Discover more
Sometime in the past – perhaps even in a previous life – Daniel Abt must have run over a whole pack of black cats, such has been the bad luck he has endured, not just in Formula E, but in his GP2 career that preceded his switch to all-electric racing.
This season was a classic case in point. He out-qualified his team-mate – and new Formula E Champion – Lucas di Grassi, five times in seven races, including taking pole position in Mexico as the Brazilian struggled in 16th. However, illegal tyre pressures meant Abt was sent to the back of the grid, and while he battled his way up the order to a creditable seventh, di Grassi benefitted from a brave strategy call that could have ended in disaster but actually allowed him to score an improbable win…
Q: Out of 10, what mark would you give your season?
Seven. I think it was my best season in terms of personal performance, but was not my best season in terms of reliability because, I think, I had three races where my car broke down, plus there was one disqualification from pole. So I’m not really satisfied with my end position in the championship.
Q: What was your best performance of the season?
It’s tough to say, but probably New York. The whole weekend was really strong compared to my team-mate.
Q: You must have been pleased with the number of times you out-qualified him this season?
Yes, of course, but in the end qualifying is just qualifying, there are no real points. But in the end it was 7-5 to Lucas and he’s the champion, so it could be worse than that!
Q: What was your worst weekend of the season?
Also New York, because it was my best performance and my car broke down twice. Once when I was on for a safe podium and the next day after just one lap. When you perform really well and you’re on your way to the podium and everything breaks down it’s really bad.
Q: Who was your toughest rival on track?
Good question! Honestly, it’s hard to point just one out because there are so many tough rivals in Formula E now that there’s not really one person that I was fighting all the time, so I couldn’t really name one.
Q: Away from the track, what was your favourite city that we visited?
Hong Kong was mega. It was a new city for me and I really enjoyed the venue and the atmosphere and everything there.
Q: What do you need to do to win a race and then to fight for the title?
To win a race you have to finish, so I really have to maximize the performance over the weekend. Sometimes I’m lacking a bit of confidence in qualifying, sometimes I’m lacking a bit in the race, but overall I felt this year was pretty good, but of course there are always steps to gain. But I really need to make sure that the car doesn’t break down because if you have a lot of DNFs there is no way you can challenge anyone in the championship. You need to be consistent yourself and then the car and the performance needs to be consistent too to be a top scorer.
Q: Will the team changing to Audi Sport for Season 4 make a big difference to the performance and the way it is run?
Of course it changes the approach a bit as there are new people. It brings a lot of positives as there are more resources and in the beginning it can make things a bit more complicated as there are more people involved. Therefore we need to ensure that we grow together and then I think we can be very strong.