Buemi boosted by Marrakesh FE display despite late defeat

Sebastien Buemi feels the Renault e.dams Formula E team answered its critics after returning to the podium in Marrakesh on Saturday despite suffering a late defeat at the hands of Felix Rosenqvist.

Buemi endured a difficult opening round of the 2017/18 season in Hong Kong, scoring just one point from two races, but bounced back in Marrakesh by taking pole position.

The Swiss driver led the majority of the race before being passed by Mahindra driver Rosenqvist with five laps to go, with a pre-race issue leaving the team unable to set up FanBoost correctly on the car and allow Buemi to put up a stronger defence.

"We had an issue with the water pump," Buemi explained.

"It wouldn't start, so we had to invert the cars. The car that we were supposed to start with was the second one. Due to this, we did not set up the FanBoost properly. I think Felix had a bit more pace than me in the second stint, not much, but then I got overtaken.

"It was bad for my side because I thought I would wait until the last minute to use the FanBoost to protect myself, and it didn’t work. I was kind of annoyed.

"I didn’t properly move to the inside and he managed to pass me. Otherwise I would have closed the door a bit better, and I don’t know what would have happened."

Despite his disappointment, Buemi was pleased to return to the Formula E podium after a seven-month absence and prove Renault's pace after being written off in some corners following the tough Hong Kong weekend.

"We had a bad weekend in Hong Kong and everyone thought we were out of the game. Actually it’s far from that," Buemi said.

"We were competitive the entire day. They had a bit more pace than us, but I feel confident for the rest of the season. We all know we’re working a lot already on next year, and this year try to do the best we can with what we have.

"We have a competitive car still, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season because I’m sure we will be up there."