In a few weeks’ time season 2 of the FIA Formula E championship kicks off in Beijing. We caught up with one of last year’s star drivers, ABT’s Lucas di Grassi, to get his opinion on the car, the racing and the noise…
Natasha Tsang: How’s the car – you drove it yesterday – how did it feel?
Lucas di Grassi: The car seems fine, I had a couple of issues yesterday but we were able to fix it by the end of the day. Now Daniel is doing a lot of mileage today so I think we are in good shape.
NT: Obviously last year was the first ever season – you did really well in that – can things only get better from there?
LdG: I think it gets more complex, people know more what they’re doing, so I think every team is getting better, but this year with different technologies it’s going to be quite interesting to see who does well and how all the different systems compete against each other on different tracks.
NT: How does this car compare to other single seater cars you’ve driven?
LdG: Erm, it’s just a race car in the end, the change is nothing in terms of driving. The only difference is that in the race I have to manage the energy, which is even more complex but overall it is quite nice to race on the city tracks with a Formula E car.
NT: Speaking to a lot of fans, the thing that deters them from watching this is the lack of noise, but do you think that the racing and everything else makes up for that?
LdG: There is noise, we just hear a car going out, especially my car. I think the racing is good, what matters is the competition – the noise, people get used to.
NT: What are your goals for this season?
LdG: To win the championship of course, but first we need to make sure the car is reliable and working properly.
