Buemi: 'We're getting stronger and could've had more'

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Buemi: 'We're getting stronger and could've had more'

Sebastien Buemi is back! The Swiss has had a tougher couple of seasons than he might have been used to in the past in Formula E, but he's been right up there so far in GEN3.

Buemi celebrates pole position in Diriyah Formula E E-Prix

Season 2 ABB FIA Formula E Champion Sebastien Buemi is a 100-plus-race veteran of the series, and he's used to competing for silverware and fighting with the best of them out front. Over the last couple of seasons, however, the podium evaded him and a low of 21st in the Drivers' standings in Season 7 was uncharted territory.

This season, though, he's been a consistent fixture in the top six with sixth, fourth and sixth across the first three rounds of the 2022/23 campaign and plenty of one-lap and race pace to go with it.

READ MORE: Five things we learned under the stars in Diriyah

Buemi made his 99th race start from Julius Baer Pole Position on Friday in race one, and steered to fourth come the chequered flag - having led early on. The Envision Racing-run I-TYPE 6 proved to be one of the best packages of the weekend in Diriyah, second only to the Porsches, and the customer team set about making best use of that.

Round 3 marked race 100 for the 34-year-old and he made the Semis in the Duels, before claiming sixth over the line - sneaking by Jaguar TCS Racing's Mitch Evans as he crunched Jake Hughes (NEOM McLaren) right at the start/finish.

That Round 2 result was his best since the Berlin finale in Season 6 where he made the podium, and Buemi feels like a corner has been turned.

"It was a good weekend," he said. "Finishing in the points in both races plus the pole position for race one. I had a good car and I think in race two I was a bit unlucky at the start to lose two positions... which put me at a disadvantage.

"I had plenty of energy left at the end of the race which was an improvement on Round 2, and I felt like I could have achieved more.

Buemi 100th race Diriyah Formula E

"I did get lucky at the final corner where Hughes lost power and his car shut down, which meant I could pass Mitch (Evans) at the line. I narrowly missed out on taking Hughes, too, by a few thousandths of a second. 

"I feel we're getting stronger and now we can regroup and look towards India - we're getting better and better."

Filippi: 'Points were the objective'

With Buemi's teammate Nick Cassidy qualifying 10th then finishing sixth in race one, Team Principal Sylvain Filippi was more than happy with their weekend haul.

"It was an eventful and productive day's racing [on Saturday]," said Filippi. "The objective was to score points but we're still learning.

"It's very early days in the GEN3 era and it's important to understand what works and what doesn't work with the car."