Formula E: Audi seize teams’ title while Vergne wins season finale

After clinching the drivers’ championship title a day prior, Jean-Eric Vergne topped off the 2017/18 Formula E season with yet another victory, winning the season finale in New York. Vergne led the 43-lap race from the first corner after muscling his way from third on the grid and past polesitter Sebastien Buemi on the run to Turn 1.

Going into the race, the battle for the teams’ championship title was very much on, with Techeetah holding a narrow five-point advantage over Audi. However, Audi ultimately triumphed with a double podium finish for Lucas di Grassi (second place) and Daniel Abt (third place) helping the team edge Techeetah by two points in the standings.

Techeetah’s fate was sealed when both Vergne and Andre Lotterer came under investigation for jumping the start. The threat of a penalty hung over the leading duo throughout a full-course yellow period caused by Jose Maria Lopez stopping on the run to Turn 6 with suspension damage, and an almost simultaneous incident between Antonio Felix da Costa, Luca Filippi and Jerome D'Ambrosio on the approach to Turn 11. Filippi and da Costa clashed and in the aftermath of their contact, D'Ambrosio was eliminated. Andretti driver da Costa was handed a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for causing the collision with Filippi and ultimately finished the race in 15th place.

During the suspension of racing, the FIA handed Lotterer a 10-second stop-and-go penalty while Vergne was given the all-clear. The penalty dropped Lotterer from second to 15th place on the grid and he managed to salvage a ninth place finish.

By lap 12, Vergne held a 1.6sec lead over Buemi, who was subsequently demoted to third by di Grassi. Abt had dropped back from his fourth-place grid spot on the first lap but fought his way back and ultimately passed Buemi for third place on lap 19. Abt did, however, end up using much more energy than his rivals in the first stint and was the first to pit for his car swap on lap 22, with Vergne, di Grassi and Buemi following him on the next lap.

Abt and Buemi briefly swapped places in the second stint when Buemi used his fanboost to dive ahead at Turn 11, before being repassed a few laps later after making a mistake at Turn 2. Meanwhile, di Grassi ramped up the pressure on Vergne, at one point pushing the rear of the Techeetah driver heading into the final corner, but he could not find a way by.

Their battle allowed Abt and Buemi to close right back up again and set up a nail-biting four-way fight by the finish. But Vergne held on to win by 0.5sec, with Buemi finishing in fourth place and 0.4sec behind Abt, who had to save energy significantly in the second stint to recover from his early stop.

Felix Rosenqvist finished fifth after battling by Mitch Evans, who ended up sixth, with Piquet falling back to seventh by the flag to come home in front of Nick Heidfeld. Sam Bird rounded out the top 10 and as a result of di Grassi's points haul, the Virgin Racing driver fell behind the Brazilian to end up third in the final drivers' standings.

Race result