After this weekend’s season-ending London E-Prix, the last two active drivers who competed in Formula E’s inaugural race in 2014 will bow out of the all-electric championship.
Sebastien Buemi will now focus on his WEC programme with Toyota, while Lucas Di Grassi is retiring from racing altogether. Combined, they have taken 21 pole positions (including 17 for record co-holder Buemi) and a whopping 78 podium finishes featuring 28 victories, having claimed the 2015-16 and 2016-17 titles respectively.
The two men were unshakeable frontrunners in the Gen1 era, so let’s look at the moments that wrote Formula E’s early history.
2012-2014 – Di Grassi, Buemi commit to all-new championship
You would be forgiven for forgetting this Formula E prototype, driven by Di Grassi here, ever existed
Photo by: Getty Images
Renault was among the first manufacturers to express interest in Formula E, having joined the championship as a technical partner in May 2013, providing its engine to all cars in the first campaign. In June 2014, two and a half months before the season opener, the Renault-backed e.dams squad announced Buemi and Nicolas Prost as its drivers.
A grand prix driver until 2011, the 25-year-old Swiss had switched to endurance racing and was in the midst of a title-winning campaign with Toyota, while acting as Red Bull’s F1 reserve driver.
But Di Grassi had been the very first driver to commit to Formula E – first as a development driver for the championship from September 2012 onwards, before being announced alongside Daniel Abt in the Audi-backed eponymous outfit in February 2014.
Having competed in the 2010 F1 season, the 29-year-old Brazilian was Pirelli’s tester in 2011 before racing with Audi in the WEC – which only turned into a full-time programme in 2014.
2014 Beijing E-Prix – Di Grassi becomes Formula E’s first-ever winner
The inaugural Formula E championship got under way in September at the 3.45km (2.15mi) Beijing track, the longest on the calendar. Prost took pole ahead of Di Grassi, with Buemi down in ninth.
Fifth-starting Nick Heidfeld passed Karun Chandhok at the start and gained two more spots in the pitstop sequence – drivers had to change cars due to low battery life – before putting Prost under pressure.
Heidfeld eventually dove down the inside at the last corner on the final lap, with Prost’s late defensive swerve causing contact. The e.dams’ front suspension was broken, and Venturi’s Heidfeld flew into the air. Di Grassi inherited the victory; Buemi retired because of gearbox issues.
Di Grassi won Formula E’s very first race in unlikely circumstances
Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / LAT Images via Getty Images
“We were a bit lucky, but I was happy to be in the right place today,” Di Grassi said. “I didn’t see the accident, but the main thing is that Nick is OK, which proves that this car is absolutely safe.”
2014 Punta del Este E-Prix – Buemi breaks his duck
After Sam Bird won in Putrajaya, with Di Grassi and Buemi alongside him on the podium, it took only one more race for the latter to record his first win.
While Jean-Eric Vergne took a shock pole position from Nelson Piquet Jr, he lost the lead at the start and had to muscle his way past the Brazilian to retrieve it.
An unfortunately-timed safety car however meant Buemi, who was up to second, took the lead during the pitstop phase, and the e.dams driver withstood Vergne’s pressure until the Andretti retired with a suspension problem on the penultimate lap. Piquet Jr and Di Grassi joined the Swiss on the podium.
Buemi clinched his first Formula E victory in Uruguay
Photo by: Adam Warner / LAT Images via Getty Images
2015 London E-Prix – Piquet Jr narrowly beats Buemi and Di Grassi to title
Piquet Jr’s consistency meant he tackled the title-deciding double-header with 128 points to Di Grassi’s 111 and Buemi’s 105, as the Brazilian rivalry climaxed.
“We have raced together in many series and I have always been in front of him, there is no comparison [between us],” Piquet said in Monaco, amid controversy about Di Grassi allegedly blocking him in qualifying.
“I was Buemi’s team-mate [in GP2 in 2007], and we had our fights on the track, but outside it was fine,” said Di Grassi on the eve of the finale. “Actually, all drivers are polite. Not Nelsinho, he is rude and speaks a lot of nonsense.
