Reigning Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi is set for a ten-place grid penalty at this weekend's Mexico City ePrix as the driver's season of disappointment continues.
After four races so far in the 2017/18 Formula E season, di Grassi has failed to score any points, with his title defence being hampered by two consecutive retirements in Marrakesh and Santiago while a flurry of reliability problems have also caused heartbreak.
Through his most recent retirement at the Santiago ePrix earlier this month, di Grassi's luck is not set to change as he and Audi head to Mexico City, with the German marque having to break the seal on the inverter in one of the driver's two Audi e-tron FE04 cars which could result in a ten-place grid penalty.
While a penalty will undoubtedly hamper di Grassi in the fifth race of the season, the Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler driver has experienced the taste of winning before at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, fighting from the back of the grid to stand on the top step of the podium last season in a race which di Grassi describes as his "most amazing one [win] in Formula E."
With only eight races remaining this season, it is vital that di Grassi starts scoring points soon in order to mount a title defence while Audi personnel have been working furiously to find a fix to the outfit's current woes – a fix that Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass believes that his team have found:
“Now, we’re confident that we’ve found both the cause and a solution,” said Gass. “Unfortunately, the FIA regulations do not allow us to implement the changes until a 30-day period has expired,” meaning that the necessary update will not be implemented before the Punta del Este ePrix on March 17.
“Although we’re obviously not happy about this situation, we are optimistic that the permanent track characteristics, much like in pre-season testing, do not exaggerate any problems,” he added.
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