Jerome D’Ambrosio has lambasted the qualifying system in Formula E and called on series organisers to make a change following the Rome ePrix.
The Mahindra Racing driver finished in eighth place, and the four championship points he earned regained him the lead of the driver’s championship.
However he had to come from the back of the grid once again after he qualified in a lowly nineteenth place, a situation he attributed to having to go out in the first qualifying group and being on a cold track.
Under recent rule changes drivers now go out in qualifying in championship order, with the top five drivers going out first when the track is often colder or not as rubbered in.
This has led to many of the leaders qualifying at the back of the grid, and has partly contributed to there being seven different race winners in the first seven races this season.
D’Ambrosio described the situation as a joke, saying that he and his other title rivals should be battling it out at the front of the field.
“It’s super tight out there,” he said. “The way this joke of qualifying is happening is with us being in group one, you can be lucky if you just score four or five points in the race.
“It’s a bit of a joke because we all work really hard and we have good pace, and then it’s not really fair.”
The Belgian said that as a result of this, the driver in sixth place in the championship going into the decider in New York could be at an advantage as they would be allowed to go out in group two, and that to avoid this situation organisers needed to look at changing the format.
“It’s a good thing [for the championship], but the guy who is sixth in the championship going into New York might have a massive advantage in qualifying. And it’s so tight out there, it’s a bit tricky.
“It’s good to be leading, don’t get me wrong, but you want more as a racing driver, and when you work hard and you’ve got the pace that we had today, you should be fighting for the podium and not for recovery.
“We recovered, but I think it’s about time the championship starts looking at the rules.”