“He tends to do more or less what his father did, in a completely different level, but having the same style, causing controversy, and that’s why it is difficult to have a friendship outside the track.”
Piquet did defend himself: “I am friendly with some drivers and we even have vacations together, people like Bruno Senna, but some personalities do not match. It seems to be our case.
“Maybe it was because of when he was part of the Renault junior program and they ended up choosing me to race in F1. Maybe he wasn’t too happy about that.”
On Saturday, Buemi took a dominant pole, nearly half a second faster than anyone, and won as Di Grassi and Piquet Jr could do no better than fourth and fifth. With the Abt driver setting the fastest lap, Piquet Jr now led Buemi by just five points and Di Grassi by 13.
But the championship leader qualified down in 16th for the decider, with Buemi sixth and Di Grassi 11th. This spurred Piquet Jr on; he gained four spots on lap one, climbed to 10th after the pitstops, then was waved through by China Racing team-mate Oliver Turvey and overtook Salvador Duran for eighth.
Just one point was missing for Buemi to prevail against Piquet Jr
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
Buemi had been on course to win the title, having climbed to fifth in the first half of the race, but spun on his out-lap and dropped back to sixth. He gave everything to find a way past Bruno Senna, to no avail, and Piquet Jr was crowned by one point.
“I did a little mistake exiting the box, basically I lost a place and that’s the place that basically lost the championship,” Buemi said. “I’m really disappointed but it’s like that. It was obviously not enough.
“Nearly there is not there. It’s like that, you have to accept it.”
2015-16 season – Buemi and Di Grassi start with three wins each
Buemi and Di Grassi quickly established themselves as the two title contenders in Formula E’s second season, as manufacturers now had their own powertrains.
They clinched three wins apiece, finishing every race on the podium with three exceptions: Buemi finished out of the points in Putrajaya due to a technical failure and Long Beach after a collision with Robin Frijns, while Mexico City victor Di Grassi was disqualified from that race as his car was underweight.
As a consequence, they went into the London finale – again a double-header – with Di Grassi just one point ahead of Buemi.
Di Grassi and Buemi found success in the 2015-16 season
Photo by: FIA Formula E
2016 London E-Prix – Buemi prevails in controversial showdown
Coming into the finale, Di Grassi was bullish about his chances. “If it was on outright pace I think they have the best chance,” he told Autosport. “But because Formula E is so complex, I think we can beat them if you consider the whole package. They have the best powertrain, but we have done fewer mistakes this year.”
“Lucas has done a great season, he’s averaged something like 18 points a race – or second in every event,” Buemi added. “It shows that even if I had done everything perfectly, it would have been difficult to have many more points than him.”
A rain-hit first qualifying session saw Di Grassi and Buemi qualify well down the order, in 10th and 12th respectively, and they fought wheel to wheel on their way to fourth and fifth respectively, increasing the Audi racer’s advantage to three points.
“I didn’t take the risk to pass him because I felt he was willing to crash,” Buemi told Autosport of his rival’s defensive driving, which turned out to be a prophetic view of the Sunday race.
Buemi took an all-important pole, with three points vaulting him to Di Grassi’s level in the standings, but if they finished level on points, the Brazilian would prevail on countback with more third positions.
At the start, Di Grassi slipstreamed the two e.dams cars on their way to the first braking zone, where he rear-ended Buemi, seemingly sealing the title. “They braked so early,” Di Grassi complained on the radio.
Di Grassi managed to rejoin the pitlane in his badly damaged Audi
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
The Swiss made his way back to the pits in order to jump into his second car. “We’re going to set the fastest lap,” he told his team on the radio. “Put the high-downforce set-up on, prepare everything, we’re going to set the fastest lap.” This feat was worth two points, so Di Grassi had no option but to emulate his rival.
Buemi prevailed in this long-distance duel, setting a 1m24.150s to Di Grassi’s 1m24.633s, and therefore clinched the title. The Audi driver received a post-race penalty for his role in the lap-one collision, which had no consequence whatsoever as he was not classified.
