Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ rankings after Long Beach
A look at the Drivers' and Constructors' rankings shows that Renault e.Dams lost out to Team ABT Schaeffler this weekend in California. The French team must now bounce back for the next ePrix, in Paris in just under three weeks' time!
The victory of Lucas di Grassi and the third place of Daniel Abt starkly contrast with the zero points scored by the two Renault e.Dams drivers. To be honest, only Buemi managed to salvage something with the two points for the fastest lap. In the overall driver standings, he has been stripped of his leadership by Lucas di Grassi, by just one point.
| Driver | Team | Points | |
| 1 | L.di Grassi | ABT Schaeffler | 101 |
| 2 | S.Buemi | Renault e.Dams | 100 |
| 3 | S.Bird | DS Virgin Racing | 71 |
| 4 | J.D’Ambrosio | Dragon Racing | 64 |
| 5 | S.Sarrazin | Venturi | 48 |
| 6 | L.Duval | Dragon Racing | 48 |
| 7 | N.Heidfeld | Mahindra Racing | 39 |
| 8 | N.Prost | Renault e.Dams | 38 |
| 9 | R.Frijns | Andretti | 31 |
| 10 | D.Abt | ABT Schaeffler | 31 |
| 11 | B. Senna | Mahindra Racing | 22 |
| 12 | A-F.Da Costa | Team Aguri | 16 |
| 13 | O. Turvey | NEXTEV TCR | 10 |
| 14 | J-E. Vergne | DS Virgin Racing | 6 |
| 15 | N.Piquet Jr | NEXTEV TCR | 4 |
| 16 | N.Berthon | Team Aguri | 4 |
| 17 | S.De Silvestro | Andretti | 2 |
| 18 | M.Conway | Venturi | 1 |
On the other hand, the Constructors’ Championship remains provisional in the hands of the French team. But the German team is closing in, just six points behind.
| Team | Points | |
| 1 | Renault e.Dams | 138 |
| 2 | ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport | 132 |
| 3 | Dragon Racing | 112 |
| 4 | DS Virgin Racing | 77 |
| 5 | Mahindra Racing | 61 |
| 6 | Venturi | 49 |
| 7 | Andretti | 33 |
| 8 | Team Aguri | 20 |
| 9 | NEXTEV TCR | 14 |
The ranking therefore highlights the terrible underperformance of Renault e.Dams, which doesn’t score any points in California. The French team hadn’t faced such a misadventure since the inaugural round in Beijing in September 2014!
That said, Sébastien Buemi managed to claim the fastest lap in the race and the two points that come with it.
“I made a mistake in catching up to Robin Frijns. I can only apologize to him, his team, and of course all the members of Renault e.Dams,” he explains. “After such a challenging event, it’s important to quickly move on and do everything possible to bounce back at our home race in Paris.”
For my part, I want to do everything possible to return to the forefront during my home race in Paris, exclaims Nicolas Prost, eleventh and also not in good form at Long Beach following another penalty imposed on him. The son of the four-time World Champion is not responsible, however; he is paying for his engineer’s mistake, who released him before the allotted time during the car change.
Thus, the performance of the French team is concerning, especially since we are now less than three weeks away from the Paris ePrix. Three weeks to bounce back and envision a much happier home weekend than the one in Long Beach!
