The 2018 Punta del Este ePrix (formally the 2018 ABB Formula E CBMM Niobium Punta del Este E-Prix) was a Formula E electric car race held at the Punta del Este Street Circuit in the Uruguayan city of Punta del Este, on 17 March 2018. It was the sixth round of the 2017–18 Formula E Championship and the third Punta de Este ePrix as part of the FIA Formula E Championship. The 37-lap race was won by Techeetah driver Jean-Éric Vergne from pole position. Lucas di Grassi finished second for Audi and Virgin driver Sam Bird was third.
Vergne won the pole position after di Grassi, Alex Lynn and Oliver Turvey were penalised for exceeding track limits in qualifying and maintained the lead on the first lap. The race was temporarily neutralised between the fourth and sixth laps when officials extracted the car of Nick Heidfeld who stopped with power issues. Vergne led di Grassi at the restart and the latter remained close behind the former in the next 13 laps until the field made mandatory pit stops to change into a second car. Over the remainder of the race, Di Grassi attempted to pass Vergne but the former prevented the latter from doing so and took his second victory of the season and the third of his career.
The result increased Vergne's lead atop the Drivers' Championship to 30 points over Felix Rosenqvist and Bird maintained third place. Sébastien Buemi and Nelson Piquet Jr. did not finish due to car issues but stayed in fourth and fifth positions. Techeetah further extended their Teams' Championship lead to 27 points over Mahindra and Virgin overtook Jaguar for third with six races left in the season.
Background
The Punta del Este ePrix, discontinued after the 2015–16 Formula E season because no financial agreement was reached by the Government of Uruguay to keep it going, was announced as part of the Formula E calendar in a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 7 December 2017 after São Paulo authorities requested a cancellation of their planned race due to a delay in selling land to a private owner. The Punta del Este ePrix was part of an alternative plan devised by series founder and CEO Alejandro Agag in case any race was cancelled.
Punta del Este was the sixth of the twelve single-seater electric car rounds of the 2017–18 Championship and the third edition of the event. The race was held on 17 March 2018, at the 20-turn Punta del Este Street Circuit, in Uruguay's Maldonado Department. The circuit is situated on the Playa Brava Beach, meaning sand was laid on the tarmac surface and affected the levels of grip available to drivers. Also, the high ambient temperatures strained the car's batteries. Construction of the track started on 24 February, 22 days before the race; and continued for the next three weeks. 370 people were employed to work long shifts to complete the project.
Going into the race, Techeetah's Jean-Éric Vergne led the Drivers' Championship with 81 points, 12 ahead of Felix Rosenqvist of Mahindra in second. Virgin's Sam Bird was third with 61 points with e.Dams-Renault driver Sébastien Buemi a further nine points behind in fourth. Jaguar's Nelson Piquet Jr. was fifth with 45 points. Techeetah led the Teams' Championship with 99 points with the second-placed Mahindra were nine points behind. Jaguar with 94 points and Virgin on 90 points were third and fourth and e.Dams-Renault were fifth with 59 points. There were ten teams entering two participants each for a total of 20 drivers for the ePrix.
The circuit underwent three cosmetic changes after the 2015 race. All bar one of the flexible bollards that were situated around the track in the last two Punta del Este races were removed by officials from the world governing body of motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), and the "sausage" kerbing at the entry of the four chicanes was dismantled. However, additional TecPro barriers were erected to improve safety around the track. These changes prompted officials to establish a specific area for drivers to stop in should they miss the turning point for the chicanes before rejoining the track during all sessions. The alterations received a mixed reception. Piquet spoke his belief that it would assist drivers attacking the track's high-speed sections. José María López (Dragon) agreed that the kerbing could be negotiated without any major issues and António Félix da Costa (Andretti) praised the "fast and dangerous" nature of the circuit that the changes created. However, the Audi pair of Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt called for the further adjustment of the kerbs as they feared the possibility of an accident occurring.