Sébastian Buemi made an excellent start to his 10th Formula E campaign, by claiming his 31st podium in the series at the season-opening Mexico City E-Prix.
Ahead of the first round of Season 10, Buemi wasn’t a name on many people’s lips when predicting who might finish on the podium. This was clearly a huge error, as the Season 2 Champion was at his very best in the Mexican capital.
He showed great pace throughout the weekend and successfully progressed to the final of the duels, where he was beaten to pole position by Pascal Wehrlein. Nevertheless, second on the grid was an excellent starting position.
Buemi made a strong start to the race and remained in second place, before briefly leading when Wehrlein activated his Attack Modes. However, when the Envision Racing driver activated his Attack Modes, he returned to second behind Wehrlein.
The 35-year-old didn’t really have an answer for Wehrlein’s strong pace, although an error mid-race by Buemi didn’t help his victory chances. Buemi’s mistake is ultimately what allowed Wehrlein to build a one-second gap, enough for him to manage until the end of the E-Prix.
Second place is still a very strong way for Buemi to kickstart his campaign, with him having now claimed four rostrums in Mexico City. Comically, the experienced driver is now being called a “veteran” by his peers.
“I’ve had four podiums here now. They’re now calling me the veteran,” joked Buemi. “It was a smooth race. Qualifying was the key point really. I know it’s quite difficult to pass here, but we’ve had a clean race. Pascal was fast, but I heard he was under investigation, so I decided to stick to P2, and if it becomes something more, then I’ll be happy with that.”
As pointed out by Buemi, Wehrlein was under investigation. Wehrlein was investigated after the race – as was Jake Dennis – for an alleged technical infraction, although no action was taken by the FIA in the end. Thanks to his Mexico City podium, Buemi is now just nine rostrums behind Lucas di Grassi’s record-breaking 40 top threes.
