Sebastien Buemi stuns Monaco with wet-weather masterclass to end six-year victory drought
Sebastien Buemi delivered a stunning performance in treacherous conditions to win the second Monaco E-Prix of the weekend, ending a six-year winless streak in Formula E’s first fully wet race in years.
Starting from seventh, the Season 2 champion made the most of chaotic racing, strategic nous, and expert timing to rise through the field and snatch a surprise win ahead of championship leader Oliver Rowland and Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy, who clawed his way from 13th on the grid to return to the podium for the first time in almost a year.
All 22 drivers started the soaking wet race, with McLaren’s Sam Bird joining from the pit lane after his car was hastily rebuilt following a heavy qualifying crash.
Pole-sitter Rowland initially held off Nyck de Vries, while Jean-Eric Vergne briefly took the lead using attack mode, which offered a huge grip advantage in the slippery conditions. By Lap 7, nearly every front-runner had used one of their required activations.
Incidents began to pile up as Lucas di Grassi brought out the first Full Course Yellow after hitting the wall at Portier, and Dan Ticktum followed with a miraculous save after overshooting into the Mirabeau run-off.
At the front, Vergne held a slim lead over Rowland and de Vries, but with Rowland still holding both attack modes, the Nissan driver looked primed to pounce. A safety car on Lap 13 for Nico Müller’s crash at Massenet briefly neutralised the race again, before Vergne resumed his defensive strategy by backing the field up.
When Rowland finally activated his first attack mode on Lap 18, he lost only one spot to de Vries and quickly reclaimed it. But a messy scrap with Vergne at the Nouvelle chicane forced Rowland to cut the corner — twice — throwing his race rhythm into disarray and prompting him to hand the position back.
The lead changed hands several times in a handful of laps, with de Vries capitalising on Rowland’s chicane drama. But just as the pack reshuffled, Buemi, fully powered up on attack mode, surged past both Rowland and de Vries to claim the lead on Lap 21.
From there, the Envision Racing veteran displayed vintage composure, pulling a 3.3-second gap and managing his energy expertly in the final laps.
Behind him, Rowland regained second and kept his championship momentum, while Cassidy timed his final attack mode perfectly to grab third from a fading de Vries and a late-charging Antonio Felix da Costa.
