Top 10 Formula E drivers of season two - Part 2
In the second half of our countdown, Sam Smith reveals who he thinks have been the five top drivers in season two of the FIA Formula E Championship.
Photo by: Adrien Clement
5. 
Robin Frijns
Off-track, the phlegmatic Dutchman plays it cool to the point where his razor-edge and astonishing reflexes at the wheel seem to be channelled from another planet entirely.
Frijns is, of course, well-known to all on the racing scene after half a dozen years carving a fine reputation in single-seaters, but he was still the find of the season from a Formula E point of view.
Yet, at the start of the campaign it didn’t look like much of a chance at all. The Andretti team aborted its ATEC-01 design and reverted back to the Spark-Renault package.
But Frijns simply got on with the job and impressed the team mightily with his assured racing instinct.
A fine example of his fortitude was getting his severely damaged car to the line in Putrajaya to claim a proud and well-deserved third place. Like some of his overtaking moves in season two, it had to be seen to be believed.
Combing through his displays in season two, there are no real duds there, and even the races where he was not within serious points-scoring range bore witness to something memorable, such as his wondrous pass of Loic Duval at Berlin.
If Andretti provides him with a good package for season three, it is difficult to see Frijns not winning a race. The excitement when he goes on a charge is palpable, and it is hoped that his abundant talent is rewarded more fully in his second season.
4. 
Antonio Felix da Costa
On sheer talent alone, 'AFDC' is vying with Sam Bird to get in to the top three in this list. The problem is his season was blighted with a myriad of issues, usually not of his making.
Time and time again, Felix da Costa would maximise every facet of the Team Aguri Spark-Renault package, yet his efforts and skill often went unrewarded.
It says much for the likeable Portuguese driver's professionalism that the frustration was confined to the pit office and did not spill over publicly. You could almost hear a trailing primal scream coming from his helmet after he lost podium and point chances.
A potential crack at a back-to-back win in Buenos Aires was the nadir of his season after the breakage of a safety cap piece in the electrical plumbing of his car.
Team Aguri’s best asset deserved much more after showing so much promise in the inaugural season. But, a fractured team structure, sloppy engineering calls and abject operational farragos made for a needlessly miserable season.
Felix da Costa, who is expected to sign for Andretti in the wake of BMW’s increasing involvement in Formula E, is a future title winner, and along with probable future teammate Frijns, is part of a New Model Army of racing talent that is set to challenge the di Grassi-Buemi-Bird elite.
3. 
Sam Bird
Bird arrived at the opening Beijing race on a massive high after a superb debut season had rejuvenated his single-seater career.
After becoming WEC LMP2 champion with G-Drive Racing a few weeks later and then putting pen to paper for Ferrari, Bird scored a welcome but surprise podium in Putrajaya, which was followed by a pole and win in Buenos Aires.
It was a mighty race that Bird drove in Argentina: a consummate display of controlled aggression that deserves to rank as one of the best in the category's brief history.
Bird got much more from the Virgin DSV-01 than Jean-Eric Vergne did in the early races of season two. The British racer almost seemed to develop a bespoke style of planting the car to the track through an elaborate and highly entertaining hustling method. However he did it, it worked.
The genesis of DS Virgin’s upturn in form after an inauspicious start in China started to gain traction in Uruguay, but a battery issue masked a potential second consecutive podium charge.
The transformation was the result of some hard graft by the DS Virgin engineers, and it set up the possibility of an unlikely title sniff for Bird.
Like all the runners in season two, Bird’s campaign was not without errors, but unlike Buemi, his were made in the heat of battle, most notably at Long Beach and Paris.
The fact remained though that Bird really got the best from the DSV-01 and outscored a highly-rated teammate by 88 to 56 points.
In so doing, Bird became a target for rival teams, but stayed true to the DS Virgin outfit with which he operated at a stellar level on many occasions this season.
2. 
Sebastien Buemi
His talent is beyond dispute and his commitment to the cause this year was plainly seen at the end of the final round when emotion briefly engulfed him.
In exploiting the traction of his Renault Z.E.15, particularly on the exit of corners, Buemi was in a league of his own this season. This, combined with the development of some high-end Sachs dampers and the weight-gained from some tasty carbon-fibre encased motor bellhousing and gearbox, meant Buemi had a very rapid car under him.
