He may have lost the Formula E drivers’ title at the final race for the second year in a row but Lucas di Grassi says he finishes the season with no regrets.

Di Grassi clashed with title rival Sebastien Buemi at Turn 3 on the first lap of Sunday’s season finale at Battersea Park, running into the back of the Renault e.dams under braking. Despite sustaining damage, both cars were able to continue, leading to a race-long battle for the fastest lap and the accompanying deadlock-breaking three points.

Buemi ultimately lapped four-tenths of a second faster than di Grassi to secure the championship but the Brazilian remained adamant that he was brake-tested and not to blame for the accident.

“I haven’t seen the footage but I have seen the data,” di Grassi said when asked by Current E about the incident. “I was in the stewards room looking at the data and it is very clear. I had a very good start and I knew I had to be aggressive against [Nico] Prost because I knew I had to overtake Prost at the beginning if I had any chance to fight Seb for the next 33 laps. Because here it is very easy to block, I knew if I was behind Prost it would be a struggle because he was extremely fast and at the same time I would have no chance of fighting Buemi. So I was very aggressive with him, we ended up touching a little bit. Seb braked almost 50m too early compared to me and Nico. When I realised, I locked my wheels and had the incident. Seb braked early, I was very aggressive, that was not how the first corner should have been. We should have fought for the next 32 laps. But with these conditions, the car, cold tyres, cold brakes, I had to be aggressive. That was what happened and nothing else to say.”

Buemi was left fuming with di Grassi, believing that his blocking antics while battling for the fastest lap were deliberate and calling his claim that he was brake-tested “disrespectful”. Even with the friction between them, di Grassi remained respectful of his title rival after the race.

“I think he should be proud that he won the title,” di Grassi said. “After he cools his head he will have a different approach. Seb is a tough fighter on the track and is a good driver, he won the title so he should be celebrating. We fought very hard and sometimes fighting hard, accidents happen. This type of race incident happened, it should not affect the relationship of sportsmen.”

Di Grassi believes that the ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport team can look back on the season with pride, having remained in the fight for both titles until the final race even with the pace deficit to the Renault cars.

“If we didn’t have Mexico I would’ve been champion yesterday with 31 points,” di Grassi said, reflecting on his disqualification at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. “Every point counts in this championship, it was very tight with me and Seb. I have to be very honoured to be fighting such a great driver with such a great team behind him. That proves that with a less performing car, our team was able to keep the fight to the very last moment and used the opportunity every time we could.”

The stewards handed di Grassi a drive-through penalty after the final race, converted into a 50s time penalty that does not change his final finishing position of P14.

He went on: “I look back at the championship with no regrets. We can keep our heads high, be proud of the work we have done. Not only did we squeeze every single point, we fought a stronger opponent, very good driver to the very last lap and we end up losing the championship to a fastest lap system, which is arguably good or bad depending on which side you look. We go home of course sad we did not win the championship but with our heads high because we did a miracle to be fighting for the championship to the very last race.”

Luke Smith