A COMEBACK THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NEEDED

After Audi had beaten Techeetah to the teams’ title by just two points following the season finale in New York, the German manufacturer’s motorsport boss Dieter Gass declared himself “delighted” with the achievement.

It was indeed a remarkable recovery from Audi’s position as it left Santiago four months earlier. At that stage it had 12 points thanks to Daniel Abt’s fifth place in Hong Kong –

Abt had lost a win to a team error one day later. Lucas di Grassi had failed to score at all – the reigning champion had tangled with old rival Sebastian Buemi on the opening day in Hong Kong, and then endured a plague of reliability problems, chief of which was the inverter issue that forced the Brazilian out in Morocco and Chile.

That Audi ended up claiming the teams’ title, and di Grassi roared back to second in the drivers’ standings, following the implementation of its inverter fix deserves enormous praise. But, considering the energy-efficiency advantage Audi enjoyed over its rivals all season, this was still a massive open goal missed. For Gass’s delight, read relief.

Audi had been the class of the field in testing, and it held that advantage over the course of the year, but its disastrous start arguably cost it the drivers’ title and nearly cost it the teams’ championship it did claim. In the four races di Grassi failed to finish, and the following round in Mexico where an inverter change meant he started last, Jean-eric Vergne racked up 78 points more than the Brazilian; his final margin of victory was 54.

Hypotheticals aside, Audi’s advantage was clear to see. Time and time again, di Grassi and the impressive Abt – team boss Allan Mcnish’s “stand-out of the season” – rose from lower grid spots to either head the pack or get within a sniff of victory. Formula E’s qualifying level playing field – thanks to the maximum power limit for all cars – prevented Audi from locking out the front row every time, but its

Berlin sweep showed what was possible.

“We’ve been able to have one of the best fightbacks that I’ve experienced within Audi,” Mcnish said once the title was sealed. But it should never have had to happen in the first place.

The e-tron FE04, once its inverter problem was solved, was the standout car of season five. Heading into the

Gen2 era, Audi is the FE benchmark.

“AUDI’S DISASTROUS START TO THE YEAR NEARLY COST IT THE TEAMS’ TITLE”