Sebastian Buemi speaks out after London ePrix

In an interview with the media after the London ePrix, Renault.eDams driver and FIA FIA Formula E Champion Sebastien Buemi slammed his rival Lucas di Grassi after the race, calling him disrespectful and a liar.

The two drivers went into the final race of the season at Battersea Park level on points. With Buemi on pole and Di Grassi in third we were expecting a battle, but nothing like what happened.

Going into Turn 3 on the first lap Di Grassi hit the rear end of the Swiss driver, taking them both out of contention for the points scoring positions. In an interview with the media after the race, Buemi felt that di Grassi was “willing to crash” to take the championship. Buemi said the following about Di Grassi's behaviour:-

“I've said he's an amazing driver, but I can't have respect for someone that behaves like that- he was so desperate to win. You can be desperate but you have to do it in a fair way. Last year I lost by one point. I lost Le Mans last week in the last lap and you can't behave like that.”

“Yesterday, when I fought him, at some point when I went on the outside and basically he hits the brakes so much,” added Buemi. “You feel when you're a racing driver that he was willing to crash.”

There was no collision in the first race of the weekend, and the pair headed into the race even on points but di Grassi ahead in the championship due to his number of podiums.

The two came together at the third corner, with di Grassi powering past second place runner Nicolas Prost before hitting Buemi in the rear and pushing them both into the barrier. Buemi still believes that Di Grassi knew what he was doing on the track and feels he went too quickly into the corner. Buemi added the following:-

“I just saw the images when he went through Nico and the wall by this much and then he had two options: either hit me or go to the right. He hit me so hard. Even fully on the brakes we ended up in the tecpro.

Not a little bit, we went completely out of the park. So it shows that he went quick.”

Both were able to limp to the pits and turned to setting fastest laps to determine the championship.

The Renault e.dams car has shown all season that that it is the best car around, and Buemi was sure he could win this fight if it was fair – a word the Swiss driver would not personally choose to describe the finale as follows:-

“He did the fastest lap, and then he waited for me,” Buemi explained. “Each time I tried to go for fastest lap he was slowing me down. So then I had to go through the box three or four times just to snake him a little bit. He didn't know, then he was finding himself completely at the opposite end of the track so he couldn't stop and wait for me. I could not believe it.”

After both the collision and the alleged attempt to ruin his fastest lap attempts, Buemi says he's lost all respect for the Brazilian, and stressed that, even if the two were in the same car, it would not be di Grassi speeding off ahead of him.

Buemi was able to set the fastest lap and finished the championship two points ahead of Di Grassi who was handed a 50-second penalty for causing a collision after the race. Nevertheless, there is still a heated debate surrounding the accident that brought a first decision in the title showdown.

Though clearly annoyed at how he won the championship, he's happy to have taken the top spot after a mixed season and said the following:-
“I'm very happy. In a couple of weeks' time I will forget about it.”

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa