Lucas di Grassi believes that drivers who are responsible for causing a collision in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship should start at the rear of the field as opposed to resuming the race in their original position following red flag periods.
The Swiss E-Prix in Bern saw yet another deployment of a red flag in Formula E this season, with a pile-up at the race start in the Turn 12/13/14 chicane resulting in the race getting halted after less than one minute of racing.
Controversy surrounded the race restart when the FIA decided to resume the race in grid order, with this acting as a disadvantage to drivers such as di Grassi and BMW i Andretti Motorsport's Antonio Felix da Costa who gained from the incident, the pair moving into eighth and ninth after starting from 19th and 20th.
Despite gaining positions at the race start, both di Grassi and da Costa were forced to resume the race from the rear of the field while drivers responsible for the incident were able to resume the E-Prix from the front after having their cars repaired – something that di Grassi believes is unfair, calling for their demotion:
"The track was blocked but it’s not my decision to say that it should be one or another but the point is. If on lap zero, if everything is blocked, nobody goes through or maybe just the leader or, for example, Macau. Remember when there’s a big crash? It’s almost like you’re allowed to take your car back to the garage, repair the car and restart back in the same position you started," said di Grassi.
"It didn’t happen then. It happened in Monaco before with GP2, it has happened many times… I disagree with the decision from the FIA, although, apparently it’s written in the rules that you need to know the position every car and they were using the rules.
"Maybe I’m wrong, but even if I’m wrong I think the rule needs to be adjusted in a way that if you cause a collision, you start at the back or you don’t start. If you cause a red flag you’re not allowed to restart the race.”
Fighting back through the field, di Grassi claimed ninth in the final classification and is Jean-Eric Vergne's nearest championship challenger with one weekend of racing remaining in Season 5, 32 points adrift of the Frenchman.
Discussion about this post