Opinion: Top 10 Formula E Races of All Time

With the 50th Formula E race coming up this Sunday in Hong Kong, it’s time to look back at the previous 49 races and pick out 10 of the best ePrix that Formula E has produced in the series’ short, exciting history.

Four different drivers from four different teams have won the drivers’ championship and 10 different drivers have won a race with 16 drivers taking a pole position. The competitiveness and the racing is top notch and the founder and now chairman of the sport, Alejandro Agag, must be very proud of what he has created.

It is so hard to choose the best 10 races because there have been so many great races and moments, but I have had a go and here are my picks:

10) Puntajaya, Season Two – Mayhem in Malaysia

After dominating the opening round of the season in Beijing, Sebastian Buemi and Renault E.dams were favourites for the second round in Malaysia. He was leading the way until he stopped on track, having to reset his car which cost him a huge amount of time.

Nicolas Prost took the lead but a flying Luca Di Grassi stole it on lap 24. Antonio Felix Da Costa took second but then he stopped out on track. Prost started to go backwards and went deep into a corner, putting him down the order. The Dragons were looking good for the podium until they both retired through a gearbox problem for Loic Duval and a crash for Jerome d’Ambrosio.

Di Grassi skipped away from the madness to win the race with Sam Bird going from 14th to 2nd and Robin Frijns limping across the line to just take 3rd.

9) Buenos Aries Season One – Street Circuits Punish The Best

Race leaders dropped out one by one in Argentina in the second half of an enthralling race. Karun Chandhok proved that the walls and kerbs were ready to punish the drivers for the smallest of errors. After a safety car restart, race leader Buemi nudged the inside wall to retire from the race in the exact same spot as Chandhok. Then, Di Grassi had a suspension failure at the same chicane as he crashed out from the lead.

As the battles raged on in the midfield, Antonio Felix da Costa took victory and it would be Amlin Aguri’s one and only win in Formula E.

8) Beijing Season One – First ever race, last lap chaos

The first race of the all electric racing series produced a classic moment that will live in the history books of Formula E history.

Nicolas Prost led all the way until the final corner of the last lap of the race. Nick Heidfeld had closed the gap to Prost and made an overtaking manoeuvre going into the final turn. Prost moved over very late which meant the two collided which sent Heidfeld into a spin and he caught a kerb sideways, and flipped into the barrier in dramatic style.

Neither finished the race and Heidfeld was unhurt. It gave Luca Di Grassi the honours of winning the first ever Formula E race.

It was the closest ‘Quick Nick’ (Heidfeld) ever got to a win in Formula E as he never crossed the line in first position.

7) Santiago Season Four – The Battle of the Techeetahs

Everyone loves a teammate battle (that is, if you are not part of the team) and when it is for the lead, the tension ramps up a few levels. Last year in Chile we got exactly that as Vergne and Lotterer duelled it out for the win. Lotterer was searching for his first win in Formula E so was doing everything to try and overtake his teammate.

They went wheel to wheel and even hit each other which sent everyone’s heartrates flying. Things did settle but the battle for the podium continued as Buemi tried to fend off Felix Rosenqvist and Sam Bird. Buemi just held on whilst Techeetah made history be taking a 1-2, the first time that has happened in Formula E.

6) London Season Two, Race Two – When Di Grassi hit Buemi

The final race of Season two was a championship showdown between Di Grassi and Buemi. It could not have started more dramatically as Di Grassi crashed into the back of Buemi, effectively ending any hope of them scoring points. If neither scored points, Di Grassi would be champion.

To this day, I think Di Grassi intentionally crashed into Buemi – it turned out that he didn’t do enough.

Two points were awarded for whoever set the fastest lap of the race so Buemi and Di Grassi got into their spare cars and both tried to set the fastest time they could possibly do. Di Grassi and Audi didn’t stop playing games as they tried to prevent Buemi from setting a quick lap by putting their car just in front of Buemi’s to impeded his laptime.

Buemi managed to do it in the end and he became season two champion.

5) Marrakesh, Season Five – Teammates collide and a euphoric winner

The second round of season give was another action packed affair as more drama occurred at the front of the race. Jean Eric-Vergne tried a lunge into turn one at the start of the race on Sam Bird for the lead put he just turned himself around.

Bird appeared to struggle and soon, the two BMW’s of Antonio Felix Da Costa and Alexander Sims overtook him after 11 laps. Jerome d’Ambrosio and Di Grassi overtook the Brit as well and it looked as if BMW were going to take back to back wins after winning the season opener in Ad Diriyah. But, approaching turn seven on the lap 26, Sims challenged his teammate Da Costa for the lead on the outside line as both drivers locked their brakes. Da Costa couldn’t stop in time and hit the barriers whilst Sims made it through the corner although he fell from second to fourth. It was mad.

D’Ambrosio had been closing which prompted the Sims move but the Belgian now found himself in the lead. The safety car to move Da Costa’s car out of the way took a long time so we had a last lap dash for the win.

D’Ambrosio just about held off Robin Frijns despite locking his tyres at the final right-hand corner to win the race and his celebration on the team radio and after the race put a smile on everyone’s race. To see the passion from d’Ambrosio was beautiful to see.

