Nicki Shields: “Lucas is probably a safer bet!”

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“So this years title fight has ended up being between Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport’s Lucas Di Grassi and Renault e.dams’ Sebastien Buemi which is great for the fans. It’s incredibly tough to predict what will happen.

If we take a look at Lucas, he is so level headed; he doesn’t make mistakes. He would have been on the podium in every race if he hadn’t been disqualified- that is something to be seriously proud of. I think that proves that even though he is just one point off Buemi, he is the consistent driver. So if you were to put your bets on anyone, Lucas is probably a safer bet.

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”So if you were to put your bets on anyone, Lucas is probably a safer bet. However,…”[/pullquote]

However, Buemi can definitely win this championship. He performed well last year and I think the Battersea track will suit his car. But, they have struggled at times, particularly in qualifying, but they seem to have figured out that it’s due to not getting enough heat in the brakes. Although they think they’ve figured out that problem for London. The problem is, London is likely to be cold, unless the weather continues, and I think he struggles more in cooler climates. So this might be something to be concerned about. Nevertheless, he has a very quick car and he is a very good driver so I think it’s going to be a very close call!

One of the eye opening things this year has to be the fall reigning champion Nelson Piquet Jr has gone through. He has had one or two good races and I think that shows that in Formula E, if you are a good driver with a bad car, you can still do well, although the car is obviously very important. But this is something you wouldn’t see in Formula 1. If you have a bad car in F1, you’ll never be able to compete at the top.

Nelson is understandably very disappointed with the season and you can tell whenever you speak to him. I think overall he’s really focussed on next season with NEXTEV and I think he probably can’t wait to get in the new car. He’s almost given up on this season, it feels like it, because he won’t be able to pull back in the championship, even for a top 10 standing.

However, Nelson is currently 16th in the championship, but his teammate and relative rookie Oliver Turvey is 14th with more points. Oliver is doing better than the reigning champion, in the same car. So as much as Nelson can blame it on the car, actually if he can’t outcompete his teammate, then perhaps it’s not just about the car. Although, I think this year has certainly affected him psychologically going from world champion to the bottom of the pack.”

Nicki Shields for e-racing.net

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Image courtesy of Rajan Jangda and FIA Formula E Media

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