FE: Fanboost flaws could decide title - Di Grassi

Formula E championship leader Lucas di Grassi is concerned his title fight with Sebastien Buemi will be decided by people manipulating the championship's Fanboost vote.

The Abt Audi Sport driver has been vocal regarding his concerns over the way fans can vote to give competitors an energy boost in the second half of FE races this season. In addition to voting on social media fans can also using the FE app or the championship website, which only requires an email address to sign up and vote.

Di Grassi believes competitors have already been exploiting this by voting with multiple accounts and fears it will impact on London's July 2-3 title decider in Battersea Park.

"In a way nobody is cheating, but you can go online and vote on the website and some teams and drivers are taking advantage of that, finding systems to get people votes," he said. "It's a loophole in the system. I'm pushing and making a lot of effort to get more Fanboost votes through social media.

"I feel frustrated when we are making an effort and end up not getting Fanboost. It's strange and I want a fair end to the championship.

"If we both have Fanboost or are both without, I would be happy. We don't want a championship to be decided by Fanboost with this loophole."

On Wednesday morning di Grassi tweeted a proposal that he and Buemi are ineligible for Fanboost for the Battersea double-header. The championship intends to run Fanboost as normal, which di Grassi said he accepted.

"We should not change the rules in the middle of the seasons, that's just the way I wish it would happen," he said. "I just want to create awareness that this loophole exists and I'm completely against it.

"It's something to look at – it's such a great feature. It's better than season one and I think FE will improve Fanboost again for season three."

FE considers Fanboost a staple of the championship and together with the FIA works with Telescope, a U.S.-based company that helps monitor the voting system.

The series is evaluating ways to shore up verification for the 2016-'17 campaign, such as giving fans individual profiles for voting through the website. Di Grassi said his preference was to switch to social media voting only.

"That is very fair," he added. "You can verify all the fans voting. I would have that, but it's not my call."

Originally on Autosport.com