4) Punta Del Este, Season Four – A Pure Motorsport Duel

The duel between Vergne and Di Grassi in Punta Del Este last year was one of the most exciting race-long battles I have ever seen in motorsport and this race is underrated in my opinion. I remember very well yelling with excitement at the TV and just loved every single second of it.

It was pure racing. Although there was no overtake, there was literally millimetres between them at times and the intensity, the excitement and the tension was sky-high. They were both right in the limit as they maxed out the braking zones and the speed they could carry through each of the turns.

Vergne came out on top but I think the pure racing fans won that day as its not often you see two drivers at the front of the race in a league of their own but racing that close to each other all race long.

3) London Season One – The Fight To Be The First Champion

Nelson Piquet, Sebastien Buemi and Luca Di Grassi all went into the final race of the inaugural Formula E season with a chance to be the first ever champion. Championship leader Piquet led the championship but qualified down in 16th with his rivals further up the grid.

It made Buemi favourite but he spun early in the race which cost him a position, but a position which proved to be crucial later in the race. The championship swung between Piquet and Buemi as the positions changed throughout the race and Buemi knew he needed to overtake Bruno Senna to become champion after Piquet put himself in a championship winning position.

Senna defended vigorously in the remaining few laps and Buemi just could not go past despite drawing alongside the Brazilian on numerous occasions. It gave Piquet the glory of becoming the first ever Formula E champion but my goodness was it dramatic.

2) Mexico City, Season Three – The Greatest Comeback

Di Grassi started down all the way in 16th and was forced to pit for a new rear wing after getting hit by Maro Engel. The 34-year-old was nearly a lap down but a mid race safety car helped him rejoin the back of the pack, albeit still in last place.

There was heartbreak for Oliver Turvey as his NextEV NIO came to a halt after he lead the opening dozen laps. This brought out the safety car and intelligently, Di Grassi along with Jerome d’Ambrosio elected to make their mandatory car swap on lap 18 under safety car conditions so they would effectively get a free pitstop – however they would have to save a lot of energy.

Whilst everyone else pitted under green flag conditions, they lost a lot more time so Di Grassi and d’Ambrosio found themselves at the front of the race with a huge lead. Disaster struck as another safety car came out which closed everyone up and the two race leaders had substantially less energy than the rest of the field.

However, Jose Maria Lopez and Vergne fought each other very hard for third as they knew Di Grassi and d’Ambrosio would effectively be sitting ducks. Vergne was very angry with Lopez’s robust defending.

Lopez went for a move on d’Ambrosio but he spun and Buemi nearly collected him. d’Ambrosio was now defending hard from Vergne as a huge group of cars were within just a few seconds of each other. The battling allowed Di Grassi to gain a 3-4 second lead.

Vergne and Sam Bird eventually both overtook d’Ambrosio with Bird boldly going all the way round the outside of the Belgian at turns two and three.

In the midfield, there was a spectacular crash as contact between Prost and Heidfeld caused havoc.

Back at the front, Di Grassi somehow saved enough energy and had enough pace to win the race after a brilliant strategy call. Di Grassi said in Formula E you can go from “Heaven to Hell in one go.” Nothing is certain.

1) Mexico City, Season Five – More Magic in Mexico

This was actually the latest round in Formula E and it was simply incredible. Its number one, not because it is the freshest ePrix in my mind but because it was genuinely outstanding as to what played out and I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it.

Pascal Wehrlein took a maiden pole position to make it four different pole sitters this season and led the opening laps.

A red flag was brought out due to a crash between Nelson Piquet and Jean Eric Vergne. But, the clock was reset and we got the racing going again. We had a three car train consisting of Wehrlein, Oliver Rowland and Di Grassi who were all on the limit and pushing very hard which made for another pure motorsport battle. Again, no overtaking, just nose to tail racing.

But, with just a few minutes remaining it became apparent that most of the field has miscalculated how much energy against how many laps were left to do. Everyone started to save a lot of energy and Wehrlein had to get super defensive against Di Grassi for the lead, after the Brazilian cleverly overtook Rowland.

Wehrlein was doing everything he could and was right on the limit of defence as he was desperate for a maiden win after coming second in Santiago previously. On the last lap, Wehrlein cut one of the chicanes (and was given a five second time penalty after the race for not coming to a stop) as the two Nissans of Rowland and Buemi completely ran out of energy and dropped like a stone down the order.

Wehrlein defended at every corner but he ran out of energy just 100M from the line and Di Grassi slid across the finish line in first place. It was unbelievable and Di Grassi had done wonders again in Mexico.

Its hard to put into words the excitement that unfolded in the closing minutes, but even without that madness Formula E still produced some pure racing in the midpart of the ePrix.

The Final Words

Formula E has delivered in abundance this season with every race this year ranging from great to off the scale amazing. It has gained in popularity but it’s still dismissed by many despite the excitement and the good racing which you don’t get in other motorsports. They’re the ones missing out, and all of these races in this list prove why Formula E is so great to watch.