London E-Prix 2: after their brazing to win the race, Audi and Lucas di Grassi were sanctioned through the sports commissioners.
Halfway through the race, while the cars were currently driving the Safety Car, Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler saw an opportunity to do more of di Grassi’s P8. The Brazilian was called to the pits to briefly prevent in his pit and then continue. along the pit lane and sign up for the Safety Car car exercise.
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Audi had noticed that the Mini Electric Pacesetter set a very quiet speed and that the speed restriction in the pit lane would make its driving force move faster. The bet first worked when he saw Di Grassi catapulted from P8 to P1, a position he held up to the checkered flag.
Explaining the scenario after the race, Audi team principal Allan McNish said: “We have a pretty exclusive stage here in London, the pit lane is short and the protection car was unusually slow and actually faster to cross. the regulations allow it: Lucas brakes and accelerates.
“We were quite surprised at the time he won, but unfortunately, the commissioners felt he hadn’t impeded the car enough through prevent, prevent normally. We think he did, they think he didn’t.
“We’re visually in the state here and they’re looking for knowledge and from that point of view, the cameras you saw were really straight behind this sign, so it’s very hard to see and obviously our guys were looking at that’s very obvious. We perceive and know the regulation incredibly well and we respect it, we through the regulation. However, the judges are facts, in this case, and the sports commissioners think otherwise. “
In the final ten minutes, the stewards announced that di Grassi had won a passing penalty for his movements and McNish realized he was running to communicate and defend the case. Di Grassi did not report the penalty and, as such, continued his run through the lead. the sports commissioners then give him a black flag for ignoring his instructions.
As knowledge of Formula E cars should not be had to groups or officials in real time, this made life more complicated, as Audi said it had complied with regulations while the commissioners claimed otherwise, but none of them could do anything.
“We don’t have the car data,” McNish said. That’s one of the disconnects with Formula E is that we have to wait for the car to come back to be able to download the accurate data, so we’ll do it in due course. “
Despite the black flag, di Grassi continued to qualify in the provisional results, putting him eighth after converting his drive-through into a time penalty. It wasn’t until a few hours later that the disqualification became official.
Images were then published through Formula E showing the Brazilian’s pit lane excursion from Audi’s garage and, in addition to the knowledge, showing that it was marginal even that the car did not stop at all, and that it was not an unorthodox but appropriate piece. think.
UN-SEEN TRACK!@Lucasdigrassi almost performs a bold move after crossing the pit lane to take the lead in a period of car protection.
But it was that he had not stopped before leaving the stand and that he had earned a black flag for rejecting a penalty pass. Pic. twitter. com/DeXEI11K0V
– ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) 25 July 2021
Di Grassi took to Twitter to give his opinion on: “Everything we did today was obviously allowed by the championship rules. We can only do this if the protective car was at a speed below the speed limit in the pit lane, otherwise it would lose positions.
“It was an ambitious and difficult resolution, but I am completely behind my team when the resolution was taken. The penalty was implemented because the vehicle (the wheels hit 0) failed to complete the 0 km / h AFTER they met analyzed in detail, because they were so close.
“I only reported the penalty after the checkered flag, via radio. “
However, the sports commissioners were not impressed by Audi’s decision not to inform Di Grassi of the initial sanction and to ensure that he removed it. As a result, the team was fined 50,000 euros, but will only have to pay 5,000 euros as a result of the sanction. The remaining €45,000 is suspended for the rest of the season provided that these moves are not repeated in the final stages.
The fine resolution document read: “The competitor’s idea that the penalty given (Drive Through) was incorrect, so they did not tell the driving force and did not ask him to comply. This behavior is not aceptable. al competitor to whom the penalty is smart or bad.
Di Grassi’s disqualification means no Audi scored after René Rast finished on the edge of the track at the start after a bout with Sébastien Buemi. It also means Jake Dennis climbs to ninth while Joel Eriksson gets tenth position and his first point in Formula E after replacing Nico Mueller in Dragon/Penske mid-season.
After being in the right position at the right time, Emer attended formula E pre-season 1 testing. He connected to the series, adding the fan site operator and journalist to his initial fan status.
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