Formula E 2017-18 season could not have started in a worse way for reigning champon Lucas Di Grassi. The Brazilian driver is yet to score a point after three races, and he is gonna have to struggle to do it in Santiago as he is been given a ten-place grid penalty for changing the power inversor of his powertrain.
Yesterday, as preparations for the Santiago de Chile ePrix were underway and the Shakedown was held, Audi ABT Schaeffler team decided to change the power inversor in Lucas Di Grassi car’s powertrain in order to avoid the mechanic problems that forced the Brazilian driver to retire from the Marrakech ePrix.
Being this the second change on this area the team had done this season (they did the another one after QP in Marrakech), Di Grassi was given a 10-place grid penalty for the current ePrix in Santiago, which means that he can only aspire to an eleventh starting place, which he would only get if he takes pole position.
This is just one more setback on a season that is being awful for the reigning series champion, who, with one quarter of the season already done, he has failed to score a single point on the three last races and he is already in a clearly difficult position to regain the title since championship leader Felix Rosenqvist has 54 points. Di Grassi is, next to Jerome D’Ambrosio, the only driver that has raced in all 3 races held so far without scoring points.
Qualifying session for the Santiago de Chile ePrix is scheduled for 12:00 PM local time (16:00 PM in Central Europe), while the race will start al 16:00 PM local (20:00 PM CET).