How an EV 'pioneer' plans to buy Italy a seat at the FE table

British prime minister Boris Johnson delivered a vague and oft-confusing national address on Sunday night as he announced the first easing of lockdown restrictions. But his next door neighbour was far more clear cut, with chancellor Rishi Sunak reporting that it is now "very likely" that the UK economy will face "a significant recession" this year. Another feel-good story to come out of 2020...

Formula 1 bore the motorsport brunt of the 2008 global financial crash as the BMW, Renault, Toyota, Honda and Super Aguri teams would all exit stage left in time. For better or worse, the vacancies afforded opportunities for comparative minnows Brawn, Lotus, Virgin and HRT to join the grand prix fraternity.

Twelve years later, there's now an Italian-Turkish alliance aiming to follow that pattern and make a Formula E bow despite the economic sucker punch thrown by the coronavirus pandemic. Gianfranco Pizzuto is leading the charge, which will enter under the Scuderia-E name should it be possible to take over an existing outfit.

And that's exactly what's required. FE has an agreement to limit the field to 12 teams, meaning there's currently no room at the inn. Scuderia-E's only option is to buy its way onto the grid.

Given the paradigm shift in the automotive industry, which has put an emphasis on the development of electric vehicles so major manufacturers can avoid billion-euro fines by not falling foul of emission restrictions, there's limited candidates for a takeover.

Mercedes needs to promote the investment in its EQ range of cars, Audi has its e-tron division, Jaguar has got its I-class of cars and BMW has its i-series range at the head of these movements. If it's a safe bet these major players remain loyal to FE, Scuderia-E's best chance is to approach a smaller independent team. Virgin Racing is still fresh into a partnership with Chinese conglomerate Envision, and Lisheng Racing only purchased the majority stake of NIO 333 on the eve of the 2019-20 season.

That makes Dragon Racing the most likely candidate for Pizzuto's advances. Jay Penske's squad is the only one, alongside NIO 333, not to have scored a podium in the last two campaigns. Sources indicate to Autosport that Dragon, which is one of the founding three FE teams, is steadfast in its commitment to the series. But everything and everyone has their price.

Despite the economic jeopardy that currently looms, there's still demand for spots on the FE grid, which means Scuderia-E won't be buying at a rock bottom price. Pizzuto says he is "discussing very closely with one of the teams that we have approached" about a takeover.

FE has an agreement to limit the field to 12 teams, meaning there's currently no room at the inn. Scuderia-E's only option is to buy its way onto the grid

There are non-disclosure agreements in place, of course, but when Autosport asks if Dragon is indeed the subject of the negotiations, Pizzuto quips "I think you're close!"

Pizzuto is a disrupter. He was an early pioneer of electrification, having been an initial backer of the Fisker Karma road car. That project started life back in 2007 before a bankruptcy case and a Chinese buyout, which took the company in a direction Pizzuto didn't agree with.

This time around, again he's not been afraid to be bold. FE intermittently gets approaches from parties interested in entering the championship, but those bidders tend not to go public with their intentions. Pizzuto has, however, announcing the plan via a LinkedIn post.

He tells Autosport: "Massimiliano [Zocchi, journalist] said, 'Listen, it's a shame there is no Italian OEM stepping into Formula E'. He said there was literally only one man in Italy beside the OEMs that could do something like this, because I'm considered a pioneer for electric vehicles in the country.

Pizzuto then got on the phone to Mark Lander, the boss of Turkish firm IMECAR, which specialises in the development of battery packs.

"There is this crazy idea going around," Pizzuto told Lander. "You tell me that you're going to support me and we're going actively to be together in this venture."

Lander threw his weight behind the plan, and the expression of interest went live on social media soon after.

That post proved initially troublesome as the wrong livery render was uploaded, which featured supposed sponsorship from brands who soon distanced themselves from Scuderia-E. The update also targeted an FE entry for 2022, but when it became clear that the only option was to buy an established team, that timeline was brought forward to 2021.

The Scuderia-E name comes from Pizzuto's business. It made its mark importing electric Fiat 500s with modified powertrains that doubled the range. But Fiat has recently revealed its third-generation supermini, which ditches internal combustion engines altogether and will rely solely on voltage for propulsion. At first glance, this would appear to put Scuderia-E out of work, but conversely its freed up the capacity for an FE assault.

Pizzuto isn't a 'day one' FE fan. He admits his interest came later when he was employed by Jaguar to be its Italian ambassador for electric vehicles. This role took him to the first Rome E-Prix in 2018. The year after, Jaguar driver Mitch Evans just so happened to score his maiden series win in the capital city.

"Honestly, at the beginning when I was watching it on TV, it was kind of boring I felt," Pizzuto says about FE. "But when you get engaged and understand better the rules, you get more excited.

"When Mitch won for the first time in a Jaguar monoposto, then of course I was super excited. That for me was the kick that really made the passion come out. The fact it was possible to drive inside cities and, last year, in Rome I realised there was almost twice as much public as the first year so it was becoming super popular."

For time immemorial, the saying in motorsport has been 'win on Sunday, sell on Monday'. In the case of Pizzuto, he wants to promote a series of turn-key electric powertrains that can be retrofitted to existing models and sold directly to car makers.

He had considered aping the route taken by Faraday Future. The now-bankrupt Chinese-American start-up EV developer formed a technical and commercial tie-up with (incidentally) Dragon before its cashflow woes grew worse. But Pizzuto wants to go a step further and become a bona fide FE team.

"Motorsport helps to make yourself known," he says. "Formula E is more affordable. It's still a lot of money because running a team is still a €15 to €20 million budget per year. But compared to Formula 1, the same amount is necessary to develop the steering wheel.

