There was no doubt that Lucas di Grassi had been unlucky not to have won at least one FIA Formula E Championship as its third season dawned.
Amid the neon optical overload of downtown commercial Hong Kong in October 2016, his title year started as brightly as the sky-scrapers on Formula E’s exciting new vista.
But while the Brazilian driver took a second place in Hong Kong and another podium at Marrakech, his nemesis Sebastien Buemi looked unstoppable and blitzed the field to take an unprecedented hat-trick from the opening trio of races.
Next came Mexico City and a season on from Di Grassi’s harrowing disqualification from the top step of the podium in a moment which cost him the 2015-16 crown.
‘In season two we brought new (wheel) rims to Mexico and we were underweight and got disqualified,’ recalls Franco Chiocchetti, di Grassi’s engineer at the time.
‘I took that hard because it cost him [di Grassi] the title. We didn’t speak for a few weeks, so you can say that there was more than an element of revenge in what happened in 2017.
After the podium in Mexico, Chiocchetti had a rare quiet moment with his charge.
‘I whispered to Lucas and I said: ‘My head is clear now, we have the revenge and we have ticked this bloody box in Mexico. He gave me a big smile. It was a very nice moment.’
But there were still demons to slay for di Grassi. Not least coming back from a cracked bone in his right leg after a clash of limbs with a footballing rival during a charity match at Chelsea FC’s Stamford Bridge in late May.
The injury didn’t affect his performance too much at the vital Berlin EPrix double header in early June when he took a second and third place. It did though require surgery ahead of the next round, the first ever New York City EPrix. The medical procedure also lost him the chance to represent Ferrari at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Another huge plot twist came in the Big Apple when Buemi, who comfortably led the points table by 32-points was forced to miss the double-header round. This was because he was held to his Toyota FIA WEC contract and had to race at the clashing Nürburgring event forcing his Renault edams team to call upon Pierre Gasly.
While Gasly shone on his debut, as did debut pole sitter Alex Lynn who was deputising for DS Virgin’s equal indisposed Jose-Maria Lopez, Buemi suffered a difficult weekend in Germany. Publicly and privately fumed about the fixture congestion.
Di Grassi couldn’t fully capitalise and took just a fourth and fifth place finish at the Red Hook located track which presented a stunning Manhatten backdrop to Agag’s long held dream of racing in the world’s most famous city.
Arriving at the Montreal double-header on the final weekend of July, Buemi still had a ten-point cushion and remained the favourite.
But the weekend turned in to a nightmare for the reigning champion. The chance to retain his championship were compromised by a huge practice accident and then an equally spectacular pitlane meltdown after the first race. This saw him finish a fighting fourth but lose the title lead and thus all the momentum to race one winner di Grassi.
Behind the visor Buemi had a lot on his plate that weekend. Three years on he was ready to tell the full story.
‘My life back then was difficult. My wife was pregnant, she had a big infection, so she was in hospital for two weeks,” says Buemi.
‘I had just had this New York and Nürburgring clash thing which was a major problem. Mentally, I was drained. It was hard, very hard mentally.
‘Then I had this crash in the morning, and I was pissed off at everyone about the fact I had to miss those (New York) races, because I felt like we could have avoided it. I could have done much better in Montreal to be honest, but it’s easier to say afterwards.’
For di Grassi the mission was accomplished on Sunday 30 July after a comfortable run to seventh position, while Buemi was hustled out in several on-track battles and came home a dispirited 11th.
‘The feeling was immense, it felt so good,’ says di Grassi who had seen his long Formula E journey finally reach the promised land. ‘We celebrated like you wouldn’t believe and we felt as though we deserved it because the battle had been super tough, super epic.’
Also in season three a potent new talent emerged on the Formula E scene in the shape of Felix Rosenqvist. The Swede took a stunning pole position in only his second EPrix at Marrakech and then won the first race in Berlin in convincing style for Mahindra.
‘We found a gem that’s for sure,’ recalls Mahindra boss Dilbagh Gill. ‘He had actually been offered the seat when Nick (Heidfeld) hurt his hand in Putrajaya in season two, but the funny thing was he never called us back!
‘Then we tested him in the summer of 2016 and our engineers just said: ‘Dilbagh, you have to get this guy in our car’. We did and we never regretted it.’
