The conclusion for the third Formula E season takes place this weekend and like the first two seasons it will be a doubleheader. Unlike the first two seasons, the season finale will not take place in London; rather it will be on the streets of Montreal. Four drivers enter with a chance at the title and three of the final four drivers could pick up their first Formula E championship.
Renault e.dams driver Sébastien Buemi has dominated this season and he leads the championship despite making fewer starts this season than his title rivals. The defending Formula E champion opened the season with three consecutive victories, none of which surprisingly came from pole position and Buemi won five of the first eight races of the 2016-17 season. However, the Swiss driver had to miss the New York ePrix doubleheader due to his commitments to the Toyota LMP1 program and the WEC race from the Nürburgring. Buemi's two non-victories this season were a 13th in Mexico City after he spun in turn one and he was disqualified after the first Berlin race after all four of his tires were below the mandated tire pressure. He had finished fifth on the road in that race.
While Buemi did hold on to the championship lead despite his absence from the New York round, his championship lead is only ten points over constant championship rival ABT Audi Sport's Lucas di Grassi with Buemi on 157 points to the Brazilian's 147 points. Di Grassi's only victory was the Mexico City ePrix after a spectacular drive to stretch his power for the final 27 laps of the 45-lap race. He has six podium finishes and nine top five finishes from the first ten races with his lone retirement being an accident in Paris, a race that saw the Brazilian have to serve a drive-through penalty after failing to meet the minimum pit stop time.
Mahindra Racing's Felix Rosenqvist sits on 104 points and while the Swede has a long shot at winning the title in his rookie season, he has finished on the podium in three of the last four races. Rosenqvist picked up his first career victory in the first Berlin race and he rounded out that weekend by finishing second to Buemi. His season started off slow. His only finish in the points in the first four races was third at Marrakesh but he did pick up points in two of the other three races through scoring fastest lap at Hong Kong and Buenos Aires. He finished 15th and second at New York last time out. The only way Rosenqvist has a shot at winning this title is by sweeping the weekend and he will have to pick up at least five bonus points from the two races.
DS Virgin Racing's Sam Bird has a shot at the title but he will have be perfect in Montreal. Bird trails Buemi by 57 points with 58 points left on the table. Bird will have to win both races from pole position and score fastest lap in each race along with Buemi scoring zero points just to have a shot at winning the title. If Bird were to only win both races from pole position and only pick up fastest lap in one of the two races than Buemi would hole the tiebreaker over the Briton with five victories to Bird's four. Bird swept the New York ePrix doubleheader but only started on pole position in one race and could not score fastest lap in either race. He did score fastest lap at Monaco and Paris earlier this season. Bird finished second at Marrakesh and third at Mexico City but he did finish outside the points in four of the first six races, including two retirements.
In the Teams' Championship, Renault e.dams leads the way with 254 points and it has a 60-point lead over ABT Audi Sport and a 77-point lead over Mahindra Racing with 94 points left on the table. Renault e.dams is going for its third consecutive Teams' Championship.
Last year, di Grassi entered the London season finale with a one-point lead over Buemi and he finished fourth in race one while Buemi finished fifth, increasing the Brazilian's advantage to three points heading into the final race of the year. However, Buemi cancelled out di Grassi's lead by winning pole position for the final race and the two drivers entered tied on point with di Grassi starting behind the Swiss driver in third. Di Grassi held the tiebreaker as both drivers had three victories and two runner-up finishes while di Grassi had two third-place finishes to Buemi's one.
The two drivers came together in turn three on lap one and it became a scramble of who could set fastest lap and pick up the two points that come along with it in their respective second cars. Despite di Grassi completing two more laps than Buemi, the Swiss driver set fastest lap and ended up winning the championship by two points.
Montreal marks Formula E's first ever visit to Canada. The course will be 2.75 km, 1.71 miles in length and consist of 14 corners. This is the 16th different city Formula E has visited in its first three seasons. Race one will be on Saturday July 29th at 4:00 p.m. ET with the final race of the 2016-17 Formula E season taking place at 4:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 30th.
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