The key strength that convinced di Grassi to join Formula E's 2023 tailender

In moving away from Mahindra to its customer team, Lucas di Grassi will be racing for a third different Formula E squad in as many years. But in what amounts to a spiritual homecoming to the Abt outfit he raced for in the first seven years of his tenure in the all-electric championship, the Brazilian believes he's in the right place to add to his roll of honour in the years to come

“What I’m really looking forward to is fighting for the championship after season 10. This is where I want to get back to and although nothing is 100% certain, I am very certain that Abt will make the best decision.”

Lucas di Grassi’s return to Abt Cupra ahead of the upcoming 2023-24 Formula E campaign might be a surprise when looking at the raw statistics as, on paper, di Grassi has moved from the second-worst team to the worst based on last season’s final classification.

Mahindra finished 20 points clear of its customer outfit Abt, but both were comprehensively behind the performance of other teams as the former outfit suffered numerous delays to its development of the new Gen3 machine while the latter made a late decision to rejoin the Formula E grid after a year away.

Previously Abt and di Grassi enjoyed a long and successful relationship together that neither side particularly wanted to end. But Audi withdrawing its involvement from the team, which subsequently withdrew from Formula E in 2021 signalled the end of a partnership that had lasted seven years, yielding a drivers’ title for di Grassi in 2016-17 and the teams’ crown a year later.

Di Grassi was forced to find employment elsewhere, joining Venturi - where he recorded one win and fifth in the standings, before switching to Mahindra last season for what was hoped by both parties to be the start of a long-term endeavour. The campaign started brightly, with di Grassi bagging pole in the Mexico City season opener and finishing on the podium – beaten only by Porsche powertrain users Jake Dennis and Pascal Wehrlein.

But thereafter his campaign crumbled, as the Brazilian only reached the points twice more across 15 races, while the team also parted ways with Oliver Rowland - now back at Nissan - after the halfway point of the season.

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The lacklustre performance of the team stemmed back to the departure of long-standing team principal Dilbagh Gill in September 2022, a time when the development of the new Gen3 machine was at a critical phase. Although ex-FIA man Frederic Bertrand took over at the helm, di Grassi believes vital momentum was lost as well, while a general change in direction meant it was always going to be on the backfoot.

Source: Autosport