Lucas di Grassi believes Formula E should ride the wave created by Formula 1 in order to continue its growth after a period where the series plateaued.
Most Formula E drivers feel the all-electric championship grew year-on-year until the Covid-19 pandemic hit, which slowed the progress of the series.
At the same time, F1 was thriving on Drive to Survive and the thrilling season-long championship battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
“Covid really hit the championship but also a series of measures that could have could have helped,” Di Grassi exclusively told Total-Motorsport.com.
“I think the championship now is picking up quite a lot with the new generation cars, higher speeds, more performance – I think that is bringing the championship up.
“We should ride this wave of the F1 Netflix series [Drive to Survive]. People want to watch more racing. When they go to an F1 event for the first time they love it. So they will probably come to another event to see it, so we should ride this wave that motorsport has right now and improve Formula E more.
“It’s a good time, for me, to have another step going towards the right direction.”
Di Grassi: An F1 driver might not be good in Formula E
Several Formula E drivers have competed in F1 including Pascal Wehrlein, Jean-Eric Vergne, Sebastien Buemi, Stoffel Vandoorne and Di Grassi himself.
The Brazilian, who drove for Virgin in the 2010 F1 season, says a great F1 driver may struggle in Formula E and vice versa.
“It’s hard to say who is better or worse because it’s a different technique,” explained Di Grassi. “You can have a driver which is good in F1 and not so good in Formula E and the other way around.
“I would say that the level is pretty good. If it’s not the same, it’s the second best or third best championship and is among the highest level of drivers you can get out there.
“Some Formula E drivers haven’t been to F1 like [Antonio Felix] Da Costa, [Mitch] Evans, [Sam] Bird, these guys definitely should have had a chance.”