At three of the races, he pretty much ran and hid. On his day, he was simply unbeatable.
Still, the much-highlighted mistakes ensured the title went to the wire when it need not have done so. This is easy to state after the events, but the errors in Punta del Este (qualifying), Buenos Aires (qualifying) and at the inaugural Mexico ePrix cast doubt on whether the pressure of being favourite for the title was having a detrimental effect.
Mind you, without his mistake in Argentina, arguably the greatest drive in the series' history would not have taken place. The Swiss was magnificent that day, and this alone was a performance worthy of a champion as he scythed through the field from last to second.
Buemi is a thoughtful racer and a fine ambassador for Renault, but sometimes seems to get overwrought in the cockpit. Only he knows whether this has any bearing on the occasional error, but evidence suggests it is at least a contributory factor.
Overall though, Buemi proved a worthy champion and will start the season three campaign with renewed motivation to defend his crown, one which saw the hardworking Swiss driver's commitment victoriously fulfilled.
1. 
Lucas di Grassi
Buemi and di Grassi are chalk and cheese: vastly different characters, with distinct outlooks on racing. Luckily for us, they have entered in to a fascinating rivalry in Formula E.
The only similarities they possess are an inherent skill in driving Formula E cars very quickly indeed. But, while Buemi’s path to the title was sometimes filled with doubt, di Grassi played the underdog role with aplomb and should have sealed the title with a round to spare.
Di Grassi’s aberration at Battersea was there for all to see. It was a mistake and a big one at that. Whether the intent was just to destabilise his rival is sealed away in the Brazilian’s mind.
In di Grassi’s head, there surely lingered two residual notions of why he should have gone in to the final race needing to outscore Buemi.
One was Mexico and the disqualification for his Abt Schaeffler FE01 for being underweight, but perhaps also there was the nagging question that, had he properly interpreted teammate Daniel Abt’s offer of an extra three points on the penultimate lap in Berlin, then maybe the outlook could have been slightly different.
Of course, it would still have meant di Grassi had to beat Buemi in the last round, but nevertheless it could have been useful.
The fact remains that di Grassi performed superbly in season two and was consistently the best racer. His Abt Schaeffler FE01 was a fine car, but probably not a great one in the mould of the Renault. Deficiencies in pace were made up for in consistent brilliance, as pre-Battersea he didn’t leave a single point on the table.
That the Brazilian could emerge from the psychological pummelling of Mexico and then win in imperious fashion at Long Beach and Paris told you everything you needed to know about the formula’s benchmark campaigner.
The rest
Stephane Sarrazin’s experience certainly aided Venturi as the campaign wore on. With the tiny Venturi VM200 motor proving to be a reliable and useful package, the French veteran put in several first-rate performances on his way to scoring points in every single round.
Long Beach was his best result with a sound runner-up position, but it was Berlin, where he recovered from a qualifying shunt to grab a last-ditch point, where he really excelled.
Sarrazin, one of the best all-round and meticulous racers in motorsport, was susceptible to errors, but luckily for him, the majority of these came in practice and qualifying.
He has got what it takes to win races in Formula E, and indeed probably already should have achieved at least one victory.
With his continued and loyal service to Venturi in season three, expect the veteran racer to be a dark horse to scratch that victory itch in season three.
Mike Conway enjoyed an excellent start to his Formula E career with a seamless debut in Buenos Aires where he qualified a sensational fifth. He couldn’t quite follow that up in the race after a spin, but clearly he took to the series very quickly.
Conway had another impressive run in Paris and had the pace to challenge at the very front, but his prospects were destroyed when he hit Nick Heidfeld, who pulled in to his path after recovering from his own shunt.
Venturi has yet to confirm Conway for a third season, but the British driver deserves a full campaign on the basis of his six races in season two.
Conway replaced Jacques Villeneuve in January - and, depending on who you spoke to, Villeneuve had either grown tired of reliability issues at the team, or the team had grown tired of Villeneuve’s damaged cars.
The truth was probably somewhere in the middle, and it suited both to cease the partnership there and then. It was a shame in some respects, as the former F1 champion seemed, out of the cockpit at least, reasonably relaxed.
Loic Duval started excellently with a third place on the grid at Putrajaya and then strong performances in the Malaysian race and then at Punta del Este. That, however, was the peak for Duval, as his season soon petered out.
