Formula E drivers have held a crunch meeting with the FIA after its Season 12 grid issued a letter to its president last month, in a bid to improve its level of officiating, Motorsport Week can reveal.
Ahead of the Madrid E-Prix last month, The Race reported all of this year’s drivers competing in the all-electric championship signed a letter to Mohammed Ben Sulayem, calling for dialogue to improve the standards of race direction.
The letter, thought to be primarily written by di Grassi and reigning World Champion Oliver Rowland, was leaked by an unknown individual, described by the Nissan driver as “a rat”.
Initial shock and awe of the letter was swiftly rebuffed by an array of drivers and Team Principals to Motorsport Week, with di Grassi stating that many publications had created “clickbait” around the story.
A number of drivers, including di Grassi, Rowland and Dan Ticktum, all told Motorsport Week that the aim of the letter was not to cause trouble, but to improve Formula E’s level of race direction out of concern for the championship’s wellbeing.
And di Grassi, speaking in an exclusive interview with Motorsport Week during the ‘Gen4 Unleashed’ event at Paul Ricard on Tuesday, revealed that the letter triggered a meeting, which took place just hours before, with a “positive” outcome with agreements made on an unspecified change.
“Yeah, we had a meeting today. Yeah, they suggested very good things,” he said. “I think we’re going to the right direction. They moved. They suggested good things.
“And yeah, I think it’s a positive step forward. So we are making it exactly what we wanted. We wanted to make the championship better, find better processes. They moved.
“That was the intention of the letter to make the FIA move a little bit faster.
“Actually, the result is actually very good. And I think all the drivers, they were pretty happy with this, with this small change that we did.”
Lucas di Grassi and Antonio Felix da Costa both told Motorsport Week that the crunch meeting with the FIA spelled good news for Formula E
Da Costa: ‘The FIA heard us loud and clear’
Like di Grassi, da Costa is another veteran of the sport and reiterated that the reason for the letter was to ensure the series has the best possible chance of growing via the help of what they believe would be better officiating.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport Week, the Portuguese driver corroborated di Grassi’s take on the meeting, stressing he and the whole grid are looking for cooperation, and not conflict, with the FIA.
“On the FIA topic, I’ve always been very outspoken on the fact that we, it’s not FIA against drivers and teams, it’s FIA with drivers and teams,” da Costa said.
“The reason for the letter was that we want to be in a good relationship with our Race Director, with the stewards, with the FIA itself, because Lucas, myself, like Buemi, like many, this series really passes the feeling to the drivers that we are part of the growth of the series, so when we complain to the FIA that we’re not happy with this or that, it’s not because we want to be heard, it’s because we fear for the growth of the series.
“We want to make racing good so that we can be happy, so that we can help the OEMs that employ us sell cars and just create a better name for all of the entities involved.
“So, the FIA heard us loud and clear and that was really nice. The meeting yesterday was only positive things and we’re going in the direction that we’re working closely together.”
Whilst the initial revelation transpired into a bit of a nothingburger, the meeting is apparently proof that the letter did its job, and Formula E has a very positive development to work on amid the excitement of Gen4’s forthcoming arrival next season.
READ MORE – New Formula E era backed to change people’s minds amid F1 regulation crisis
Discussion about this post