The top 10 Formula E drivers of 2016/17

For the third season in a row the Formula E title fight went down to the last round, and the electric single-seater series delivered another tense shootout.

Lucas di Grassi emerged from a fraught Montreal double-header as the champion, becoming the third different driver to win the title in three years.

His championship fight with Sebastien Buemi dominated FE's narrative for the second season in a row, but it would be remiss to think the series' star names were the only impressive performers in 2016/17.

10. Oliver Turvey

Team: NextEV
Starts: 12
Wins: 0 (best result 6th)
Championship position: 12th

In two full seasons of Formula E Turvey has proven himself immensely capable of getting the job done in an imperfect package. NextEV's improved 2016/17 powertrain meant higher peaks for the McLaren test and development driver than in his rookie campaign, including his first pole in Mexico City but a cruel retirement while leading.

Turvey was a more consistent points finisher than his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr, and edged him for speed over the season too. His stock has risen again, and if NextEV ups its efficiency game with its next powertrain, this could be FE's next new race winner.

9. Robin Frijns

Team: Andretti Autosport
Starts: 12
Wins: 0 (best result 6th)
Championship position: 13th

It would be easy for onlookers to think Frijns isn't all that based on this season. They'd be wrong. He had the beating of highly rated team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa on pace and points, netting five top-10 finishes to the Portuguese driver's one.

Andretti was such an uncompetitive proposition for much of this season that making true comparisons is extremely difficult, and that's the main reason Frijns has to feature in the lower realms of this list.

If the BMW-affiliated American team loses his services because of his Audi-contracted GT activities, that will be a huge loss.

8. Mitch Evans

Team: Jaguar
Starts: 12
Wins: 0 (best result 6th)
Championship position: 14th

Jaguar finished last of 10 in the teams' championship, although it could so easily have finished seventh had the final few races played out a little differently. Without Evans, the British manufacturer would have been cut adrift.

As a debutant with a poor technical package underneath him, Evans's efforts were mighty. He gelled with the FE car quickly after minimal testing and a tricky first couple of races to lead Jaguar's effort for the rest of the season.

Evans qualified in the top 10 four times, smashed team-mate Adam Carroll in the points and defeated him 9-3 in the qualifying battle. The New Zealander saved Jaguar's disappointing first season back in major international motorsport from being a nightmare.

7. Jose Maria Lopez

Team: DS Virgin Racing
Starts: 10
Wins: 0 (best result 2nd)
Championship position: 9th

One of the toughest campaigns to judge. As a rookie, Lopez adapted extremely well. His third-place start in Hong Kong for the season opener was an immense debut qualifying result. He fought for the win in Mexico City. He finished second in Paris, and flew from 11th to third in the Montreal finale.

He also hit team-mate Sam Bird at the start in Hong Kong, shunted into walls in Marrakech and Buenos Aires, spun away a possible win in Mexico and crashed out of the first Montreal race.

For a three-time World Touring Car champion with a strong single-seater pedigree, Lopez's ability to adapt was never in doubt. Proving he could be that fast immediately was impressive, but it was a little disappointing he strung it all together so infrequently.

6. Jean-Eric Vergne

Team: Techeetah
Starts: 12
Wins: 1
Championship position: 5th

It should not have taken Vergne 31 attempts to win an FE race, but somehow it did. Taking until the final race of the season with a Renault powertrain in his Techeetah entry was a surprise given his pre-season pace and the potency of the package.

Sometimes Vergne was hamstrung by his team's mistakes and immaturity. Sometimes he was unlucky. Sometimes he was ragged or inefficient with his energy usage. But when he finally shook the monkey off his back, he did it emphatically.

If Montreal proves to be Vergne's breakthrough weekend in mastering the craft of FE, then he should fight for next season's title.

5. Nick Heidfeld

Team: Mahindra
Starts: 12
Wins: 0 (best result 3rd)
Championship position: 7th

If Heidfeld goes as long in FE without winning as he did in F1, then FE is either going to have a ridiculously competitive next few seasons or Heidfeld is the unluckiest man in motorsport.

Heidfeld has been credited by Mahindra boss Dilbagh Gill and Felix Rosenqvist for the team's progress this season. His experience and feedback have been crucial in the Indian-owned operation's steady development.

A clearly potent powertrain was harnessed well the longer the season ran, and Heidfeld was unfortunate he did not enjoy the fruits of it. A run of three podium finishes (it would have been four if he hadn't been taken out in Mexico, maybe five without a technical problem in qualifying for the Berlin opener) and two other rostrum appearances showed his class.

The championship table and Heidfeld's deficit to Rosenqvist belie the quality of his campaign.

4. Sam Bird

Team: DS Virgin Racing
Starts: 12
Wins: 2
Championship position: 4th

Bird will probably be a bit disappointed with his campaign, although he's unlikely to be concerned by his own performances.

Software glitches, misfortune and a powertrain fundamentally inefficient compared with its chief rivals conspired to limit Bird to two victories - an excellent double in New York - but he continued his run of winning in each FE season so far.

In fact, Bird is the only driver other than Buemi and di Grassi to achieve that feat. The British driver is still perceived as an underdog, just outside that top bracket, but he is one of precious few consistent top performers in a series that loves to catch people out.

