Lucas di Grassi will remain a Formula E driver into his 40s after being confirmed at the Abt team today.
The 2016-17 Formula E champion was always under contract to stay at Abt, which will run the new Lola Yamaha cars for next season. The affirmation of his continuation means he will enter an 11th season in the all-electric series despite coming off the back of his least successful campaign to date.
Di Grassi’s 2024 featured just three points-scoring finishes and a total of four points from 16 races, meaning that he finished below McLaren substitute Taylor Barnard - who raced three times last season - in the championship.
He was also significantly outqualified and outscored by team-mate Nico Mueller, who beat the Brazilian 11-3 in qualifying and took 48 more points in the final standings.
But di Grassi is unequivocal in his desire to continue racing despite the new Abt Lola Yamaha car being the fourth different package that he will have raced in as many years, saying that hitting 40 next week is not figuring in his professional driving future.
“I don't see it as a chronological age problem,” di Grassi told the Race.
“When I do my tests, my reflexes, my VO2 [rate of oxygen use during physical exertion], my abilities are the same as 10 years ago. So, they haven't decayed with time.
“At one point they will - maybe when I'm, I don't know, 45 or 50. At the moment, there are no limitations.
"The limitation is the ability to keep the same discipline of work and motivation as I always had.
“I think this is much more important to have a good result than the age itself. So, if I'm motivated, if I know I can learn and if I'm driving well, I can perform at the level that I was performing at when I won the championship.”
Di Grassi will have a new team-mate for next season, with Abt currently evaluating several drivers. Among them are believed to be at least two young options without Formula E experience.
Testing exceeding expectations
Di Grassi completed two further days in the new Lola-Yamaha test and development car in the UK last week. Additional testing in Spain and Italy will commence next month, with initial feedback from the tests positive.
This running follows the first shakedown of the car which was conducted at the Turweston airfield near Silverstone last month, again with di Grassi at the wheel for the straightline-only runs.
Last week’s tests led di Grassi to compare the first runs of the Lola-Yamaha Gen3Evo car to the troubled and late testing of the Mahindra M9Electro Gen3 car in the summer and autumn of 2022.
“Yesterday was one of the best tests I ever had in my career in terms of first days,” he said.
“The car ran very smoothly, and we ran pretty much all configurations that were possible without any major issue.
“The base of the car is pretty promising. Of course, there's a lot to develop and a lot to progress to be able to reach a level that is competitive. But the base is there to develop.
“When I started the Mahindra project, for at least five months we never ran this smoothly in any tests before the first race.
“So, to be able to run these first tests that smoothly, I was actually very excited.”
Di Grassi has been working with a combination of development staff from Lola, Abt and Yamaha at the first tests.
These include former Aguri and Dragon engineer Joao Correia, Lola technical director Mark Tatham and his regular Abt engineer Markus Michelberger.
“I learned a lot after meeting the Lola guys, and I'm very much more motivated for next season and already have a different feeling when I'm driving this car.
“I'm talking the same language as the Lola guys, and I know that they have potential to develop a lot. This will create a good momentum for next season.”
Provisional Formula E 2025 line-up
Jaguar: Mitch Evans - Nick Cassidy
Porsche: Antonio Felix da Costa - Pascal Wehrlein
DS Penske: Maximilian Guenther - Jean-Eric Vergne
Nissan: Oliver Rowland - TBC
Andretti: Jake Dennis - TBC
Envision: Robin Frijns - Sebastien Buemi
McLaren: Sam Bird - Taylor Barnard
Maserati: Stoffel Vandoorne - Jake Hughes
Abt Lola Yamaha: Lucas di Grassi - TBC
Mahindra: Nyck de Vries - Edo Mortara
ERT: TBC - TBC
