The top 10 Formula E drivers of 2017/18

The first generation of Formula E came to a close with its fourth season, which ended with the crowning of the electric championship's fourth different title winner in four years.

This time around Jean-Eric Vergne took the crown for the Techeetah squad, while season three champion Lucas di Grassi recovered from Audi's early season reliability calamities to demote long-time title contender Sam Bird of Virgin Racing to third in the final standings.

Season four also ended with Audi taking over from Renault as the FE benchmark and becoming the series' second teams' champion, as the German manufacturer pipped Techeetah to the title despite only scoring 12 points in the first four races.

Here is how we ranked the stars of the season.

10. Edoardo Mortara

Team: Venturi
Starts: 9
Wins: 0 (best result 2nd)
Championship position: 13th

Mortara finished 13th in the final standings, but earns his spot in this list because his season high-point was simply greater than those who finished ahead of him in the championship - Nick Heidfeld (11th) and Venturi team-mate Maro Engel (12th).

He missed two races - in Berlin and New York - because those events clashed with his Mercedes DTM duty, which cost him the chance to add to his points tally.

Mortara's FE rookie status also counts in his favour and his rivals didn't get close to his near-win in Hong Kong, where his late spin cost him the lead of a race he had long controlled in just his second series start.

9. Mitch Evans

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

Evans loses a spot compared with last year owing to Lotterer's rapid progress, but he deserves plenty of credit for leading Jaguar's charge, well ahead of his champion team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr.

He was in the hunt for the win in Rome after Rosenqvist's retirement before a full-course yellow cost him "checkmate" against Bird, and he struggled late on for energy there and in Zurich when also running well.

He took the British marque's first pole in Zurich and was another who deserved a win. A promoted third in Hong Kong race two was his best result.

8. Andre Lotterer

Team: Techeetah
Starts: 12
Wins: 0 (best result 2nd)
Championship position: 8th

Lotterer, a three-time Le Mans winner with a motorsport career spanning 20 years, was an FE rookie and had a number of disasters early in the season. But from Santiago onwards he hit his FE stride and pushed Vergne hard for the win in that race.

He was robust in battle - probably too robust in Paris, where he ended up being punished after Bird rear-ended him on the run to the line, but that has made him one of the most exciting drivers in the series to watch.

He deserved a rookie race win, and he perhaps wanted that a bit too much, which might have led to him jumping the start in the season finale.

7. Oliver Turvey

Team: NIO
Starts: 10
Wins: 0 (best result 2nd)
Championship position: 10th

Turvey, still consistently one of FE's most underrated drivers, again showed his class in season four. He also had to battle the machinery at his disposal, but scored a fine second place in Mexico which was undoubtedly his season highlight.

Turvey ultimately earns his ranking above the three drivers who finished ahead of him in the championship thanks to his consistency against the clock. Only once, in Zurich, was he out of the top 10 in qualifying.

He missed the final two races of the season after breaking a finger in second practice ahead of the first race in New York.

6. Sebastien Buemi

Team: Renault
Starts: 12
Wins: 0 (best result 2nd)
Championship position: 4th

FE's most successful driver in terms of wins had a disappointing season by his high standards and this is why he loses out in the rankings. Yes, Renault also opted not to develop its powertrain, but Buemi didn't 'outperform the car' in the fashion Bird did.

He made a number of mistakes in qualifying and on-track scraps that cost him - particularly in Rome and Berlin - and he hit the wall at Punta just as he was feeling as though his speed was returning.

The high points of the top five also shuffle him down the list, but the pole-double he took in New York - his race-two superpole lap in wet conditions was probably the best of the season - shows he's still got it.

5. Daniel Abt

Team: Audi
Starts: 12
Wins: 2
Championship position: 5th

Abt made another impressive step from his season three showing, and he led Audi while his team-mate endured the early season mechanical maladies.

Had things worked out differently, and he had not lost his Hong Kong win to a technical passport infringement, he would have finished second to Vergne in the points standings.

Berlin was the highlight: he secured pole, the win and set the fastest lap, capping an Audi one-two on home ground.

His clash with Lynn in Marrakech was needless - albeit from both sides - and he's still second-best to di Grassi at Audi, but there seems to be little between them now, which more than justifies his season-five contract extension.

4. Felix Rosenqvist

Team: Mahindra
Starts: 12
Wins: 2
Championship position: 6th

How Rosenqvist must rue the 50 points he'd have taken had he won in Mexico and Rome. The Mahindra driver led the standings after Marrakech, where he battled past Bird and an on-song Buemi brilliantly to take the win, which proved to be his season highlight.

His title challenge unravelled after his DNF in Rome - caused by a suspension failure the team insisted was not caused by a kerb-strike - followed by an anonymous result in Paris where Mahindra struggled for handling consistency.

All of this led to his do-or-die move at the start in Berlin, which ended badly and all but put him out of the title hunt.

Still FE's most exciting driver, he was only headed by Vergne in the pole count and claimed the same number as Buemi (three each).

3. Lucas di Grassi

Team: Audi
Starts: 12
Wins: 2
Championship position: 2nd

Di Grassi did not deserve what happened at the start of his title defence with Audi's reliability problems, and it's hard to fault his race performances. From Punta del Este onwards, once the Audi inverter fix had been integrated he didn't finish off the podium, setting a new FE record for consecutive rostrums in the process - a streak of which he can be very proud.

Techeetah's private outfit status and Bird having to grapple with a slower car (something di Grassi is no stranger to, given his season three success against the Sebastien Buemi/Renault juggernaut) boost the top two in the list given that the Audi was comfortably FE's fastest season four car.

Although di Grassi was probably the season's finest race performer - he reckoned he drove better than in his title-winning year - regularly qualifying down the order hurts his ranking. It probably cost him extra wins at tracks where passing was tough, such as Punta del Este and Paris.

2. Sam Bird

Team: Virgin Racing
Starts: 12
Wins: 2
Championship position: 3rd

Bird takes the second spot because of the way he transcended his machinery. By rights, the undeveloped, overweight and inefficient Virgin/DS powertrain package was not a championship contender. But time and time again Bird would use his searing one-lap pace to make it into superpole and then hang on to a high placing, which kept him in the title hunt.

The British driver's Hong King win - despite overshooting his pitbox, hitting it and serving a drivethrough penalty as a result - was his highlight, but he deserves praise for his recovery from a grid penalty in the second race there and his performance in Punta del Este (ninth to third).

His pass on Vergne in Hong Kong was probably the move of the season, and he kept recording fine results, obliterating highly rated team-mate Alex Lynn (16th in the standings) in the process.

1. Jean-Eric Vergne

Team: Techeetah
Starts: 12
Wins: 4
Championship position: 1st

Remarkably, Vergne never finished outside the top 10 and topped both the win and pole charts. A very worthy champion, he demonstrated his FE progress with a brilliant defensive display in Punta del Este where, after inheriting a fortunate pole, he held off a charging Lucas di Grassi.

He turned in a subdued performance in Rome - which turned out to be thanks to a thumb injury he sustained during car swap practice - so qualifying 17th in Zurich when on the brink of the title was his lowest point.

His comeback drives in Switzerland and race one in New York also stood out, and were of particular satisfaction to him because they proved he could fight his way up the field in a closely competitive street-circuit based environment.

Now a more complete racing driver package after recovering from his Formula 1 disappointment, he has made FE's big three a big four.