Regaining world champion Sebastian Buemi has been disqualified from the Formula E race in Montreal. His Renault e.dams didn’t pass the technical inspections.
Buemi finished fourth in the dramatic race, following the battle found the reigning champion’s car to be underweight.
Buemi’s 12 points cancelled after being disqualified for his rebuilt car failing the minimum weight test of 880kgs.
The steward’s decision reads as follows: “The car was underweight in post-race Parc Ferme. The team manager agreed that there were no errors in the weighing procedure. The stewards note that this car was in large part destroyed in an accident during Non Qualifying Practice 2. The team used a new monocoque, battery pack and gearbox as well as many other new parts. There was reportedly insufficient time to weigh the car after the rebuild and before the race, even though the weighing platform schedule had been increased by 30 minutes by the Technical Delegate. The team reportedly added 4kg additional ballast to compensate for any weight variation in the rebuilt car.”
Renault edams boss Jean-Paul Driot told Autosport: “We couldn’t weigh the car, we didn’t have the time so we added four kilos with three kilos of margin, so seven kilos in total and apparently the car is minus three, so it is ten kilos difference. We just cannot understand this.
“We tried to put in an appeal to weigh the battery because we believe there is a big difference in batteries but it is very complicated and we had so much to do today including a fire with Nicolas [Prost’s car] as well in parc ferme.”