2017–18 Formula E Championship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jean-Éric Vergne, the Drivers' Champion.

The 2017–18 FIA Formula E Championship (known for commercial reasons as the 2017–18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship)[1] was the fourth season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Formula E motor racing. It featured the 2017–18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship, a motor racing championship for open-wheel electric racing cars, recognised by FIA, the sport's governing body, as the highest class of competition for electrically powered vehicles. Twenty drivers representing ten teams contested twelve ePrix, which started in Hong Kong on 2 December 2017 and ended on 15 July 2018 in New York City as they competed for the Drivers' and Teams' Championships.

2017–18 was the final season that the Spark-Renault SRT 01E chassis—which debuted in the 2014–15 Formula E season—was used in competition; as a brand new chassis package was introduced for the 2018–19 season.

Lucas di Grassi entered as the defending Drivers' Champion after securing his first title at the 2017 Montreal ePrix. Renault e.Dams began the season as the defending Teams' Champion, having clinched its third consecutive accolade at the same event.

Frenchman Jean-Éric Vergne took victory in Drivers' Championship with 198 points, besting Lucas di Grassi and Sam Bird. Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler took victory in the Team's Championship, beating Techeetah by a narrow two point margin.

Teams and drivers[]

All teams used Spark chassis.

Team Powertrain No. Driver name Races
Germany Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Audi e-tron FE04[2] 1 Brazil Lucas di Grassi[2] All
66 Germany Daniel Abt[2] All
United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing DS Virgin DSV-03 2 United Kingdom Sam Bird[3] All
36 United Kingdom Alex Lynn[3] All
United Kingdom Panasonic Jaguar Racing Jaguar I-Type 2 3 Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr.[4] All
20 New Zealand Mitch Evans[4] All
Monaco Venturi Formula E Team Venturi VM200-FE-03 4 Switzerland Edoardo Mortara[5] 1–8, 10
France Tom Dillmann[6] 9, 11–12
5 Germany Maro Engel[5] All
United States Dragon Racing Penske EV-2 6 Switzerland Neel Jani[7] 1–2
Argentina José María López[8] 3–12
7 Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio[9] All
France Renault e.Dams Renault Z.E. 17 8 France Nicolas Prost[10] All
9 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi[10] All
United Kingdom NIO Formula E Team[11] NextEV NIO Sport 003 16 United Kingdom Oliver Turvey[12] 1–11
China Ma Qinghua[13] 12
68 Italy Luca Filippi[12] 1–7, 9–12
China Ma Qinghua[14] 8
China Techeetah Renault Z.E. 17 18 Germany André Lotterer[15] All
25 France Jean-Éric Vergne All
India Mahindra Racing Mahindra M4Electro 19 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist[16] All
23 Germany Nick Heidfeld[16] All
United States MS&AD Andretti Formula E Andretti ATEC-03[17] 27 Monaco Kamui Kobayashi[N 1][19] 1–2
United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist 3–8
France Stéphane Sarrazin[20] 9–12
28 Portugal António Félix da Costa[21] All
Source:[22]

Team changes[]

Name changes[]

The official entry list for the 2017–18 season contained a number of name changes for the teams. These were:[22]

  • Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport became Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler, reflecting increased involvement from Audi.
  • Faraday Future Dragon Racing dropped the name Faraday Future from the official name to become Dragon Racing.
  • NextEV NIO Formula E was shortened to become NIO Formula E.
  • MS Amlin Andretti became MS&AD Andretti Formula E,[23] pending future cooperation with BMW.

Driver changes[]

Joining Formula E[]

Changing teams[]

Mid-season changes[]

After just one weekend in Hong Kong, Dragon Racing driver Neel Jani left the team in order to focus on his upcoming World Endurance Championship campaign. He was replaced by former DS Virgin Racing driver José María López.[8]

For the first weekend in Hong Kong, Kamui Kobayashi was brought by MS&AD Andretti to satisfy sponsors.[25] Tom Blomqvist however, took over that car after and raced it until the Paris round, where he left the team to focus on World Endurance Championship commitments with BMW, he was replaced by Stéphane Sarrazin.

Edoardo Mortara missed Berlin and the finale in New York due to DTM commitments with Mercedes. Mortara was replaced by Tom Dillmann on both occasions.[6]

Ma Qinghua subbed in for Luca Filippi at NIO Formula E Team for the Paris ePrix, to fulfill a contract obligation.[14]

Rule changes[]

  • The maximum power usage during the race was increased from 170 kW to 180 kW.[26]
  • A point for the fastest lap will be restricted to drivers finishing in the top 10, ending the incentive for drivers with damaged cars or placed outside points positions to switch cars to get fastest lap with no intent of finishing the race.

