Breaking news
Formula E Putrajaya ePrix
Di Grassi: Malaysia was toughest Formula E race yet
Putrajaya ePrix winner Lucas di Grassi says the Malaysian ePrix of season two was the toughest he’s experienced in the category so far.
Andrew van Leeuwen
Edited: May 5, 2021, 4:37 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The race was affected by not only extreme temperatures that played havoc with both software and hardware, but also caused the new surface to begin to break up in parts towards the end of the race.
As a result the attrition rate was high, di Grassi the only one of the early front-runners to survive until the finish after the likes of Sebastien Buemi and Loic Duval fell away with failures, and Jerome d’Ambrosio fell foul of the marbles on the final lap.
Di Grassi later admitted that it wasn’t all smooth sailing for him either, and that the heat played its part in his race too.
“My race was also compromised from the heat,” he said. “I had to slow my pace down, and I think everybody had to do the same. I think we just managed to do it better.
“For me the most difficult part was to control the anxiety to try and overtake the car in front, knowing that the race was going to be very long, and you had to contain the temperatures.
“It was a patience race, and you had to be very precise because there were a lot of marbles on the track. The new asphalt was breaking away, so you had to be very precise and not make any mistakes.
“It was a very, very tough mind game, this race. I think the toughest we’ve had so far.”
Renault still the team to beat
While Renault e.DAMS had a problematic race, a software problem ruining Buemi’s race while cooling issues hampered Nicolas Prost, di Grassi pulled no punches when it came to assessing outright form.
According to the ABT Audi Sport driver, the hard work is far from done when it comes to catching up to Renault, particularly given Buemi’s speed early in the race.
However, he did add that the Putrajaya performance is proof that the German squad is heading in the right direction.
“I think we’ve improved a lot from Beijing,” said di Grassi.
“I had the fastest first and second sector in qualifying, so clearly we made a step from Beijing because we were not fast.
“Now we have to understand what we do to catch up with Renault; they are still the team to beat, it is still the car with the highest performance.
“It’s good to be where we are now, but we have to get back home and started working a lot for the Punte race.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Putrajaya ePrix: Di Grassi wins manic race in Malaysia
Next article Buemi calls on Renault to solve Putrajaya problems
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Andrew van Leeuwen
Toby Price explains 'unfortunate' Mitsubishi split
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Toby Price explains 'unfortunate' Mitsubishi split
Supercars parity review begins
Supercars
Supercars
Supercars parity review begins
SRO set for bigger Australian GT presence
GT World Challenge Australia
GT World Challenge Australia
SRO set for bigger Australian GT presence
More from
Lucas di Grassi
Everything that went wrong in Lucas di Grassi’s farewell Formula E weekend
Formula E
Formula E
London ePrix II
Everything that went wrong in Lucas di Grassi’s farewell Formula E weekend
How Sebastien Buemi and Lucas Di Grassi wrote Formula E’s history
Formula E
Formula E
London ePrix I
How Sebastien Buemi and Lucas Di Grassi wrote Formula E’s history
More from
Team Abt
Title hopes over, Gounon injured: Why did Nicki Thiim lose control?
DTM
DTM
Sachsenring
Title hopes over, Gounon injured: Why did Nicki Thiim lose control?
Penalty storm with consequences: Mapelli loses maiden DTM win, celebrations at McLaren
DTM
DTM
Lausitzring
Penalty storm with consequences: Mapelli loses maiden DTM win, celebrations at McLaren
Not a "handful" after all? How the DTM special waiver helped the Lamborghini
DTM
DTM
Zandvoort
Not a "handful" after all? How the DTM special waiver helped the Lamborghini
Latest news
Winners and losers from F1's United States Grand Prix
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
29 min
Winners and losers from F1's United States Grand Prix
Kyle Larson all but clinches NASCAR championship with Dega win
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
33 min
Kyle Larson all but clinches NASCAR championship with Dega win
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. explains why he lost Talladega Cup race
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
1 h
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. explains why he lost Talladega Cup race
Denny Hamlin blasts Next Gen as "sports car not meant to be running 200mph”
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
1 h
Denny Hamlin blasts Next Gen as "sports car not meant to be running 200mph”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe