Formula E: The championship battle we could’ve had last season

The 2018-2019 Formula E championship battle could very well come down to the sport’s most recent two champions, a battle that we could’ve had last season.

With 10 races down and three races remaining on the 2018-2019 Formula E schedule, the top five drivers in the driver standings seem to have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.

These five drivers are the only five drivers who have a chance to lead the driver standings following the 11th race on the schedule, the Bern ePrix, as they are all within 21 points of one another at the top of the standings and a maximum of 29 points (25 for winning, three for taking the pole position and one for recording the fastest lap) are on the table for each driver in each race.

But the top two drivers in the driver standings have managed to somewhat separate themselves from the other three drivers in the top five.

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These two drivers are the most recent two champions of the sport, 2016-2017 champion Lucas di Grassi of Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler and 2017-2018 champion Jean-Eric Vergne of DS Techeetah.

Vergne leads the driver standings with 102 points while di Grassi trails him in second place by just six points with 96.

Last season, Vergne and di Grassi finished in first and second place, respectively in the driver standings, but there was really no championship battle between the two drivers. Vergne secured the championship with one race remaining on the 12-race schedule, and di Grassi wasn’t even in second in the standings heading into the season finale.

Yet it was di Grassi who finished the season with seven consecutive top two finishes, including two victories, to propel himself into second place in the final championship standings.

But because of the fact that di Grassi’s start to the season was so disastrous and Vergne remained extremely consistent throughout the season by never finishing outside of the top 10 and only finishing outside of the top five in one race, di Grassi never even had a chance to challenge Vergne and ultimately fell 54 points shy of him (198 to 144) in second place in the driver standings.

In the season’s first five races, di Grassi recorded just one top 13 finish, a ninth place finish. He was forced to retire in two of the other four races, and he finished the other two in 14th and 17th.

Neither Vergne nor di Grassi had a spectacular start to the 2018-2019 season, but they have both managed to stay neck-and-neck, unlike last season. Through the season’s first 10 races, they are the only two drivers who have earned two victories, and they have both recorded one second place finish as well.

As a result, we could very well end up with the championship battle we could’ve had last season, this season. Had the 2017-2018 season been a few races longer, we may very well have had it, and with three races remaining on this year’s schedule, the sport’s most recent two champions are already in a tight battle to become the first two-time Formula E champion.

Will the 2018-2019 Formula E championship battle come down to the past two champions of the sport? If so, which driver, Lucas di Grassi or Jean-Eric Vergne, will become the first two-time champion in the sport’s history?