Calendar[]

In May 2017, a provisional calendar for the 2017–18 season was circulated.[27] In September, the full calendar was announced. This calendar included new races in Santiago, São Paulo, Rome and Zürich, the latter of which will mark the first time since 1955 a motorsports circuit race will be held in Switzerland.[28] The Buenos Aires round was discontinued, whilst the Monaco round will not be held due to the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco taking place in 2018. Later that year, on 30 November, it was announced that the São Paulo race would be postponed until 2019, with a race elsewhere to replace it in the schedule.[29] It was later announced that Punta del Este in Uruguay, which had been on the schedule for seasons 1 and 2, would be returning in place of São Paulo.[30] On 18 December 2017, the Montreal ePrix was cancelled due to the Mayor of Montreal citing rising costs to the taxpayer.[31] On 18 January 2018, it was announced the ePrix would not be replaced, thus decreasing the calendar to twelve rounds.[32]

Round ePrix Country Track Date
1 Hong Kong ePrix Race 1  Hong Kong Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit 2 December 2017
2 Hong Kong ePrix Race 2 3 December 2017
3 Marrakesh ePrix  Morocco Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan 13 January 2018
4 Santiago ePrix  Chile Santiago Street Circuit 3 February 2018
5 Mexico City ePrix  Mexico Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez 3 March 2018
6 Punta del Este ePrix  Uruguay Punta del Este Street Circuit 17 March 2018
7 Rome ePrix  Italy Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR 14 April 2018
8 Paris ePrix  France Paris Street Circuit 28 April 2018
9 Berlin ePrix  Germany Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit 19 May 2018
10 Zürich ePrix   Switzerland Zürich Street Circuit 10 June 2018
11 New York City ePrix Race 1  United States Brooklyn Street Circuit 14 July 2018
12 New York City ePrix Race 2 15 July 2018
Source:[27][33]

Results and standings[]

ePrix[]

Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Report
1 Hong Kong Hong Kong France Jean-Éric Vergne Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio[N 2] United Kingdom Sam Bird United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing Report
2 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist Brazil Lucas di Grassi[N 3] Sweden Felix Rosenqvist[N 4] India Mahindra Racing
3 Morocco Marrakesh Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. Sweden Felix Rosenqvist India Mahindra Racing Report
4 Chile Santiago France Jean-Éric Vergne United Kingdom Sam Bird France Jean-Éric Vergne China Techeetah Report
5 Mexico Mexico City Sweden Felix Rosenqvist Brazil Lucas di Grassi Germany Daniel Abt Germany Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Report
6 Uruguay Punta del Este France Jean-Éric Vergne Argentina José María López France Jean-Éric Vergne China Techeetah Report
7 Italy Rome Sweden Felix Rosenqvist Germany Daniel Abt United Kingdom Sam Bird United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing Report
8 France Paris France Jean-Éric Vergne Brazil Lucas di Grassi France Jean-Éric Vergne China Techeetah Report
9 Germany Berlin Germany Daniel Abt Germany Daniel Abt Germany Daniel Abt Germany Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Report
10 Switzerland Zürich New Zealand Mitch Evans Germany André Lotterer Brazil Lucas di Grassi Germany Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Report
11 United States New York City Switzerland Sebastien Buemi Sweden Felix Rosenqvist[N 5] Brazil Lucas di Grassi Germany Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Report
12 Switzerland Sebastien Buemi Germany Daniel Abt France Jean-Éric Vergne China Techeetah

Drivers' Championship standings[]

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers in every race, the pole position starter, and the driver who set the fastest lap, using the following structure:

Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th  Pole FL
Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 3 1
Pos. Driver HKG
Hong Kong 		MRK
Morocco 		SCL
Chile 		MEX
Mexico 		PDE
Uruguay 		RME
Italy 		PAR
France 		BER
Germany 		ZUR
Switzerland 		NYC
United States 		Pts
1 France Jean-Éric Vergne 2 4 5 1 5 1 5 1 3 10 5* 1* 198
2 Brazil Lucas di Grassi 17 14 Ret Ret 9* 2 2* 2* 2 1* 1 2 144
3 United Kingdom Sam Bird 1 5 3 5 17 3 1 3 7 2 9 10 143
4 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi 11 10 2* 3* 3* Ret* 6 5* 4* 5* 3* 4* 125
5 Germany Daniel Abt 5* DSQ* 10* Ret* 1 14* 4* 7* 1* 13* 2* 3* 120
6 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist 14 1 1 4 Ret* 5* Ret 8 11* 15 14 5 96
7 New Zealand Mitch Evans 12 3 11 7 6 4 9 15 6 7 Ret 6 68
8 Germany André Lotterer DSQ 13 Ret 2 13 12 3 6 9 4 7 9 64
9 Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. 4 12 4 6 4 Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret Ret 7 51
10 United Kingdom Oliver Turvey 16 6 Ret 14 2 7 12 9 5 9 DNS 46
11 Germany Nick Heidfeld 3 16 7 Ret Ret Ret 16 11 10 6 6 8 42
12 Germany Maro Engel 13 7 12 Ret 16 10 8 4 8 11 8 Ret 31
13 Switzerland Edoardo Mortara 7 2 17† 13 8 17 10 13 Ret 29
14 Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Ret 15 15 8 11 9 7 12 19 3 13 Ret 27
15 Portugal António Félix da Costa 6 11 14 9 7 11 11 Ret 15 8 11 15 20
16 United Kingdom Alex Lynn 8 9 9 Ret 10 6 Ret 14 16 16 Ret 14 17
17 Argentina José María López 6 Ret* 12 8 17† 10 18 12 Ret Ret 14
18 France Tom Dillmann 13 4 Ret 12
19 France Nicolas Prost 9 8 13 10 Ret 15 14 16 14 Ret 10 11 8
20 United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist 8 11 15 16 15 Ret 4
21 Italy Luca Filippi 10* Ret* 16 12 14 13 13* 17 Ret 15 Ret 1
22 France Stéphane Sarrazin 20 14 12 12 0
23 China Ma Qinghua 17 13 0
24 Monaco Kamui Kobayashi 15* 17* 0
25 Switzerland Neel Jani 18 18 0
Pos. Driver HKG
Hong Kong 		MRK
Morocco 		SCL
Chile 		MEX
Mexico 		PDE
Uruguay 		RME
Italy 		PAR
France 		BER
Germany 		ZUR
Switzerland 		NYC
United States 		Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap
* – FanBoost

† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Teams' Championship standings[]

Pos. Team No. HKG
Hong Kong 		MRK
Morocco 		SCL
Chile 		MEX
Mexico 		PDE
Uruguay 		RME
Italy 		PAR
France 		BER
Germany 		ZUR
Switzerland 		NYC
United States 		Pts
1 Germany Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler 1 17 14 Ret Ret 9 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 264
66 5 DSQ 10 Ret 1 14 4 7 1 13 2 3
2 China Techeetah 18 DSQ 13 Ret 2 13 12 3 6 9 4 7 9 262
25 2 4 5 1 5 1 5 1 3 10 5 1
3 United Kingdom DS Virgin Racing 2 1 5 3 5 Ret 3 1 3 7 2 9 10 160
36 8 9 9 Ret 10 6 Ret 14 16 16 Ret 14
4 India Mahindra Racing 19 14 1 1 4 Ret 5 Ret 8 11 15 14 5 138
23 3 16 7 Ret Ret Ret 16 11 10 6 6 8
5 France Renault e.dams 8 9 8 13 10 Ret 15 14 16 14 Ret 10 11 133
9 11 10 2 3 3 Ret 6 5 4 5 3 4
6 United Kingdom Panasonic Jaguar Racing 3 4 12 4 6 4 Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret Ret 7 119
20 12 3 11 7 6 4 9 12 6 7 Ret 6
7 Monaco Venturi Formula E Team 4 7 2 17† 13 8 17 10 13 13 Ret 4 Ret 72
5 13 7 12 Ret 16 10 8 4 8 11 8 Ret
8 United Kingdom NIO Formula E Team 16 16 6 Ret 14 2 7 12 9 5 9 DNS 13 47
68 10 Ret 16 12 14 13 13 17 17 Ret 15 Ret
9 United States Dragon Racing 6 18 18 6 Ret 12 8 17† 10 18 12 Ret Ret 41
7 Ret 15 15 8 11 9 7 12 19 3 13 Ret
10 United States MS&AD Andretti Formula E 27 15 17 8 11 15 16 15 Ret 20 14 12 12 24
28 6 11 14 9 7 11 11 Ret 15 8 11 15
Pos. Team No. HKG
Hong Kong 		MRK
Morocco 		SCL
Chile 		MEX
Mexico 		PDE
Uruguay 		RME
Italy 		PAR
France 		BER
Germany 		ZUR
Switzerland 		NYC
United States 		Pts

