The 2018 Zürich ePrix (formally the 2018 Julius Baer Zürich E-Prix) was a Formula E electric car race held before a crowd of about 150,000 spectators at the Zürich Street Circuit in Zürich, Switzerland on 10 June 2018. It was the tenth round of the 2017–18 Formula E Championship, the inaugural running of the event, and the first Swiss circuit race since the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix. The 39-lap race was won by Audi driver Lucas di Grassi after starting from fifth. Sam Bird finished second for Virgin and Dragon driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio was third.
Jaguar driver Mitch Evans won the first pole position of his career by recording the fastest lap in qualifying and he led the opening 17 laps despite reporting rising battery temperatures limiting his ability to harvest electrical energy under braking. Di Grassi gained positions by passing other drivers and he overtook Evans driving into the first corner at the start of lap 18 to take the lead. He maintained the lead for the remainder of the race to claim his first victory of the season and the seventh of his career by 7 seconds over Bird.
The consequence of the final positions meant Jean-Éric Vergne still led the Drivers' Championship despite a drive-through penalty for accelerating before a full course yellow was lifted to clear debris on the track. Bird narrowed Vergne's lead to 23 points and di Grassi's win moved him from sixth to third. Sébastien Buemi moved to fourth by finishing fifth and Felix Rosenqvist fell to fifth after scoring no points. Audi lowered Techeetah's advantage in the Teams' Championship to 33 points while Virgin maintained third with two races left in the season.
Background
Preview
There were ten teams of two drivers each for a total of 20 competitors entered for the event. Coming into the race from Berlin four weeks earlier, Techeetah driver Jean-Éric Vergne led the Drivers' Championship with 162 points. Virgin's Sam Bird was second with 122 points and Felix Rosenqvist of Mahindra was third with 86 points. Audi's Daniel Abt was close behind in fourth with 85 points and Sébastien Buemi of e.Dams-Renault was close behind in fifth with 82 points. Techeetah led the Teams' Championship with 205 points; Audi were second with 161 points and Virgin were third with 139 points. Mahindra were in fourth with 108 points and Jaguar were fifth with 96 points. 87 points were available for the season's final three races which meant Vergne could clinch the Championship in Zürich. Vergne needed to win the race with Bird failing to score any points to win his first Drivers' Championship. Vergne finishing second would mean that Bird would have to win both New York City races with the former not scoring points to become the champion on count-back.
Preparations
Preparations for a Formula E race in Switzerland commenced in March 2015 when the Council of States backed a motion put forward by the National Councillor to exempt electric car racing from a long-standing ban on motor racing in the country. The motion was adopted by the Federal Council in December, allowing electric vehicles to race in Switzerland from 1 April 2016 pending authorisation from local authorities with regards to maximum speeds. Organisers then began putting forward their candidacies for cities to hold the race. They plead for the ePrix to be held in Lugano on 7 May 2016 to replace the Berlin ePrix but this was withdrawn because the required funding of €10 million was not raised and they later supported holding it in Switzerland's largest city Zürich. On 21 September 2017, Zürich was included on the 2017–18 Championship's final calendar in a FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris. It was the tenth of twelve scheduled single seater electric car rounds of the 2017–18 Championship and took place at the Zürich Street Circuit on 10 June 2018. Prior to the ePrix, Switzerland's last motor race was the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix at Circuit Bremgarten in Bern: Switzerland banned most motor racing in 1955 after the 1955 Le Mans disaster. Organisers of the race expected around 25,000 to 150,000 people to attend.