“He really went for the accident,” Buemi said. “What he did, I didn’t know what to think. I thought he wanted to try anything. In the end I think the best driver and the best team won. It’s difficult to realise, I was not expecting to win it that way.
“I don’t know what he did. He was 100km/h too quick. He lost his mind.”
An unlikely fastest-lap showdown handed a quick Buemi the title in London
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
“I had a very good start, I knew I had to be aggressive against Prost if I had any chance to fight Seb for the next 33 laps,” Di Grassi explained. “I knew if I was behind Prost it would be a struggle.
“I was very aggressive with him, we ended up touching a little bit, Seb braked almost 50 metres too early compared to me and Nico and when I realised I locked my wheels and had an incident.
“That’s not how the first corner should have been, but with these conditions, cold tyres and cold brakes, I had to be aggressive and that’s what happened.”
2016-17 season: Buemi more dominant than ever
Early in Formula E’s third season, the Buemi/Renault e.dams package reached the peak of its supremacy. The Swiss driver won six of the first eight races, comfortably shading his team-mate Prost, who never appeared on the podium. Of course, there were mishaps, like spinning to 12th in Mexico City and being disqualified from fifth in the Berlin opener due to a tyre pressure breach, but other than that, Buemi reigned supreme.
Victory in Monaco, his fourth in five races, gave Buemi a 15-point gap to Di Grassi, with third-placed Prost already 56 points adrift
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / LAT Images via Getty Images
And yet, going into the final double-headers of the season in New York City and Montreal, Buemi was ‘just’ 32 points clear of an extremely consistent Di Grassi, who had taken six podium finishes, including a victory in Mexico.
That was a problem for Buemi, who was going to miss the United States rounds due to his clashing WEC commitment. Di Grassi ended up enduring a lower-key weekend, finishing fourth and fifth as Bird won both races, but he still cut his deficit to the championship leader to 10 points.
2017 Montreal E-Prix: Di Grassi triumphs as Buemi loses composure
Coming into the Montreal finale, there was much gamesmanship, fuelled by the events of one year prior.
“I respect him as a driver but I don’t respect what happened last year,” Buemi told Autosport about his rival. “People within the sport know exactly what happened there.
“If [a collision] happens once more like this, what do you think people will think then? It will be very hard to explain for him. He can’t afford anything like that again for his reputation, can he?
“I prefer to lose with dignity than to try to win in a way where I could not look at myself in the mirror. Can he say the same? I don’t know, ask him.”
Di Grassi put all the pressure on Buemi’s shoulders – and it seems like it worked
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
But Di Grassi was unfazed. “He lost the championship in season one with quite a simple mistake when he spun on his out-lap and lost it all,” Di Grassi told Autosport. “So you can see he has a few problems in this area.
“He has pressure big time this weekend, much more than me, because everyone will be waiting to see if those mistakes come again in Montreal.”
Di Grassi clinched pole for race one by the narrowest of margins over Buemi, just 0.027s. But the Renault e.dams driver had destroyed his car in FP2, incurring a battery change and therefore a 10-place grid drop. He went on to endure a horrendous opening lap, collapsing from 12th to 17th.
As Di Grassi romped to victory, Buemi did perform an excellent drive to recover to fourth position, but engaged in heated arguments with Antonio Felix da Costa, Frijns and Abt in parc ferme before ending up disqualified from the race due to an underweight car – a direct consequence from the hasty, comprehensive post-FP2 rebuild by the e.dams crew.
This changed the complexion of the title race, with Buemi finding himself 18 points down on Di Grassi instead of just six.
To compound his issues, the reigning champion qualified down in 14th for the last contest, with his title rival up to fifth. Buemi’s hopes of finishing second – a prerequisite for his title hopes – vanished straight away as minor contact on lap one damaged his rear bodywork, with race control waving the white and orange flag, meaning he had to pit for repairs.
Buemi eventually fought back to 11th, with Di Grassi comfortably clinching his maiden title in seventh.