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ Kobayashi is a Japanese driver who will race under a Monégasque racing license.[18]
  2. ^ Point for Fastest Lap awarded to Daniel Abt as d'Ambrosio did not finish inside the top 10.
  3. ^ Point for Fastest Lap awarded to Felix Rosenqvist as di Grassi did not finish inside the top 10.
  4. ^ Daniel Abt and Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler were the initial winners but were disqualified for technical infingement.
  5. ^ Point for Fastest Lap awarded to Daniel Abt as Rosenqvist did not finish inside the top 10.

References[]

  1. ^ "Formula E adds series title sponsor for 2017-18 season". Autoweek. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Audi unveils e-tron FE04". 27 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Alex Lynn steps up to full-time Formula E race seat with DS Virgin Racing". DS Virgin Racing. 5 September 2017. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  4. ^ a b c "Nelson Piquet Jr joins Jaguar for season four". fiaformulae.com. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Mitchell, Scott (20 October 2017). "Venturi picks Mortara to partner Engel in Formula E". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Dillmann to replace Mortara for Berlin ePrix". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  7. ^ a b Smith, Topher (25 August 2017). "Faraday Future Dragon Racing announces Jani for season four". e-racing.net. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  8. ^ a b "Jose Maria Lopez replaces Neel Jani at Dragon". fiaformulae.com. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  9. ^ "D'Ambrosio to stay at Dragon for fourth season". 8 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Sebastien Buemi, Nico Prost extend Renault e.dams Formula E deals". 9 June 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  11. ^ "Formula E: Teams & Drivers". FIA Formula E. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  12. ^ a b c Smith, Topher (2 October 2017). "Filippi joins Turvey at NIO". e-racing.net. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  13. ^ Klein, Jamie (14 July 2018). "Ma replaces injured Turvey for second New York race". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  14. ^ a b Smith, Sam (17 April 2018). "Ma Qing Hua replaces Filippi at NIO for Paris". e-racing365.com. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Lotterer and Vergne complete TECHEETAH line-up – Formula E". www.fiaformulae.com. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  16. ^ a b Douglas, Scott (20 September 2017). "MAHINDRA STICK WITH ROSENQVIST AND HEIDFELD". thecheckeredflag.co.uk. The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  17. ^ Mitchell, Scott (23 May 2017). "Alexander Sims set for Andretti Formula E 2017/18 development role". Autosport. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  18. ^ "Kamui races with a Monaco racing licence and the FIA sees Kobayashi as Monegasque". Formula E. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  19. ^ a b Mitchell, Scott (15 November 2017). "Kobayashi to make Formula E debut in Hong Kong". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  20. ^ Smith, Topher (7 May 2018). "Sarrazin makes surprise return to Formula E". e-racing.net. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  21. ^ Smith, Topher (2 October 2017). "da Costa confirmed at MS&AD Andretti". e-racing.net. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  22. ^ a b "10kW power hike for Season 4". fiaformulae.com. 31 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  23. ^ "Announcing MS&AD Andretti – the re-branded MS Amlin Formula E team - MS Amlin plc". www.msamlin.com. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  24. ^ "Alex Lynn steps Up to Full-time Formula E race seat with DS Virgin Racing". DS Virgin Racing. 5 September 2017. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  25. ^ Mitchell, Scott (15 November 2017). "Ex-F1 racer Kamui Kobayashi to make Formula E debut in Hong Kong". Autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  26. ^ "Formula E raises race power for Season 4". fiaformulae.com. 10 January 2017.
  27. ^ a b Smith, Sam (23 May 2017). "No London return but Chile on 2017/18 Formula E calendar". Autosport. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  28. ^ Formula E brings racing return to Switzerland
  29. ^ Smith, Luke (30 November 2017). "Sao Paulo Formula E race postponed until season five". MotorSportsTalk (in American English). Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  30. ^ "Formula E returns to Punta del Este – Formula E". www.fiaformulae.com. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  31. ^ Grzelak, Antonia (18 December 2017). "Mayor Plante: No return to Montreal "Under these conditions"". www.e-racing.net. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  32. ^ Mitchell, Scott (18 January 2018). "Formula E won't replace scrapped Montreal finale". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  33. ^ "Calendar". FIA Formula E. Retrieved 1 December 2017.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""