The 2018 Berlin ePrix (formally the 2018 BMW i Berlin E-Prix) was a Formula E electric car race held at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit at Tempelhof Airport in the outskirts of Berlin on 19 May 2018. It was the ninth round of the 2017–18 Formula E Championship and the fourth edition of the event as part of the championship. The 45-lap race was won by Audi driver Daniel Abt after starting from the pole position. Defending champion Lucas di Grassi finished second in the other Audi, thus recording the second one-two finish in Formula E history. Jean-Éric Vergne, the championship leader going into Berlin, took third for Techeetah.
Daniel Abt won the pole position by recording the fastest lap in qualifying and he maintained his start line advantage for virtually the entire race, with teammate di Grassi in second at Audi's home ePrix despite Abt having a slow mandatory mid-event pit stop to switch into a second car as he had to let e.Dams-Renault's Sébastien Buemi enter his pitbox. Abt also set the fastest lap of the race, meaning he left Berlin with the full complement of 29 points from a single ePrix, and he achieved the first Grand Chelem in the history of Formula E.
The consequence of the final positions increased Vergne's Drivers' Championship lead to 40 points over Virgin's Sam Bird, who came seventh. In the Teams' Championship, Audi scored a maximum 47 points because of their one-two finish and with Abt scoring pole and fastest lap. They advanced to second in the points standings behind the dominant Techeetah squad, with 45 points separating the two teams with three races left in the season.
Background
The 2018 Berlin ePrix was confirmed as part of Formula E's 2017–18 series schedule in September 2017 by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. It was the ninth of twelve scheduled single-seater electric car races of the 2017–18 Championship, and the fourth Berlin ePrix. The ePrix was held at the clockwise ten-turn Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit at Berlin Tempelhof Airport on 19 May 2018. The track was described as "very technical" and it was anticipated by the press that most of the overtaking manoeuvres during the race would occur at the braking areas for turns one, six and the turn nine hairpin. Three changes were made to the Tempelhof circuit from the year before: the first involved the re-positioning pit lane entry from turn ten to after the final corner. The second was that the 180 degree turn six right-hander was moved away from the center of a braking zone slightly to allow for a straighter approach to the turn nine hairpin and to provide more overtaking opportunities. The last change saw the length of the straight increase by . These alterations increased the track's overall length by .
Entering the race, Techeetah driver Jean-Éric Vergne was leading the Drivers' Championship with 147 points. His nearest rival Sam Bird of Virgin was thirty-one points behind in second place and third-placed Felix Rosenqvist for Mahindra was another thirty points adrift. e.Dams-Renault's Sébastien Buemi was fourth with 70 points and Lucas di Grassi of Audi completed the top five with 58 points. In the Teams' Championship, Techeetah led the standings with 186 points accrued throughout the season; Virgin were 42 points behind in second and Audi were a further 21 points in arrears in third place. Mahindra placed fourth with 107 points and Jaguar stood in fifth position with 88 points.
After winning the Paris ePrix three weeks ago, Vergne focused on trying to finish ahead of Bird in the battle for the Drivers' Championship in the closing four races of the season but entered the Berlin race with a poor record from the previous year and Techeetah had limited testing opportunities because of its status as a customer team, "At this stage in the season, it's all about keeping it clean and scoring points." Vergne received support from his teammate André Lotterer, one of four German drivers competing in Berlin, who declared he would help Vergne win the championship and pledged not to crash into anybody, "If I can help, I'll help. JEV has been a great team-mate to help me get up to speed anyhow – we play this card for the team [and] everything in a reasonable [way]." Daniel Abt of Audi meanwhile came second in the 2016 race and was confident about his chances, "A victory in Berlin would be the highlight of my Formula E career. I had a second place in the penultimate season and even that was very emotional for me."