3. Lucas di Grassi

Team: Abt Audi Sport
Starts: 12
Wins: 2
Championship position: 1st

This was a weird season for di Grassi, who was not as consistent as he was on his way to just missing out on the 2015/16 title. He was quicker, though, claiming the first FE pole of his career in Buenos Aires and then topping qualifying twice more before the season's end.

He also made several mistakes, botching qualifying in Hong Kong, struggling in Mexico City (as his team-mate qualified quickest) and crashing twice in Paris.

Di Grassi offset the two dire qualifying performances by making the most of incredibly fortuitous circumstances under safety cars to finish second in Hong Kong and win in Mexico. He executed well when he was the beneficiary of good luck.

Abt Audi Sport's powertrain was probably the fourth-quickest over the balance of the season, which makes it the fifth-fastest team given that Techeetah is a Renault customer. So it says a lot for di Grassi's performance that he was the person who stole in as Buemi's campaign faltered.

But the anomaly of di Grassi's clinical Montreal pole and victory was perplexing, a suggestion that the partnership was capable of more than it showed at times this season.

That makes his title triumph all the more unlikely and impressive in a way, but also helps explain why he isn't number one in this list.

2. Felix Rosenqvist

Team: Mahindra
Starts: 12
Wins: 1
Championship position: 3rd

A silly mistake in Hong Kong was excusable on his debut, and pole next time out in Marrakech showed how potent the Rosenqvist/Mahindra combination could be. Poor race management cost him there, but in Berlin (Mahindra's next big opportunity) Rosenqvist duly delivered his and the team's first win.

He made the most of Heidfeld's experience in helping maximise Mahindra's powertrain, which was probably the grid's second-best. Rosenqvist isn't exactly marked down for that, it's more an acknowledgement that his (still stellar) performances 'in a Mahindra' weren't the result of manhandling a shed to shock results.

There were negatives. He cost himself a Berlin double by fluffing his lines in the pits (although the final responsibility for the unsafe release probably lies with both driver and team), spun away a decent result in New York under pressure from di Grassi, and lost a top-five finish by hitting the wall in the Montreal opener and damaging his car.

The next day he bounced back with pole and second in the race, ending a stunning rookie season from the Swede in appropriate fashion.

1. Sebastien Buemi

Team: Renault e.dams
Starts: 10
Wins: 6
Championship position: 2nd

Buemi was leading the points going into the Montreal finale and his mistakes there meant di Grassi was crowned champion. He will regret that hugely. But points lost in Montreal were, mathematically, no costlier than points lost at any other stage of the season.

Erring in a high-pressure, title-deciding situation is a major blot on Buemi's copybook, no doubt. But he was in that situation, and therefore under greater pressure, for reasons outside of his control and this has to be taken into account.

No driver had a perfect 2016/17 and one weekend does not make a season. Buemi won six of the first eight races, while it took until the very last race for any other driver to win with a Renault powertrain. His efforts were also instrumental in Renault e.dams clinching the teams' title - while Buemi won six races and almost took the championship, team-mate Nico Prost did not score a single podium and was sixth in the points. Buemi's only other error was a needless spin in Mexico City while in the lower points positions.

The disqualification for incorrect tyre pressures that cost him fifth (from 14th on the grid) in Berlin wasn't his fault, and that, plus the Montreal exclusion for being underweight (which was partly his fault, as a legacy of the lengthy rebuild prompted by his practice crash) and having to skip New York's double-header, is why Buemi isn't champion.

Di Grassi deserves enormous credit for winning the title as an underdog, but so too does Buemi for only losing out because he basically missed a quarter of the races.

The rest

Two full-season drivers were particularly difficult to exclude from the top 10: Daniel Abt and Maro Engel.

Abt was extremely unlucky on more than one occasion, such as scoring pole in Mexico and then getting disqualified for incorrect tyre pressures. Technical problems elsewhere contributed to a desperately unlucky season.

Engel was the unfancied rookie in a quality quartet, but performed admirably at Venturi. He arguably shaded Stephane Sarrazin - who is no slouch - early on, and his back-to-back superpole appearances in Mexico and Monaco (where he finished the race fifth) were strong seasonal highlights.

Sarrazin claimed a brace of podiums after leaving Venturi for Techeetah but more was perhaps expected of the experienced Frenchman with a Renault powertrain. His replacement at Venturi for the final few races, Tom Dillmann, went the other way, outperforming expectations after making a point-scoring debut in Paris.

Inaugural champion Nelson Piquet Jr claimed his first FE pole in the season opener after a weird Hong Kong qualifying, but after four superpole appearances in the first five races he failed to crack the top 10 (or score points) in the final five.

Alex Lynn and Pierre Gasly only contested one race weekend - New York - but both made their mark. Lynn claimed pole on his DS Virgin debut but a technical problem struck in the race, and he retired from race two as well. Gasly rocketed from the back of the grid after a miserable qualifying to score points on his debut, then made the superpole for race two and finished fourth.

Gasly also outperformed his team-mate that weekend, another one to forget for Prost in a season that will not go down as his finest. For some reason he seemed to lose the ability to qualify well, and that put him on the back foot far too much.