Following four very successful seasons, Renault e.dams contested its final race in Formula E in the streets of New York. Fourth after starting from pole, Sébastien Buemi added to some of his own records during this final weekend of competition.
After a first day run under radiant skies, the competitors were greeted with rain for the sole free-practice session of the day. In these very rare conditions in Formula E, Sébastien Buemi was fourth quickest, while Nicolas Prost was 12th.
Placed in the first qualifying group, Nicolas couldn’t do better than 16th. Sébastien, however, posted the second fastest combined time. During his SuperPole lap, the Swiss driver came up big in taking his second pole position on the Red Hook circuit by just 0.04s!
Despite the forecast of a storm in the afternoon, the track was dry as the cars made their way to the gird. When the lights went out, Vergne got the advantage and Seb was under threat from Lotterer, who tried to make a move, but the Renault e.dams driver resisted at first. Lotterer was under investigation for jumping the start and Seb decided not to unwisely waste his energy and backed off.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Prost moved his way through the field. 18th at the end of the opening lap, he was up to 14th at the conclusion of lap seven. It was at this moment that the race went full course yellow after several on-track incidents.
At the re-start, Lotterer was penalized, but Buemi was overtaken by Lucas di Grassi and went no further in the general classification. Just prior to the car change, he lost another place, this time to Daniel Abt. After the pit stops, Seb was fourth, while Nico was just outside the top 10 with 20 laps remaining.
Using his FanBoost, Seb managed to get past Abt but was repassed two laps later. The race was calmed down late in the going and the positions remained pat for the Renault e.dams drivers. Sébastien Buemi finished fourth, while Nicolas Prost was 11th.
Sébastien Buemi finished fourth in the Driver’s Championship with 125 points, while Nicolas Prost ended the season 19th on 8 points. Renault e.dams was fifth in the Team’s Championship with 133 points.
At the conclusion of these four seasons, punctuated by three Team’s titles for Renault e.dams, Sébastien Buemi still holds the majority of the category records, beginning with the most wins (12), pole positions (11), fastest race laps (7), finishes in the points (36) and laps led.
Nicolas Prost
“Being in the first qualifying group on a circuit still drenched, we knew that it would be hard to secure a good starting position. We picked up a place in the race, but our pace wasn’t good enough to get up into the points. It is the end of what has been a frustrating season, but we have to remember the results gotten together with three Team’s titles. I want to thank all the members of the Renault e.dams team for this fantastic adventure, they always gave their all to get good results and we have accomplished great things together.”
Sébastien Buemi
“The weekend was very positive in the context of a more complicated season than the preceding campaigns. I am pleased to have taken these two pole positions but I would’ve liked to have finished once again on the podium to thank the team. We were very close to doing it! It is a special moment for all of us because it was our last weekend with Renault. A page will turn and I will begin concentrating on season 5 as soon as possible.”
Jean-Paul Driot, team owner
“We have completed the season with a very satisfying weekend. We have been searching for performance and the results during a large part of the season and the efforts of everyone have paid off. You just have to look at the classification of this last race for proof. We were among the four divers separated by less than two seconds at the finish. The others were much further back and the time has come to thank Renault for these four wonderful seasons. Together, we contributed profoundly to the first chapter of the Formula E history.”
Vincent Gaillardot, FE programme Director
“This second New York race brings Renault’s Formula E involvement as a title sponsor to an end. This fourth season wasn’t as successful as the previous ones, which were simply exceptional. Thanks to the close collaboration between e.dams and Renault, we were able to demonstrate the quality of technology developed for this championship. We are leaving with the satisfaction of a job well done and globally very good results, even though we would have all liked to have done better in this last race.”
Through the highs, through the wins, through pure happiness, through 4 years of success, you were all part of it! Thank you for your support! #RSspirit pic.twitter.com/DYOE8tHQye
— RENAULT e.dams (@RENAULTedams) July 17, 2018
