Buemi has 'no regrets,' di Grassi deserved Formula E title

Despite a disappointing weekend – which ended in a three-driver post-race confrontation on Saturday – Sebastien Buemi offered praise for new Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi after the Brazilian reversed a 10-point deficit in Montreal.

Buemi had a weekend to forget, losing out on the pole to di Grassi and then crashing heavily in practice on Saturday, which forced his Renault e.dams team to completely rebuild the car and, ultimately, for it to be underweight. It was this disqualification that effectively ended his hopes of retaining the title.

"I'm disappointed I didn't win but I don't take anything away from Lucas, he has done a great job," he said. "He competed in all the races and he deserved the championship.

"I've no regrets at all with my performance, I think I have done a good job," he said. "When you get disqualified twice and lose 22 points plus miss two races in a championship which only counts 12 races what do you do?

"The biggest problems obviously were to miss the two races (in New York) and the disqualifications."

The stewards took Saturday's crash circumstances into account but confirmed Buemi's exclusion.

In a statement, the stewards said: "The stewards note that this car was in large part destroyed in an accident during practice two. The team used a new monocoque, battery pack and gearbox as well as many other new parts.

"There was reportedly insufficient time to weight the car after the rebuild and before the race, even though the weighing platform schedule had been increased by 30 minutes the technical delegate. The team reportedly added 4 kg additional ballast to compensate for any weight variation in the rebuilt car.

"The competitor is reminded of his right to appeal in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Article 9.1.1 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules."

After making contact with several drivers during the race, Buemi walked down the pit lane and confronted several of them.

On Sunday, Buemi made a qualifying mistake that landed him 13th. In the race Antonio Felix da Costa tagged the back of his car as the field scrambled to avoid the TECHEETAH of Stephane Sarrazin, damaging the right-rear wheel guard. With the bit of bodywork flaying in the wind, Buemi was shown the black and orange flag, and before he could make it to the pits the loose part had fallen off. All this meant he effectively took a drive-through penalty, which dropped him to dead last. He made up a few spots to finish 11th.

"It’s not my call to judge," Buemi told Current E about being forced to stop for repairs. "But I’ve seen people who have lost that part and were not asked to stop. I’m a bit disappointed because they made me stop, but in the end, what did we do? We did nothing. We looked at the car for a couple of seconds and we restarted.

“Looking at it that way didn’t really make sense. I don’t know the regulations really around that. Maybe there is a specific rule and we have to accept it, I don’t know. I don’t know exactly the regulations.”

Despite several setbacks this season, Buemi was pleased with the way he drove over the course of the season, during which he won six races. He paid tribute to the work his team, which retained the Teams' Championship for the third year in a row, did to get his car ready for the first race in record time.

"It is amazing for the team and they deserve it because they worked so hard, especially here yesterday and it was difficult not to be able to reward them with a good result."

Quotes courtesy FIA Formula E