Congratulations on your ePrix win in Beijing. I know it didn’t exactly happen the way you would’ve liked it to but a deserved win.
I think racing is all about being in the right place at the right time. In Le Mans this year we were leading three hours until the end when our turbo broke down. It’s just a part of racing. Sometimes you’re unlucky and sometimes you are lucky. But this time I was running the car to the finish line. We had some problems with the pit stop and the strategy wasn’t perfect – although we were very quick in the race. SO basically I was just waiting to see what the outcome would be in the fight between Heidfeld and Prost and I ended up winning the race. Winning the first all-electric race was an exciting moment in my career.
I went to the U.S. Formula E launch in Las Vegas in January this year. How do you feel the reception to Formula E has changed given a few people were initially a bit dubious about the concept, until finally last weekend when many of the major players (in the Formula 1 works especially) have really decided to give the series some attention?
Like any revolution or any big leap in technology it takes people time to understand and appreciated it. I think Formula E received a lot of respect after the first race. From now on everything will evolve very quickly, but there has to be a first time with the basic technology. Whilst the speed wasn’t obvious, the speed on the exits of corners was actually quite high. I think there’s some common sense within the (racing) industry that electric technology is becoming a major factor in production vehicles. It’s not a niche market anymore, its mainstream. At least with the Hybrid which is the same technology.
In this respect Formula E has all the ingredients to become a very important race series. Whether it can be as successful as F1 or WRC isn’t important. Formula E isn’t in a direct fight with these categories. Formula E will create its own space alongside F1, WRC and NASCAR as a category for professional drivers and teams and manufacturers to showcase their technology. As it was in the first race we saw a very high level of driving throughout the field.
That was the huge draw! The drivers grappling with this new type of technology. What kind of preparation did you have to make coming from the Beijing ePrix - not even counting the time difference – and readjusting to the Audi here in Texas?
It’s quite a big change. It requires a completely different way of driving; speed, acceleration. The Audi R8 e-tron quattro is much quicker of course. There was no preparation as such, just experience from driving the car at Le Mans and the other championship races. I’m third in the championship now alongside Tom (Kristensen). We just led free practice and we’ll see how qualifying will go as the weather is fairly unpredictable here.
Ed Note: Di Grassi and Kristensen finished 2nd in Austin, consolidating their 3rd place in the championship behind Audi team mates Treluyer and Fassler. Di Grassi now leads the FIA Formula E Championship.