Sebastien Buemi disqualified from Formula E Montreal race one

The reigning champion, who finished fourth after a dramatic race where he battled through the field after a practice accident, saw his 12 points annulled after being disqualified for his rebuilt car failing the minimum weight test of 880kgs.

The stewards of the event noted that the Buemi's rebuilt car "used a new monocoque, battery pack and gearbox as well as many other new parts".

The official FIA communication also detailed "that there was insufficient time to weigh the car after the rebuild and before the race, even though the weighing platform schedule had been increased by 30 minutes by the Technical Delegate.

"The team reportedly added 4kg additional ballast to compensate for any weight variation in the rebuilt car."

Nevertheless the penalty was immediate disqualification from the race meaning that Buemi is now 18 points behind Lucas di Grassi heading into the season finale.

Renault edams boss Jean-Paul Driot told Autosport: "We couldn't weigh the car, we didn't have the time so we added four kilos with three kilos of margin, so seven kilos in total and apparently the car is minus three, so it is ten kilos difference. We just cannot understand this.

"We tried to put in an appeal to weigh the battery because we believe there is a big difference in batteries but it is very complicated and we had so much to do today including a fire with Nicolas [Prost's car] as well in parc ferme."

The fire in Prost's car was related to an auxillary part of the battery but caused large scale damage which the tam are working through the night to fix.

Autosport understands that the team has elected not to appeal the decision to disqualify Buemi.