2017–18 Formula E Championship

2017–18 FIA Formula E Championship - Season 4

Drivers' Champion: Jean-Éric Vergne
Teams' Champion: Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler

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2018–19

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
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	Audi e-tron FE04 [2]	1	Lucas di Grassi [2]	All
		66	Daniel Abt [2]	All
DS Virgin Racing	DS Virgin DSV-03	2	Sam Bird [3]	All
		36	Alex Lynn [3]	All
Panasonic Jaguar Racing	Jaguar I-Type 2	3	Nelson Piquet Jr. [4]	All
		20	Mitch Evans [4]	All
Venturi Formula E Team	Venturi VM200-FE-03	4	Edoardo Mortara [5]	1–8, 10
			Tom Dillmann [6]	9, 11–12
		5	Maro Engel [5]	All
Dragon Racing	Penske EV-2	6	Neel Jani [7]	1–2
			José María López [8]	3–12
		7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio [9]	All
Renault e.Dams	Renault Z.E. 17	8	Nicolas Prost [10]	All
		9	Sébastien Buemi [10]	All
Nio Formula E Team [11]	NextEV Nio Sport 003	16	Oliver Turvey [12]	1–11
			Ma Qinghua [13]	12
		68	Luca Filippi [12]	1–7, 9–12
			Ma Qinghua [14]	8
Techeetah	Renault Z.E. 17	18	André Lotterer [15]	All
		25	Jean-Éric Vergne [15]	All
Mahindra Racing	Mahindra M4Electro	19	Felix Rosenqvist [16]	All
		23	Nick Heidfeld [16]	All
MS&AD Andretti Formula E	Andretti ATEC-03 [17]	27	Kamui Kobayashi [N 1] [19]	1–2
			Tom Blomqvist	3–8
			Stéphane Sarrazin [20]	9–12
		28	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

• Former IndyCar and GP2 driver Luca Filippi joins Nio, replacing Nelson Piquet Jr. who moved to Jaguar. ^[12]
• 2008 A1 Grand Prix champion and 2016 World Endurance Champion Neel Jani joined the series with Dragon Racing replacing Loïc Duval. ^[7]
• 2014 GP3 Series champion and 2017 12 Hours of Sebring winner Alex Lynn replaces José María López at DS Virgin Racing. ^[24]
• 2011 Formula Nippon Champion and 2012 World Endurance Champion André Lotterer joins Techeetah replacing Stéphane Sarrazin.
• 2010 Formula 3 Euro Series champion Edoardo Mortara will make his debut in Formula E with Venturi. ^[5]
• DTM driver Tom Blomqvist was set to replace Robin Frijns at Andretti Autosport but his seat prior the first round was granted to FIA World Endurance Championship and Super Formula Championship driver Kamui Kobayashi. ^[19]

Changing teams

• 2014–15 Formula E champion Nelson Piquet Jr. moves to Panasonic Jaguar Racing, replacing Adam Carroll. ^[4]

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	Jean-Éric Vergne	Jérôme d'Ambrosio [N 2]	Sam Bird	DS Virgin Racing	Report
2		Felix Rosenqvist	Lucas di Grassi [N 3]	Felix Rosenqvist [N 4]	Mahindra Racing
3	Marrakesh	Sébastien Buemi	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Felix Rosenqvist	Mahindra Racing	Report
4	Santiago	Jean-Éric Vergne	Sam Bird	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah	Report
5	Mexico City	Felix Rosenqvist	Lucas di Grassi	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler	Report
6	Punta del Este	Jean-Éric Vergne	José María López	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah	Report
7	Rome	Felix Rosenqvist	Daniel Abt	Sam Bird	DS Virgin Racing	Report
8	Paris	Jean-Éric Vergne	Lucas di Grassi	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah	Report
9	Berlin	Daniel Abt	Daniel Abt	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler	Report
10	Zürich	Mitch Evans	André Lotterer	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler	Report
11	New York City	Sebastien Buemi	Felix Rosenqvist [N 5]	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler	Report
12		Sebastien Buemi	Daniel Abt	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah
Source: [34]

