Swiss driver Sébastien Buemi moves up to third in the Monaco E-Prix rankings

In life, you don't always get a second chance. On the star-studded track of the Monaco E-Prix, since Formula E's introduction about ten years ago, we never got one. Until this weekend...

For the first time in its young existence, the most prestigious stage of the high-octane world championship was treated to a double dose.

Race 1 this Saturday, race 2 this Sunday. Cheese and dessert! A chance for the 21 runners who lost the day before to take their revenge by adding their names to the winners' list. Or for Oliver Rowland, the hero of Act I, to score an unprecedented double.

Stop or encore? Seeing the sky open its floodgates at the morning qualifying turn, some thought the rain would reshuffle the deck. Wrong!

Second in the time trial 24 hours earlier after hitting the rail at Sainte-Dévote, "Mister 50%" - three successes stacked up in the first six races of this season 11 - took pole despite an involuntary pirouette in the escape route of the same bend in the semi-final.

Unbelievable but true: on the tarmac, which had become ultra-slippery, the prohibitive deviations in trajectory of the three other contenders - including DS-Penske drivers Jean-Eric Vergne and Max Günther, who fell into the trap of the port chicane just a few seconds apart! - propelled the championship leader's Nissan into pole position...

All that remains is to convert the test. No easy task with such a typically "British" weather connected to alternating current.

When the fire ramp goes out to release the pack, the Sheffield native achieves a flawless takeoff. Everyone can already see him making history stutter, especially since he remains at the forefront without using Attack Mode.

Among the chasers immediately activating their first temporary power boost (50kW), only Vergne managed to overtake him. Armed with an extra round in reserve, Rowland virtually held the lead. But the introduction of the safety car on lap 14 of 30 changed the situation. The restart didn't favor the favorite. He cut the harbor chicane in an attempt to regain the advantage over his French rival.

From the leading pack where people are jostling, Nyck de Vries (Mahindra) and a certain Sébastien Buemi (Envision) emerge.

In the money time, it was finally him, the champion of season 2 (2015-2016) and winner of the first two electric sprints in the Principality a long time ago (2015, 2017), who won the prize ahead of the ogre Rowland and Nick Cassidy (Jaguar).

Who would have thought it? Missing from the top of the podium since the 2019 New York E-Prix, a pale 19th this Saturday here, the Swiss emerges from the tunnel Finds the light. at 36 years old!

"You want me to tell you? I was starting to think I'd never win Formula E again," the comeback driver later admitted. A record holder now sitting on 14 triumphs. And more than ever, a unique multiple winner at the foot of the Rock.

"It was really tough at the beginning. The track was drying out as we went along. I managed to read it well. And we knew how to use Attack Mode when we needed to. Perfect timing, efficient car, top-notch team, that's the key to success!"