Di Grassi hit with grid penalty for Santiago Formula E race

Defending Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi has been hit with a 10-place grid penalty for Saturday’s Santiago E-Prix in Chile following an inverter change on his Audi ABT Schaeffler car.

Di Grassi has endured a torrid start to the season, failing to score any points through the opening three races following a number of reliability issues for the Audi squad.

The Brazilian admitted to Crash.net following the last race in Marrakesh he faced an uphill struggle to defend his title, with the latest grid penalty in Santiago only deepening his plight.

Stewards in Santiago confirmed that di Grassi would face a 10-place grid drop after changing the inverter on his car, having already used his ‘joker’ change at the last race in Marrakesh following an issue in qualifying.

“We got to the bottom of the issues we had in Marrakesh,” said Audi team principal Allan McNish.

“We reproduced the problem on our test bench but the component is sealed by the FIA and so we were not in a position to fix it without incurring a penalty.”