Formula E Season 6 – The Team Principals Rate Their Campaigns
© FIA Formula E
© FIA Formula E

Formula E Season 6 – The Team Principals Rate Their Campaigns

Formula E Season 6 featured one of the strongest grids in top-level motorsport, and with eight of the 12 teams scoring podiums and six winning at least one race, it proved to be one of the most competitive seasons in the series’ history.

Unsurprisingly though, not everyone was happy with how their respective seasons went. Here’s what the team principals had to say when asked to rate their results…

Mark Preston, DS Techeetah

“I have said it many times over the last two weeks, but it can’t be said enough. We have the best team on the grid, across the board. It takes a lot more to run a successful racing team than what can be seen. It’s a whole operation that requires each and every person to excel in their jobs, and that goes from accounting, marketing, and legal to the technical team of mechanics and engineers.

“We have a unique group of people in this team who will stop at nothing to ensure our success and that is why we are here today. So thanks to all of you, and a special thanks to our Racing Director Leo Thomas for running a tight ship and to DS Automobiles for providing us with such a strong powertrain.”

DS Techeetah – Season 6 stats

  • 1st in the teams’ standings
  • Finished 1st (Da Costa) and 3rd (Vergne)
  • 9 podiums (Santiago, Mexico City, Marrakesh, Berlin R1, R2, R4)
  • 4 wins (Marrakesh, Berlin R1, R2, R4)

Tommaso Volpe, Nissan e.dams

“We are so proud of our Formula E team and the second place finish, despite challenging circumstances, the team has shown extraordinary resilience and ingenuity at every race. We successfully completed season six finishing second in the teams’ championship with a victory, five podiums and two pole positions, plus six straight rounds in superpole qualifying sessions.

“This represents an astonishing result considering that the innovative dual-motor powertrain Nissan developed for our first season led Formula E to change its regulations, and we had to develop an updated powertrain for the current season in a very short amount of time. Our aim was to be top three in the teams championship, and we beat that.”

Nissan e.dams – Season 6 stats

  • 2nd in the teams’ standings
  • Finished 4th (Buemi) and 5th (Rowland)
  • 5 podiums (Mexico City, Berlin R2, R4, R5, R6)
  • 1 win (Berlin R5)

Ian James, Mercedes EQ

“We said that we’d approach season six with a huge amount of respect for the challenges that Formula E throws up to each and every team manufacturer and therefore a good dose of humility as well, and I think that throughout the season that approach has been consistent. It goes without saying that both our start and finish were very, very strong, but we spent much of the middle part of the season in a bit of a no man’s land, partly through avoidable errors that we made as part of that learning, and that’s something that we need to ensure that we improve upon going forward.

“Despite the phenomenal result in the final race, we can’t be lulled into a false sense of security. We need to improve every facet of the team if we’re to achieve our targets for season seven”

Mercedes EQ – Season 6 stats

  • 3rd in the teams’ standings
  • Finished 2nd (Vandoorne) and 11th (De Vries)
  • 4 podiums (Diriyah R1, R2, Berlin R6)
  • 1 win (Berlin R6)

Sylvain Filippi, Envision Virgin Racing

“It’s been a mixed season for us, Sam [Bird] started with an incredible win in Diriyah and then we had a few unlucky races before the coronavirus hiatus. We came to Berlin running seventh in the standings with a lot of competitive teams ahead of us, so to secure three podiums and finish the season in fourth spot is a testament to the incredible work each and every member of this team puts in.”

Envision Virgin Racing – Season 6 stats

  • 4th in the teams’ standings
  • Finished 10th (Bird) and 12th (Frijns)
  • 4 podiums (Diriyah R1, Berlin R1, R3, R5)
  • 1 win (Diriyah R1)

Roger Griffiths, BMW Andretti

“A season of mixed feelings; the highs were certainly there, three race wins shared by our two drivers – one of which on home soil in Berlin – a podium, two pole positions and two other front row starts and great all round reliability from the BMW i powertrain. Unfortunately, that was only good enough for a fifth place in the championship such is the high standard in Formula E. Only Techeetah had more wins.

“The final six rounds in Berlin didn’t play out as we had expected, four no scores for the team meant a lot of missed points despite our overall level of competitiveness. That leaves a bitter taste in our mouths and the team are eager and hungry for more success. Roll on season seven!”

