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FIA Formula E Championship points leader Lucas di Grassi says he didn’t expect team-mate Daniel Abt to let him through in the closing stage of last weekend’s BMW i Berlin ePrix.
The Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport team-mates were running second and third behind the Renault e.dams of Sebastien Buemi – di Grassi’s closest rival in the championship. The team radioed Abt to inform him that di Grassi was behind and was the faster car, which Abt acknowledged and slowed to wave the Brazilian through.
However, the message was not communicated to di Grassi. And with Nico Prost closing the pair down in his fourth-placed Renault e.dams, there was no subsequent opportunity for a switch to take place.
“To be honest I’m not a big fan of team orders, unless it’s the last race in the last event and really necessary for winning a title or something like this,” di Grassi stated. ”Daniel did a great qualifying, a great race, he deserved the second place and it’d be unfair to change place. I didn’t receive any call and I didn’t ask for any place change, I would never do that unless it was extremely necessary. That’s how I behave and how I think the teams should behave because until it is the last lap there should be no team orders. Everybody’s racing for themselves and that’s how it should be.”
Second place was Abt’s best result in the series to date, although he admitted he was prepared to give up the place as it would have given di Grassi an additional three points, which would have stretched his advantage to four.
“For me it doesn’t matter so much if I finish second or third,” he said. “Obviously second is the best ever result but we are a team and we want to win. It was clear to me that if Lucas is behind me and I get that call… they sent me this message and I wanted to let him pass with two laps to go. I slowed down on the back straight and waved but he was a bit far behind and I think unsure if he could do it. On the last lap I wasn’t keen to do it again as Prost wasn’t far from him and imagine if he got a podium on the last corner, it would have been even more ridiculous. It is what it is. Lucas has the tools to win it by himself as he is an amazing racing driver. Again he finished on the podium; I’m not sure how he does it! He knows how to race. In London he will come back and win it.”
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