Lucas di Grassi has failed to take any blame for the crash between himself and Antonio Felix da Costa in the Paris ePrix.
The incident immediately eliminated da Costa from the race, and sent di Grassi to the back of the field.
But despite seeming to squeeze da Costa into the barrier, the Brazilian claimed that he was not to blame for the crash, and instead accused the MS Amlin Andretti driver of not knowing how to race.
“I didn’t see anything because when I went to the outside I passed him completely, braked and started turning to the apex,” di Grassi told Autosport.
“He crashed into the inside wall and then into me.
“Antonio didn’t know how to race today, he overtook me very harshly but I let him go – but when I was about to overtake him back he played extremely hard.”
Da Costa’s reaction to the incident was more measured but he in turn blamed di Grassi for the crash, saying that he was given nowhere to go.
“He’s half a car in front but he can’t turn into the corner that early,” di Grassi told Autosport.
“He’s not a stupid guy, he’s intelligent. He turned in so early I crashed into the wall before the corner was even there.
“I was a passenger, I had nowhere to go. He was being very clever – I overtook him and he was staying there.
“But one lap to another his mind just switched, he tried to overtake me like 20 times in five corners. He was all over me, and then he was just trying desperate moves everywhere.”
The crash was the first of several incidents that ruined di Grassi’s race.
He subsequently received a drive-through penalty for being ten seconds short on his pit stop, and then crashed again later on while trying to set the fastest lap.
It means he is now 43 points back from championship leader Buemi, but speaking afterwards he blamed the result on his poor qualifying.
“That’s the price of starting at the back, there’s always these risks,” di Grassi said. “That generated the crash and then this chaotic domino effect that really was a day to forget.”
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