BMW Andretti – Season 6 stats

  • 5th in the teams’ standings
  • Finished 9th (Gunther) and 13th (Sims)
  • 4 podiums (Diriyah R2, Santiago, Marrakesh, Berlin R3)
  • 3 wins (Diriyah R2, Santiago, Berlin R3)

Allan McNish, Audi Sport

“We went to the final races in Belin fighting to be as high up as possible in the teams’ standings. Looking back, we were fast and scored points with both cars, but just not consistently enough this season. Our achilles heel has been qualifying; we haven’t been able to put it all together with both cars all the time and that’s what we need to do next season.

“Now the competition level is too high between five or six teams that if you don’t hit it all the time with both cars, you won’t be in the title fight. We can’t wait for next season to begin but in the meantime we’ll be flat out testing to ensure we come back fighting harder than ever.”

Audi Sport – Season 6 stats

  • 6th in the teams’ standings
  • Finished 6th (Di Grassi), 15th (Rast), 21st (Abt)
  • 3 podiums (Diriyah R2, Berlin R2, R5)

James Barclay, Jaguar Racing

“The first half of the season was positive for Jaguar Racing which saw the team and Mitch secure our second Formula E victory with a dominant win in Mexico City and a podium in Santiago. We also demonstrated our speed with a record-breaking drive through the field in Marrakesh.

“Unfortunately COVID-19 stopped our momentum after Marrakesh and in Berlin we’ve been victim to the qualifying system. Mitch started outside the top 10 in all the Berlin rounds and despite making up 32 places in the last three races he could only salvage P7 in the drivers’ standings. It’s very frustrating for the team as we’ve shown we have an incredibly fast racecar.

“Our season seven preparations have already begun and we’re more determined than ever to fight for podiums and wins when Mitch and Sam [Bird] get back on track in January.”

Jaguar Racing – Season 6 stats

  • 7th in the teams’ standings
  • Finished 7th (Evans), 19th (Calado), 26th (Blomqvist)
  • 2 podiums (Santiago, Mexico City)
  • 1 win (Mexico City)

Amiel Lindesay, Porsche

“Very positive. As a rookie team we put a car on the podium in the very first race, and that was in a championship like Formula E that is incredibly close. This does not happen through just hard work. It is a complete team effort, where we made use of expertise from different backgrounds, using what we have learnt and adapting to this new challenge. We learnt so much in such a short time and continue to learn. I believe we proved we are a team to respect in our first season and achieved all our goals set out last year.

“Putting the car on pole in Mexico City was a special moment for me – starting the race from pole, seeing our car on the grid in front of the 23 other cars is definitely a moving moment. This also gave us all the extra boost that yes, we do have performance in the car.”

Porsche – Season 6 stats

  • 8th in the teams’ standings
  • 8th (Lotterer) and 20th (Jani)
  • 2 podiums (Diriyah R1, Berlin R1)
  • Best result of 2nd (Diriyah R1, Berlin R1)

Dilbagh Gill, Mahindra Racing

“I think it is clear that our ambitions as a team were not realised in season six and the season did not go the way we wanted it. We draw positives from nine superpole appearances and an end to the season that saw us score points in five of the six final races, but our focus is now fully on working towards season seven.”

Mahindra Racing – Season 6 stats

  • 9th in the teams’ standings
  • 16th (d’Ambrosio), 17th (Lynn), 18th (Wehrlein)
  • Scored points in eight of 11 races
  • Best result of 4th (Santiago)

Susie Wolff, Venturi

“It’s fair to say that it’s been a complicated season for everyone and obviously finishing 10th doesn’t feel great – it’s not what we were aiming for. Our season started on a more positive note with Edo’s fourth place at the second round in Diriyah in December and I think that we were capable of a lot more this season, certainly more than we achieved in Berlin.

“I’m someone who is very honest and brutal with myself and I can see that we have a lot to do ahead of season seven. There are some areas where we need to improve as a team and I think all the pieces are there, however we need to get better at executing performance during the race.”

Venturi – Season 6 stats

  • 10th in the teams’ standings
  • 14th (Mortara) and 22nd (Massa)
  • Scored points in nine of 11 races
  • Best result of 4th (Diriyah R1)

Nio 333 and Dragon Racing did not respond to a request for quotes.

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Written by
Rob Watts
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