Formula 1 legend Johnny Herbert has praised Formula E, describing it as “brilliant to watch,” as he grows into his new role as a Global Brand Ambassador for Lola.
Herbert, who raced in F1 between 1989 and 2000, was announced in the role two months ago, one day after being dumped by the FIA as a drivers’ steward.
The Brit, who won 3 Grands Prix in his career, is a hugely-popular figure within the sport, and his profile has suitably come together with that of the Lola brand, another famed British motorsport institution.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport Week, Herbert explained how and why he chose to link-up with the manufacturer, which shares an FE team entry from this season with Yamaha and ABT.
“It all started with Keith Smout who’s a part of Lola [Chief Commercial Officer] and been part of Formula E for a long time.
|”I met him when we were both doing Formula 1, and we’ve always kept in touch, and this Lola project came up. We’ve been talking about it for a while.
“And then eventually meeting Till [Bechtolsheimer, Lola owner] a couple of years ago, racing with him at the Goodwood Revival, and it sort of just moved forward from that point of view.
“Till was explaining exactly what he wanted – he’s a petrolhead, loves his motorsport, loves his history and classic cars mainly. But he does do a little bit of sports cars and stuff like that.
“And then when he bought Lola, it was one of those situations of… he wants to build the brand back up, which is wonderful. It’s lovely.”
Herbert articulates the appeal of being affiliated with Lola, given the richness of its heritage.
“You know how famous the Lola brand name is and there’s everything else that goes with it, the T70 and the success he had with the various categories.
“I always remember that wonderful time with Nigel Mansell out in the States doing CART after he won the Formula 1 World Championship. Of course, that was in a Lola.
“I’ve driven a Lola myself a Champ Car – and so there was a little bit of a connection with that, but it was more the bringing back of the name, and I think that’s where Till’s got this vision.
“And so far, the build up has been brilliantly done by going into Formula E, and that was something that sort of was making it interesting for me to be a part of this new journey for Lola.”
‘Exciting’ Formula E has ‘fantastic place in motorsport’
“When it first came in, there was a lot of hype that it was going to take over Formula 1 and it was going to be the next big thing.
“But of course, Formula 1 is a very, very different monster, but it has a fantastic place in motorsport because the electric cars we have on the road, the development of that is something that has improved massively. It’s still got a long way to go.
“And what motorsport is very good at is developing those technologies and I think Formula E is one of those that has been able to push the boundaries of the electric motor forward, and the cars themselves are producing a lot of power nowadays.
“350 kilowatts in qualifying, 300 in a race with that little 50 boost that they get, and the racing I always find brilliant to watch.
“And some people, and this is always where I’m still an old school driver, because I like the challenge of the circuits they have on some of the streets that they race on. They’re bumpy, nothing wrong with being bumpy!
“I always remember there’s a word that you don’t hear so much in Formula 1, for example, but you have to use it a lot in Formula E. It’s a ‘compromise’.
“When there are bumps on the circuit, you have to compromise with certain, I don’t know, aero settings or ride heights or whatever it may be, because those bumps are on the circuit.
“So I like that there are those challenges there for the engineers and for the drivers. Physically, it’s quite hard at the same time, and I like the racing.
“I like the racing where there is a little bit of push and shove, and it’s exciting when you tune in; there’s normally some battle going on either at the front or even further behind as well.
“So because of that, the entertainment side of it has its place, and I think the rawness of the racing is really, really good.
“They’ve got some fantastic drivers that are in there at the same time, and I think that only pushes it to a level where the enjoyment of people watching it on TV comes into play., because humans always like a visual entertainment.
“I think Formula E definitely does a visual entertainment on that, and then you add in the technology that goes with it.
“Some people don’t like the fan boost that we used to have. Obviously, that’s not part of it now, now we’ve got the extra boost that we’ve got.
“We’ve got the way that qualifying works nowadays with the groups and then the duels. The quarterfinal, semifinal, back into the final, andI like that. It’s something different.
“But I think it just only adds to what the entertainment factor should be. So there’s a lot of positives with Formula E, and I hope it does continue to grow, and I think it will.
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