DS Techeetah and Jean-Eric Vergne have taken full control over the 2018-2019 Formula E championship battles with just two races remaining on the schedule.
The theme of the 2018-2019 Formula E season had been parity throughout the majority of the season. But just like that, both the team and driver championship battles appear to be all but over.
DS Techeetah turned a 25-point lead (188 to 163) over Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler in second place in the team standings into a 43-point lead (216 to 173) over them in second after securing a victory in the 13-race season’s 11th race, the Swiss ePrix, at Bern Street Circuit while Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler secured finishes of sixth and ninth in this race.
Meanwhile, DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne turned a six-point lead (102 to 96) over Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi in second place in the driver standings into a 32-point lead over di Grassi (130 to 98) in second after dominating the Swiss ePrix from the pole position and going on to win it. Di Grassi finished this race in ninth.
More from Formula E
- 5 ways the McLaren Formula 1, IndyCar situations could play out
- Formula E champion responds to comical social media mix-up
- NASCAR not the only series with devastating sim consequences
- Formula E: 5 things we learned upon return in Saudi Arabia
- Change to Beyond the Flag power rankings for 2020
It took until the season’s eighth race for a team to win their second race of the season, illustrating just how much parity exists within Formula E, and it took until the season’s ninth race for a driver to win his second race this season.
Vergne, the reigning Formula E champion who did not win a race until he won the season’s sixth race, the Sanya ePrix, became the first two-time race winner this season by winning the season’s ninth race, the Monaco ePrix. Just as he did in the Swiss ePrix, he started from the pole position and led each and every lap of this race en route to winning it. This victory made DS Techeetah the second team to win two races this season, as Envision Virgin Racing were the first team to pull this off.
All season long, even right before the Swiss ePrix, the 2018-2019 championship battles both looked poised to come all the way down to the last few laps, if not the last lap, of the season finale, which is the second of two races of the New York City ePrix.
Now it would be shocking if DS Techeetah and the 29-year-old Frenchman haven’t already clinched their respective championships by the time the season’s penultimate race, the first race of the New York City ePrix, reaches its conclusion.
With a maximum of 29 points on the table for each driver in each race, including 25 for winning, three for taking the pole position and one for recording the fastest lap, a maximum of 58 points are still on the table for each driver throughout the remainder of this season.
For teams, a maximum of 47 points are on the table in each race, as they can score an additional 18 points for second place finishes, meaning that a maximum of 94 points are still on the table for each team throughout the remainder of this season.
With a 43-point lead over Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler in second place in the team standings and a 66-point lead over Envision Virgin Racing in third, just a solid performance by Vergne and teammate Andre Lotterer, who had a fourth place finish stripped from him in the Swiss ePrix, in the first race of the New York ePrix could secure DS Techeetah their first Formula E team championship before the season finale.
Additionally, with a 32-point lead over di Grassi in second place in the driver standings and a 43-point lead over Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans in third, a solid result for Vergne in the first race of the New York City ePrix could make him the first two-time champion in Formula E history even before the season finale begins as well.
Will DS Techeetah lock up the 2018-2019 Formula E team championship before the season finale rolls around? Will Jean-Eric Vergne lock up the driver championship before this race rolls around? With all things considered, both scenarios look fairly likely.