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When Sebastien Buemi’s left-front wheel clipped the inside wall for the chicane in Montreal, it ignited a sequence of events that ultimately conspired to ruin his championship challenge.
Up until that point it had been an almost textbook campaign for the defending champion. True there had been a below par performance in Mexico, where he failed to ace qualifying and then had a quick spin in the race as he tried to make his way up the order at a track where overtaking was unusually tricky.
But that race had come off the back of a hat-trick of wins in the opening three races and presaged back-to-back dominant wins from pole in Monaco and Paris. In that context, it was hardly cause for concern.
The Renault e.dams team took a set-up gamble to counter the unique demands of the Tempelhof airfield circuit and it backfired in race one. Buemi struggled badly in qualifying and lined up a distant 14th, but pre-race tweaks restored the competitiveness and he charged up to sixth in the race.
However, the car failed post-race checks due to illegal tyre pressures and for the first time in more than a whole season, he failed to score a point. Still, when Felix Rosenqvist was penalsied for an unsafe release in race two he was promoted to yet another win – his sixth in eighth races.
This could, and should, have been a crucial win as he was destined to miss the next two races in New York. A calendar clash between Formula E and the World Endurance Championship meant both Renault and Toyota had claims on his time. The WEC deal had been signed first and meant it had precedence and left Buemi contesting the championship over just 10 rounds compared to 12 for his rivals, principally Lucas di Grassi.
Still, he returned to the series for the Montreal with a 10-point lead. The championship was still his to lose…
That brush with the wall caused his car to spear head-on into the outside wall of the chicane. The car was wrecked, which meant not only would the team be up against it to have it rebuilt in time for the race, he’d also need to take a 10-place grid penalty for having to change the battery.
It was the former of these that proved to be the more costly. Completing the car with just seconds to spare, the team didn’t have time to ensure that it conformed to the minimum weight limit, so despite Buemi producing an excellent drive to fourth – despite having to pit for a new front wing – he would score nothing. And with di Grassi winning the race from pole, a 10-point lead had turned into an 18-point deficit and he faced a near impossible task to win the championship.
Drawn in the first qualifying group he faced an almost impossible task to make Super Pole, and left in the midfield mire there was yet more first-lap shenanigans and Buemi’s season, which had started in such brilliantly explosive style, faded out with a whimper.