It’s hard to imagine how the season could have got off to a worse start for Sebastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi.
The two men who have battled it out for the driver’s title for the past two seasons went into Hong Kong as favourites to challenge for the championship again, yet after two races they only have one point between them.
And even that point was only gained as a result of Daniel Abt’s disqualification promoting Buemi into tenth place hours after the race had finished.
The Swiss driver only managed eleventh in the season opener the day before, and di Grassi suffered damage to his car and then technical issues which meant he only finished in seventeenth and then fourteenth.
More worryingly, both drivers were poor in qualifying. Neither of them got into the top five for the superpole shootout, and the second race saw di Grassi line-up in thirteenth with Buemi plum last after a mistake on his fast lap.
It’s in stark contrast to the previous two seasons – this time last year Buemi already had two wins under his belt, with di Grassi sitting on twenty eight points.
And the year before that they had a win a piece after the first two rounds of the championship.
It just goes to show how important it is to make a strong start in Formula E. With only a handful of rounds in each season you have to make every race count, and that’s something Buemi and di Grassi failed to do last time out in Hong Kong.
Credit: Formula E
With the Montreal ePrix now off the calendar and no replacement yet to be announced, it could mean that there are just ten races left in the season.
Either way it means that Marrakesh could be make or break for two drivers who have gotten used to being at the top of the championship since the inception of Formula E.
Both will undoubtedly have been doing all they can in the Christmas break to turn around their form, with Audi having said that their drivers were pulling eight hour days in the simulator.
For those who did make a strong start, Marrakesh represents a chance to cement their credentials as a title challenger – with Sam Bird, Jean-Eric Vergne and Felix Rosenqvist already proven race winners.
They will be desperate to make good on their start and to take advantage of the healthy lead they have on the only drivers with experience of a title fight.
As such you can expect to see a lot of drivers pushing it to the limit this weekend in Marrakesh – I can’t wait.
