as a horrific incident, where German's Venturi launched in the air, hit the barriers and laid on it's top with it's parts shredded. First ever Formula E winner was Lucas di Grassi, who just got by the leaders after this incident.
There were many crazy races during the first year of Electric Formula street-racing's championship, but none was as crazy as what unfolded during Round 4 in Argentina. During the pit-stop faze, the Safety Car came out and many drivers were stuck in the pitlane. Ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok broke his suspension when coming through the first chicane, and the same thing later happened to Lucas di Grassi and the leader of the race Sébastien Buemi. Nick Heidfeld, who was running in second place got a penalty and first place was handed to Antonio Felix da Costa who in the end won his first E-prix in Argentina.
One beautiful moment was the race in Long Beach, where future champion Piquet Jr. got his first Formula E win, which is actually the same place where his father won his first Formula 1 race. NextEV driver has shown incredible pace during the weekend and was untouchable during the race.
First race in Europe was the Monaco E-prix, where Buemi became the first driver to win two races in the season, and he was one of the front-runners in the championship fight, along with Piquet Jr. and di Grassi. His team, e.dams-Renault, clinched the Teams' Championship title in the first race of the final weekend in London, but the Swiss could not crown that with winning the Drivers' Championship, which went to Piquet Jr, by one point.