FE: Title rivals' verdicts on each other's seasons

Formula E title rivals Lucas di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi are separated by just one point going into the championship's season-ending double-header in London.

Since dominating the opening round of the season in Beijing, Renault e.dams driver Buemi has won twice more but technical issues and mistakes have hindered his charge. Conversely Abt Audi Sport's di Grassi has been metronomic, securing a 100% on-the-road podium record that has earned him the most slender of advantages heading to Battersea Park on July 2-3.

"If it was on outright pace I think they have the best chance," di Grassi said. "But because Formula E is so complex, I think we can beat them if you consider the whole package. They have the best powertrain, but we have done fewer mistakes this year.

"It will be extremely difficult, we have to have a perfect weekend – that's what I'm betting my chips on."

Aside from di Grassi being excluded from the Mexico City round for one of his Abt Schaeffler FE01s being underweight, the Brazilian and his team have been flawless across the 2015/16 campaign. Although Buemi enjoys a small powertrain advantage with Renault's Z.E.15, the Swiss driver had a technical failure in Putrajaya and struggled for pace in Paris, where the team was caught out by the short lap and cold temperatures and suffered tire warm-up issues.

"Lucas has done a great season, he's averaged something like 18 points a race – or second in every event," Buemi said. "It shows that even if I had done everything perfectly, it would have been difficult to have many more points than him.

"I hope it will be a smooth weekend like Berlin. It's July and the track is longer so we shouldn't have the problem we have in Paris."

Last year, the Battersea Park round put the championship's all-weather Michelins to the test in wet conditions for the first time when rain fell in qualifying. Di Grassi and Buemi are both aware that FE's group lottery system means one could be left with a lot of work to do if one of them lucks in to a dry session while the other runs in the wet.

"It's a random factor that's impossible to calculate until the moment you see which group are you are in," said di Grassi. "It creates a lot of randomness and it could decide the title."

Buemi added: "The weather is unpredictable and the track is very narrow so you have no margin for error. If you get into a group of qualifying that has a lot worse weather, to come back is going to be very hard.

"You don't only need to be quick, you also need to be lucky."

Originally on Autosport.com