Renault e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi says losing out on the 2016/2017 Formula E title to Lucas di Grassi is “hard to accept” after his early domination.
Buemi scored six victorious over the course of the season, compared to di Grassi’s two, but picked up two disqualifications and was absent from the double-header in New York.
At the final weekend in Montreal, he damaged his monocoque in a heavy FP2 crash on Saturday, which gave him a 10-second grid penalty for the first ePrix.
He started 12th, but was shuffled back at the start, before recovering up to fourth by the finish – only to be disqualified after his car was found to be underweight.
With di Grassi winning, the Abt Audi Sport driver took over the championship lead ahead of Sunday’s final race – which Buemi qualified down in P13 for.
After first lap contact, Buemi was called into the pits for repairs, but the bodywork had already detached. He fell to last but bounced back to P11.
Di Grassi’s seventh place was enough to take the title, but Abt was unable to take the teams’ title away from Renault e.dams – securing it for the third year in a row.
“I’m a bit disappointed, honestly,” he said afterwards. “When you see the speed we had this year, to not win the championship is a bit hard to accept.
“But, I’d like to congratulate Lucas for the job he’s done. I think he’s done a great job this year. They’ve done a better job than us.
“We got disqualified twice and we missed two races, so it’s difficult to fight like that. I am happy for the Renault e.dams team, they really deserve this [teams’] title.
“The car was amazing for the whole season. Unfortunately, it has not ended well for me but that’s racing. We have to learn from our mistakes to come back stronger next year.”
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