DS Penske driver and 2022 FIA Formula E World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne has spoken to Motorsport Week ahead of this weekend’s inaugural Tokyo E-Prix.
Vandoorne is in his second season with Penske, alongside two-time FE champion Jean-Eric Vergne, and the Belgian has enjoyed an encouraging start to Season 10, with three points finishes from four races. Although pleased with the team’s progress after a difficult first season for the Penske team, Vandoorne is working towards closing the gap to the leading teams even further.
“It’s been decent, I would say.
“Our highlights have probably been consistently qualifying at the front which has been promising and clearly shows the steps we’ve made over the winter which is nice to confirm that we’ve made progress.
“On the other side, the races have been a bit complicated for us, we’ve not necessarily had the race pace we’re targeting and there’s some improvements to be done there to really consistently fight around the top three, which should be our target, but we are in a phase where there’s a lot of new people in the team, they’ve just joined and have a lot of new information on the table and I think slowly, we are starting to see some of those benefits from that.
“We are aware of the steps we need to take and I hope that we need to show that in the next couple of races.”
Penske have made a huge statement of intent since the start of the year with the signing of Phil Charles as Deputy Team Principal and Team President. Charles was formerly Technical Manager at Jaguar TCS Racing, and has been described as Formula E’s answer to Adrian Newey. Does Vandoorne feel that the hiring of such a highly-respected figure will put a target on the team’s back and build very high expectations?
“I’m not sure about a target, but what it shows is the intention of the team, which is great, hiring such an experienced guy and someone who’s had a lot of success in Formula E is great.
“If you look back at all the people in the team, DS have lots of success in the past but the last couple of years have been more difficult.
“Jaguar were the dominant force last year with Porsche, so we are getting to a situation in Formula E where the cars are so close together, the information is so important to have to try and get all the little bits from everywhere, so for sure people will be looking at us, but it’s a team sport, not a one man show.
“Every single person in the team is important, whether it’s the drivers, Phil or the other bright people in the team who are playing a very important role to this journey, so we all need to be working together, working towards the same targets and goals and that will require a little time as well to pay-off, but I hope next season we’ll properly be in a position to fight for a World Championship again.”
Formula E is this weekend making its first visit to Japan, with the Tokyo street circuit creating huge excitement, with a combination of twisty corners and fast curves. Vandoorne is thoroughly prepared for the challenge it will bring.
“It’s the first time for Formula E to come here, and I know they’ve been working on this country for such a long time to try and make this race happen, so it’s first of all incredible news and it’s a great city to come and race.
“The track itself looks extremely challenging, a lot of tight corners in the first section and then faster corners, as well as being bumpy.
“It will be a Formula E classic – a proper old school street circuit.
“We’ve obviously our work on the simulator so we know what it’s about and what it’s going to be like, so we’ll see how the race will go but it looks like qualifying will be quite important.
“Maybe it isn’t the most energy-sensitive circuit, but definitely in terms from a driver’s perspective, it’s a challenging one so we’ll need to put a lot of effort into qualifying at the front to try and stay out of trouble, and have a clean race from there.”
And what chances are there of a successful weekend for Vandoorne and Penske?
“I think it’s possible. It’s a question mark because it’s new for everybody, so I hope we’ve done our homework right. We’ve got a pretty good understanding of what we need and I think if we can keep the momentum going from the last couple of races, I’m confident we can have a good race.”
Formula E’s CEO Jeff Dodds has recently indicated his hopes that Formula E will make further visits to Asia, a continent he described as “underserved” in motorsport. Vandoorne is welcome of Asian representation on the calendar, but hopes that the sport will have a breadth of racing in different countries.
“I mean, ultimately, it’s a “World Championship”, so you want to cover the world, but it’s great to be back in Asia. We have China in a couple of months as well which will be nice to have it back on the calendar. We want to cover all the continents – maybe Australia is next!”
The excitement of the last race in Sao Paulo saw Formula E being talked-about more than ever, with a huge showing of appreciation for the quality of racing and the entertainment on show. Vandoorne is hopeful of Formula E becoming more popular and getting the recognition it is due.
“I definitely hope it does, and I think everyone who is in this championship wants it to be, and I think maybe Formula E right now does not the credit it deserves, because it is a championship that is highly competitive, the quality of the drivers, engineers, the teams that are working here are on Formula 1 levels.
“Phil is a good example because Phil worked in Formula 1 [ an an engineer at Scuderia Toro Rosso] and has been leading a Formula E team before so I think it’s an underestimated championship from a lot of people, and they don’t realise until they embark in it.
“So I hope it continues to grow, that’s what we all want, and we want to make it a really popular sport.”
