Formula E - The title decider

Piquet Jr became the first Formula E champion

As Formula E headed into London for the final race of the inaugural season, three men were in the fight for the championship: Lucas Di Grassi for the ABT team, Sebastien Buemi for eDams Renault, and Nelson Piquet Jr for the NEXTEV China Racing team. On Sunday,  after a thrilling finale, it was Piquet Jr who emerged as the series first ever champion, beating Buemi by just one, single, point, after starting way down the order.

Berlin

Di Grassi won in Berlin...for a while

The scene for a dramatic double-header finale was set back in May at Berlin, and earlier on this month in Mosocw. In Berlin, Jarno Trulli took a shock pole position, but Di Grassi took the lead on the opening lap, and then went on to dominate the race, to open up a big championship lead. Title rivals Buemi and Piquet Jr finished in 3rd and 5th, however things took a turn for the worse for Di Grassi, as he was excluded from the race results for a technical infringement, handing the victory to Jerome d'Amrbosio. This promoted Buemi to 2nd place and Piquet Jr to 4th, and left the latter at the top of the championship.

Moscow

Piquet Jr took a commanding win in Moscow

In Moscow, Jean-Eric Vergne took his third pole position of the year, but Piquet Jr jumped him at the start and never looked back , taking control of the race and dominating it, extending his championship lead even further as Di Grassi finished in 2nd place, and Buemi in 9th after being given a time penalty for an illegal overtake. As the Formula E paddock headed to Battersea Park in London, Piquet Jr lead Di Grassi by seventeen points, and lead Buemi by twenty three. No one knew at this stage, that at the end of the season, the difference would be one single point.

London-Race 1

Buemi dominated the race on Saturday

The first race in London, on the Saturday, started with Buemi on pole position, Di Grassi in P3 and Piquet Jr in P4. It started slightly embarrassingly for the organisers, as turn 1 was to narrow to accommodate standing start, so it had to start behind the safety car. This was rectified for the Sunday race, bu it wasn't exactly Formula E's best moment.

Vergne was the start of Saturday's race

Buemi dominated the race, leading nearly every lap and withstanding pressure from Jerome a'Ambrosio, who was in impressive form as the season reached its climax, but arguably the start of the race was Vergne. He started P5 but pulled off a great move on Pique Jr into turn 6/7, then round around the outside of Di Grassi in turn 13, locking up both front tyres but still pulling off an amazing pass. Vergne had nothing to lose, and just wanted to finish as high up as possible.

Prost almost got past Piquet Jr

The championship leader however, could not match the pace of the four guy's ahead of him, and started to drop back from Di Grassi. He did close up in the closing stages and almost made contact with the Brazilian, squirming under breaks at turn 14, but he then dropped back again, into the clutches of Nicolas Prost, who had been chasing him throughout the second stint of the race. Piquet held on, he had to. He couldn't afford to lose anymore points to Buemi and Di Grassi ahead.

Buemi closed in on Piquet Jr in the championship

Buemi then crossed the line to take a dominant victory in race 1, to close up to Piquet Jr in the championship and launch himself right back into the fight, after the penalty he received in Moscow. One round left, three men in the fight, with only one able to become champion.

London-Race 2

With turn 1 widened, the field launched from the grid, lead by Sarrazin

Sunday dawned and in qualifying alone, there was drama. Rain had resulted in a mixed up grid, with Stephane Sarrazin, Jerome d'Ambrosio, Loic Duval and Sam Bird the top four, with Buemi in 6th, Di Grassi 11th and Piquet Jr in 16th! With Di Grassi the outsider and Piquet Jr so far back, it looked like Buemi's to lose, and as the lights went out and the cars blasted down through the revised turn one, it all looked good for Buemi.

Piquet Jr went a lap longer than his rivals before pitting

Piquet Jr and China Racing went a lap longer than everyone else at the pitstops, allowing Piquet to have more energy in the second half of the race and thus provide him with more chances to attack. He had made a great start from 16th to 12th and was 10th after the pitstops, then Buemi spun on his out-lap and lost a place to Mahindra's Bruno Senna, and then the safety car came out, thanks to Fabio Leimer's Virgin hitting the wall at turn 6/7, the second crash of the day after Sakon Yamamoto speared into the back of Trulli. This was good news for Piquet Jr.

Bird took the fight to Sarrazin late on

The battle up at the front was getting just as intense as the battle for the title. Bird had got past Duval during the pitstops and then got past d'Ambrosio, and was now right with Sarrazin, and fighting for the lead at his home ePrix! However, as Bird and Sarrazin fought hard, Piquet Jr and Buemi were fighting even harder.

Buemi had to fight hard after spinning

Buemi was now pushing very hard to try and get past Senna, and things were unraveling for him. Piquet Jr's team-mate for the weekend, Oliver Turvey, stole fastest lap from Buemi, which deducted two points from his race result meaning the gap from himself to Piquet Jr was just two points. Turvey then let his team-mate through, meaning Buemi and he were level on points but it would still be Buemi's title thanks to three wins during the season compare to Piquet's two, but then Piquet found a way past Salvador Duran, bringing him into the lead of the championship again...by one point!

Piquet Jr became the first Formula E champion

Buemi got very aggressive with Senna. Nudging him and nudging him, desperate to find a way past but he couldn't do it, and as they crossed the line, it was Nelson Piquet Jr who was crowned the first ever Formula E drivers champion! At the front, Sarrazin had ran out of energy as he crossed the line and was given a time penalty, dropping him way down the order, handing Sam Bird the victory, followed by d'Ambrosio and Duval. The promotion of Buemi and Piquet Jr did not affect the championship results, and one hell of a debut season for the new electric racing series, was over.

Bird and d'Ambrossio celerbrate on the podium

Bird, d'Amrbosio, Duval and Piquet Jr all celebrated at the end of a championship fight that had gripped Motorsport fans all over the world. With new rules and many of the drivers returning, next season could be even better than this one! Can Piquet Jr defend the title? Will Buemi and Di Grassi get their revenge? I can't wait to find out! Until next time folks. Ciao.

Nelson Piquet Jr celebrates the title with his team

All images copyright of the FIA Formula E Championship