Hello MinE Fans!

The final round of the 2018 ABB Formula E championship took place in New York under dry conditions, despite a threat of rain in the air. This was the final ever round for the generation one Formula E car which is a little sad really. It has to be some type of record that in four seasons and 45 races, the car never once raced in wet conditions. Crazy stuff!

 

The headline battle this race was for the teams’ championship. As Sebastien Buemi lined up on pole ahead of the two Techeetah’s and then the two Audi’s, the atmosphere was tense. Techeetah led Audi by five points coming into this race.

As they got underway, Techeetah put themselves in the best possible position to take the title with an absolutely scintillating start. You know a start is near perfect when the stewards take 10 laps to decide that it was a fair start, rather than a jump start. At least, that was the case for Jean-Eric Vergne. His team mate on the other hand did jump the start, and Andre Lotterer received a 10 second stop/go penalty for the infringement. That put him way down the order, and put the Audi’s in prime position to take the teams’ title.

The battle between the two teams would rumble on and on in a tense race. The highlights were di Grassi battling Vergne for the lead over the majority of the race, and Lotterer making a strong comeback to finish 9th. Despite his strong recovery, both Audi drivers finishing on the podium – as well as getting fastest lap – was enough to secure the title – by just two points. Bearing in mind that Audi only had two points finishes after 33% of the season was complete, and only got their first podium in race five, the German team’s season is one of the most incredible recoveries in Motorsport history.

Audi vs Techeetah wasn’t the only team battle out there with the Jaguar’s and Mahindra’s having a superb race long battle which Felix Rosenqvist ultimately won. Mahindra’s strong performance today secured them 4th place in the teams’ championship, although given that they had the fastest car early on in the season, and won two races, they will be disappointed with the way the year panned out.

A bizarre incident occurred during the race when Luca Filippi and Antonio Felix da Costa tried to go for the same piece of the tarmac at the same time. Filippi collided into the back of da Costa, suffered significant damage, pulled off to the side of the track, and took out Jerome d’Ambrosio by mistake! That incident for d’Ambrosio pretty much sums up Dragon’s season; unlucky.

That really was a special race to end the season with constant battles and close racing. The top four drivers finished just 1.780 seconds apart. Incredible.

Now we say farewell to the 2018 season with much to look forward to in season five. Get ready for the same wheel-to-wheel electric racing, and get ready to welcome BMW, Mercedes and Nissan to exotic new locations such as Riyadh and Sanya.

How do you rate the season out of ten? Let MinEDrivers know in the comments below.