Former F1 driver posts hilarious message after huge penalty

Lucas di Grassi must serve a huge penalty during the first of two Formula E races at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

14 February 2025

Former F1 driver and Season 3 Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi took to social media after seeing the funny side of a huge penalty in Saudi Arabia. Ahead of the inaugural Jeddah E-Prix on Friday evening, di Grassi knew going into qualifying that he had a 20-place grid penalty. Both di Grassi and Lola Yamaha ABT team-mate Zane Maloney received the punishment after the team broke the seal on both drivers MGUs, with permission from FE to conduct checks. However, as both drivers failed to qualify on the front row and were unable to be demoted 20 places, di Grassi and Maloney must serve a 10-second stop-and-go penalty during the race. Taking to X (formerly Twitter) ahead of qualifying, di Grassi joked that he would start the race from the Saudi Arabian capital 1,156km away. "Starting from Riyadh today," joked the 40-year-old.

https://x.com/LucasdiGrassi/status/1890324636564333002

Starting from Riyadh today 👍 pic.twitter.com/6XRtmvHpPw — Lucas Di Grassi (@LucasdiGrassi) February 14, 2025

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