A quartet of fourth places was scant return for the talented Frenchman, and it seemed an arduous end to the season as he bogged down badly in the midfield.
The team showed it had faith in him by acquiring his signature for another season, but there will be a certain amount of pressure on him should he not be able to match his team mate d’Ambrosio in the first half of next term.
It was another indifferent season for Daniel Abt in the second Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport car. Yes, he contributed a healthy 68 points to the teams’ title quest, but the German, one of the nicest and engaging people in the paddock, would be honest enough to admit it should have been more.
A test at Varano before the Mexico City ePrix proved to be a breakthrough for Abt, but Berlin was by far his best weekend of the year and the way he handled himself in the maelstrom of the post-race ‘team orders’ questions was a credit to him as a sportsman.
Abt, like Prost, will get a third season in Formula E, and although more consistency is needed next season, he deserves his place on the grid.
Bruno Senna had a poor year by his standards, suffering far too many off-track excursions. His continuation with the Mahindra Racing had been under question prior to the start of the season, and it seems unlikely now that he will stay for a third.
In some ways, it is a shame as when he is on it, the Brazilian can go up against the very best. He showed this at Long Beach and Battersea on his way to a final points haul which was just one behind his teammate Heidfeld.
Nelson Piquet Jr cut a dejected figure from the very first public testing at Donington Park. where deficiencies of the NEXTEV TCR FormulaE 001 were revealed.
By Beijing, Piquet knew it was to be a long season, but to his credit the reigning champion knuckled down and abetted the team in developing the car.
The frustration occasionally came to the boil, especially at Mexico City, where Piquet crashed spectacularly at the first corner.
At the time of writing. Piquet’s future in Formula E remained unclear, with mixed messages coming from both NEXTEV team management and its driver.
On one level, Piquet has been loyal to the team that took him to the title, yet on the other an offer from Jaguar is believed to be waiting for a potential signature. It could be a momentous summer for arguably the series' biggest name.
Simona de Silvestro took time to familiarise herself with the quirks and idiosyncrasies of Formula E, but was eventually able to score some respectable results in the second Andretti car.
The Swiss lady's season will probably be somewhat unfairly remembered for her practice shunt in Buenos Aires, but typically she came back without a flinch and finished off the season with several determined performances. However, it is unlikely to be enough for another drive in season three.
Nathanael Berthon competed in the first three rounds of the season for Team Aguri, but was replaced at Buenos Aires by team old boy Salvador Duran.
Berthon scored an eighth place on his debut at Beijing, but struggled with the braking of the Formula E car and never looked completely comfortable.
Duran, treated shabbily by the now-defunct Trulli squad, took in the next three races but with little impact. He in turn lost his seat to Ma Qing Hua just before the Paris race.
The Chinese driver struggled to adapt in his three events, and will have to step up significantly if he is to keep a full-time seat at the newly-formed Techeetah team for the duration of season three.
Oliver Rowland deputised for an injured Nick Heidfeld at Punta del Este but underwhelmed the team. It was a big ask to come in at such short notice, but after Oliver Turvey’s one-off at Battersea earlier in 2015, the bar had been set for newcomers, whatever the circumstances.
Rene Rast stepped in to Felix da Costa’s cockpit for a one-off at Berlin and acquitted himself very well indeed, proving to be quick, reliable and worthy of another chance should one emerge in the future.
The Trulli farce in China and Malaysia was not really a surprise to anyone who had witnessed the team's labours at the official Donington Park test, when a forklift was utilised to get the Italian-built Motomatica power unit to cough briefly into life.
After logistical and financial issues in China, the mess was dealt with swiftly by, among others, Formula E Holdings Ltd, and the team ceased to exist. Of course, it was sad to see the team go, but walking wounded teams really had no place in Formula E as the series continued to grow.
Quite how a shrewd businessman and racer like Jarno Trulli allowed his name to be continuously dragged through the mud will be an eternal wonder, as will the team's decision to not revert to the season one set-up like Andretti after the Donington 'tests'.
The teams’ treatment of Duran in China, when it effectively fired the Mexican even though it could not provide a car for him, was nothing short of disgraceful.
Tonio Liuzzi’s time was also wasted, and the whole sorry mess was mercifully ended as 2015 drew to a close.
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