Di Grassi celebrated his against-the-odds Formula E title
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“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?” Buemi bitterly reflected to Autosport.
2017 Hong Kong E-Prix – A changing of the guard?
New frontrunners emerged in the 2017-18 season, which the opening round of the season reflected in Hong Kong.
Di Grassi and Buemi qualified outside the top five, then collided in the first race before the Renault e.dams suffered a technical issue. The next day, they ended up just 12th and 20th respectively on the grid as Buemi crashed in qualifying; Di Grassi suffered a technical issue in the race while Buemi inherited one point after race winner Abt was disqualified due to an “administrative mistake”.
Both Buemi and Di Grassi struggled in the Hong Kong season opener
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Getty Images
The likes of Bird, Vergne, Heidfeld, Felix Rosenqvist, Edoardo Mortara and Mitch Evans clinched podiums across the weekend – to be compared with just eight podium finishers throughout the previous season.
Buemi returned to form in the next round with pole position in Marrakesh, clinching three straight podiums, while Di Grassi was hindered by crippling inverter issues – but once those were fixed he proved to be a force to be reckoned with.
Late 2017-18 season – Di Grassi becomes unstoppable
Once Audi’s technical problems were cleared, Di Grassi finished the season with seven consecutive races in the top two.
Unfortunately, he had accrued too much of a deficit to Vergne across the first five races – 78 points – but still took an unlikely runner-up spot behind the Frenchman, who was more than deserving of the title with four wins in 12 races.
“The season started on a very low, not scoring for four races,” Di Grassi told Autosport. “Then getting all the way up to finishing second, vice-champion is just a miracle, and to win the teams’ championship.
Di Grassi finally returned to the top step of the podium with victory in Zurich, which vaulted him from sixth to third in the standings
Photo by: Dom Romney / LAT Images via Getty Images
“Seven podiums in a row showed that we were super competitive and when the car didn’t break down we had all the tools to get a good result, and I’m super proud of what the team achieved. The difficult part was not to get that mental spiral that you doubt yourself or anything during these first four or five races.
“I think I drove better this year than I drove last year, because I didn’t do any mistakes.”
Meanwhile, victory eluded Buemi throughout the season, despite three pole positions and four podium finishes.
“[I’m] pissed off, I’m disappointed,” Buemi told Autosport when he reached the anniversary of his latest win. “But working harder than ever and I hope that next year is a comeback. We’re working hard, I tell you.”
What they’ve done in Gen2 and Gen3
Neither Buemi nor Di Grassi have ever returned to the same highs as in Formula E’s first era.
As Renault e.dams morphed into Nissan e.Dams, Buemi remained a consistent podium contender in the first two seasons of Gen2, with victory at the 2019 New York E-Prix, but he finished his time at the team with 31 consecutive races outside the top three.
Buemi took his first Formula E victory in six years at the 2025 Monaco E-Prix
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
The Swiss then switched to DS Virgin Racing for Gen3, which has been up and down results-wise. Seven podiums in four seasons – including victory at the 2025 Monaco E-Prix, his first win in six years – wouldn’t be enough to satiate a hungry Buemi. But it should be pointed out that he has outscored team-mates Frijns and Joel Eriksson in the last two seasons.
Meanwhile, Di Grassi truly remained a contender in the Gen2 era. The first three seasons, still at Audi Sport Abt, saw him take four wins with consistent points finishes, a form he maintained with Venturi in 2021-22.
But the Brazilian has never been able to maintain this level with the Gen3, despite pole position and a podium in the era-opening 2023 Mexico City E-Prix. Racing for Mahindra and Abt Cupra, which became Lola Yamaha, Di Grassi scored just one podium in the next 58 races. And for all his past success, he still lies a lowly 17th in the drivers’ standings; the recent triumph at the Shanghai E-Prix really was his swan song.
Amid a difficult campaign, Di Grassi won in Shanghai – most likely his final triumph
Photo by: Qian Jun / MB Media via Getty Images
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– The Autosport.com Team
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