Sebastien Buemi warns Lucas di Grassi over Formula E title decider

Reigning FE champion Buemi goes into the Montreal finale with a 10-point advantage over di Grassi after having to sit out the New York double-header to race for Toyota in the clashing Nurburgring World Endurance Championship round.

The 2015/16 FE title battle ended when di Grassi and Buemi collided in Battersea Park, an incident that remains on Buemi's mind.

"I respect him as a driver but I don't respect what happened last year," Buemi told Autosport.

"People within the sport know exactly what happened there.

"If [a collision] happens once more like this, what do you think people will think then?

"It will be very hard to explain for him.

"He can't afford anything like that again for his reputation, can he?"

Buemi says di Grassi's failure to accept blame for the Battersea collision soured their relationship.

"Last year instead of him saying: 'I tried everything and lost it and the situation happened as it did, sorry', he then said that the fault is on me and I braked early," said Buemi.

"This I didn't like and didn't think was correct at all. You can push things so far, but there is a limit and he went well over it that day.

"I prefer to lose with dignity than to try to win in a way where I could not look at myself in the mirror.

"Can he say the same? I don't know, ask him. It is done now and it is over.

"We have had good battles since then and there is no real big problem from my side anymore."

Autosport understands that another incident occurred between Buemi and di Grassi after the Battersea Park finale last summer.

Buemi would not elaborate upon the nature of this altercation, saying only: "After Battersea we had another bad story which nobody knows about and there will not be any publicity about this.

"So we had another problem too, but this is history now as well."

He accused di Grassi of overstating his FE performances.

"He seems to lack some confidence if he needs to speak to everyone all the time that he outperforms the car he has," said Buemi.

"The real good guys don't need to say it, but he usually does and ends up just talking too much.

"If I wanted to, I could go around and tell everyone that I was the only guy who is winning regularly in a Renault car.

"[Jean-Eric] Vergne, [Esteban] Gutierrez and now [Stephane] Sarrazin have the same car and I am the only one to have won a race, in fact 12 races.

"I could do that, but I don't because I feel like I don't need to and people will see this for what it is."