"Motorsport is costly and the history of motorsport is full with bankruptcy. I'm not embarking myself in this endeavour if the sponsors are not committing for three seasons" Gianfranco Pizzuto

"The hundreds of millions that are put into F1 are still to develop an old powertrain system, which is the combustion engine, which has no future. To me, it's a dead horse. We have to go away from fossil fuels as soon as possible and replace them with electricity, which is produced by renewable energy like wind, solar, and hydro.

"This is the message we want to get out. Hopefully we can then attract more customers and more investors to what we are doing currently because we have invested tonnes of money and we need to recuperate that."

One such backer is Elektron Innovativ, owned by Turkish entrepreneur Armagan Arabul. It produces composite materials for aerospace applications, but also has an electric supercar in the pipeline. The figures for the concept are staggering: one megawatt of power (1325bhp), 0-62mph in 2.1 seconds and a top speed in excess of 245mph.

IMECAR will aid Elektron Innovativ in its build of the powertrain, and Pizzuto reckons the FE team "can take some of this development. Basically one quarter of the powertrain of [Arabul's] supercar is exactly the horsepower we need in Formula E. We are taking components like the motor, inverter and the [control unit] so we reduce the price."

That's an inescapably bold ambition. When Volkswagen set about breaking the Nurburgring Nordschleife lap record with its ID.R (above), the world's second largest car maker turned to Integral Powertrain for its running gear rather than design it in-house. Scuderia-E, by contrast, wants to keep things much more internal.

But Pizzuto doesn't want to keep the team a completely closed shop. Once the COVID-19-imposed travel restrictions are lifted, Scuderia-E will move premises from near the Austrian border to Italy's 'motorsport valley'. The Modena region is home to Maserati, Pagani, Lamborghini and Ferrari, but setting up shop with such illustrious company is about more than gaining a fancy address.

Despite the current global health crisis, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles - which owns Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Maserati in addition to its eponymous brands - is set to merge with the PSA Group, which counts Peugeot, Citroen and Vauxhall among its stable. Such a leviathan is set to surpass Toyota as the world's biggest automotive force.

The PSA arm is represented in FE through current teams' standings leader and reigning champion DS Techeetah. But FCA currently has no direct exposure in FE.

Pizzuto is open to future deals, should he attract his neighbours' interests: "We are there and I think they [FCA] will look at us as soon as they have a strategy and why not? The reason why I want to go [to Modena] is because I will be among all these big groups."

In the more short-term future, Scuderia-E needs capital up front if it's going to buy its way into FE. Pizzuto has opened his contact book and is in talk with sponsors with whom he has a long-standing relationship. But he stipulates that any commercial deal must remain in place for three seasons.

He says: "I don't want to live on the edge of going bankrupt the next season. Motorsport is costly and the history of motorsport is full with bankruptcy. I'm not embarking myself in this endeavour if the sponsors are not committing for three seasons. I don't want to be the fly that only lives one day.

"I have lost already a huge amount of money with Fisker and I know what it takes to recover and start again from zero. I experienced this already and don't want to do it another time.

"This time it has to sit, and I need serious partners that are going to commit. It's not about getting rich or making lots of money in motorsport, I don't think it's really possible. This will be something with a much broader vision - ultimately to tell people what we can do."

The deadline for interested parties to back the prospective team is September, "COVID-19 or not, I don't care", Pizzuto adds. "If I cannot travel, I can do video conferences with the parties and we can prepare agreements. This is all possible with the technology we have today."

It's still too early to seriously assess Scuderia-E's prospects of joining the FE party. But going by the September deadline for a team takeover, we won't have to wait too long to see how the land lies

In FE, which utilises a standardised bodykit supplied by Spark Racing Technologies, many areas are a closed shop. But there are three obvious places where a team can make a mark. First off is the powertrain, which Scuderia-E already has plans in place for.

The second is the livery. FE teams have tended to converge around an increasingly dull blue and grey colour palette in recent seasons. Pizzuto wants to sport a bit of national pride, and so will revive the Rosso Corsa colours of Italy. It's not an unsubtle nod to attract Ferrari's attention, rather it harks back to the days of Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati and the Prancing Horse all donning the red paint in grand prix competition. It will also tip the hat to IMECAR and Elektron Innovativ's Turkish heritage.

The final area where FE teams can make a decisive move is in their driver line-ups. Given his recent availability, Pizzuto wants to get in contact with four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel - who has criticised the series in the past - for a test drive. But more realistically, there will be an Italian and a Turkish driver in time.

"I've had half a dozen Italian drivers contact me over the last 15 days," Pizzuto says. "Some of these are not so young anymore, they are experienced drivers. Also some have had appearances in F1 - not very long ones. Some have had experience already of Formula E for a couple of seasons.

"I have, of course, my Turkish partners. They also suggested to me they have a young talented driver in Turkey as well. If we can get the team, we will let them have the chance to test drive and see how they perform because it will be perfect to have an Italian and Turkish driver. Our test driver could be any citizenship."

By Autosport's reckoning, that puts 22-year-old Porsche Supercup racer Ayhancan Guven as a decent shout for the Turkish driver. As for Italy's offering, perhaps Luca Filippi was among the interested names. Now 34, he scored just one point in 11 races for NIO in the 2017-18 FE season. But he fits the bills outlined by Pizzuto, having also tested for Minardi, Honda and Super Aguri in F1.

It's still too early to seriously assess Scuderia-E's prospects of joining the FE party. But going by the September deadline for a team takeover, we won't have to wait too long to see how the land lies.

What is clear is that Pizzuto is a known figure in the automotive world. If he was revealing an intention to join FE purely for the sake of attracting attention, it would risk jeopardising his reputation if nothing comes to pass.

That's either a calculated gamble, or it's a reflection of his confidence that Scuderia-E will find its way into motorsport before too long.