MONTREAL, Canada - Sebastien Buemi has been disqualified from the opening race of the Montreal Formula E weekend after his car was found to be underweight.
Buemi suffered a sizeable crash during second practice in Montreal, giving his Renault e.dams team a significant repair job to complete in time for the race.
The team was able to get the car fixed in time, allowing Buemi to provisionally finish fourth and sit six points shy of race winner Lucas di Grassi in the points standings heading into Sunday’s season finale.
However, the FIA stewards found after the race that Buemi’s car was underweight, and despite fully considering the circumstances of its rebuild, opted to disqualify the Swiss racer.
“The stewards note that this car was in large part destroyed in an accident during practice two. The team used a new monocoque, battery pack and gearbox as well as many other new parts,” a statement reads.
“There was reportedly insufficient time to weight the car after the rebuild and before the race, even though the weighing platform schedule had been increased by 30 minutes the technical delegate.
“The team reportedly added 4 kg additional ballast to compensate for any weight variation in the rebuilt car.”
Renault e.dams will not be appealing the decision, meaning the race result is now official.
Buemi will therefore head into Sunday’s season finale trailing di Grassi by 18 points with 29 available.