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 MRK SCL MEX PDE RME PAR BER ZUR NYC Pts 1 Jean-Éric Vergne 2 4 5 1 5 1 5 1 3 10 5* 1* 198 2 Lucas di Grassi 17 14 Ret Ret 9* 2 2* 2* 2 1* 1 2 144 3 Sam Bird 1 5 3 5 17 3 1 3 7 2 9 10 143 4 Sébastien Buemi 11 10 2* 3* 3* Ret* 6 5* 4* 5* 3* 4* 125 5 Daniel Abt 5* DSQ* 10* Ret* 1 14* 4* 7* 1* 13* 2* 3* 120 6 Felix Rosenqvist 14 1 1 4 Ret* 5* Ret 8 11* 15 14 5 96 7 Mitch Evans 12 3 11 7 6 4 9 15 6 7 Ret 6 68 8 André Lotterer DSQ 13 Ret 2 13 12 3 6 9 4 7 9 64 9 Nelson Piquet Jr. 4 12 4 6 4 Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret Ret 7 51 10 Oliver Turvey 16 6 Ret 14 2 7 12 9 5 9 WD 46 11 Nick Heidfeld 3 16 7 Ret Ret Ret 16 11 10 6 6 8 42 12 Maro Engel 13 7 12 Ret 16 10 8 4 8 11 8 Ret 31 13 Edoardo Mortara 7 2 17† 13 8 17 10 13 Ret 29 14 Jérôme d'Ambrosio Ret 15 15 8 11 9 7 12 19 3 13 Ret 27 15 António Félix da Costa 6 11 14 9 7 11 11 Ret 15 8 11 15 20 16 Alex Lynn 8 9 9 Ret 10 6 Ret 14 16 16 Ret 14 17 17 José María López 6 Ret* 12 8 17† 10 18 12 Ret Ret 14 18 Tom Dillmann 13 4 Ret 12 19 Nicolas Prost 9 8 13 10 Ret 15 14 16 14 Ret 10 11 8 20 Tom Blomqvist 8 11 15 16 15 Ret 4 21 Luca Filippi 10* Ret* 16 12 14 13 13* 17 Ret 15 Ret 1 22 Stéphane Sarrazin 20 14 12 12 0 23 Ma Qinghua 17 13 0 24 Kamui Kobayashi 15* 17* 0 25 Neel Jani 18 18 0 Pos. Driver HKG MRK SCL MEX PDE RME PAR BER ZUR NYC Pts Source: [35]

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third 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		MRK	SCL	MEX	PDE	RME	PAR	BER	ZUR	NYC		Pts
1	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	Nio Formula E Team	16	16	6	Ret	14	2	7	12	9	5	9	WD	13	47
		68	10	Ret	16	12	14	13	13	17	17	Ret	15	Ret
9	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	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		MRK	SCL	MEX	PDE	RME	PAR	BER	ZUR	NYC		Pts
Source: [36]

Footnotes

1. Kobayashi is a Japanese driver who was racing 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. "Audi unveils e-tron FE04". 27 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
3. "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. "Nelson Piquet Jr joins Jaguar for season four". fiaformulae.com. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
5. Mitchell, Scott (20 October 2017). "Venturi picks Mortara to partner Engel in Formula E". Motorsport.com . Motorsport Network . Retrieved 20 October 2017.
6. "Dillmann to replace Mortara for Berlin ePrix". www.motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
7. Smith, Topher (25 August 2017). "Faraday Future Dragon Racing announces Jani for season four". e-racing.net. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
8. "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. "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. 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. Archived from the original on 20 October 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
14. 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. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
16. 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. 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. "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. 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. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
30. "Formula E returns to Punta del Este – Formula E". www.fiaformulae.com. 6 December 2017. 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. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
34. "Formula E Results 2017". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
35. "Driver Standings". FIA Formula E. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
36. "Team Standings". FIA Formula E. Retrieved 13 August 2022.

External links

• Official website