Can McLaren make a success of its foray into Formula E?

Exit silver, enter papaya. After two seasons spent gracing the top of Formula E, Mercedes elected to quit while it was ahead and in full command of the championship trophies available. Despite its withdrawal, it wanted to keep the team going. Thus, Mercedes motorsport CEO Toto Wolff and team principal Ian James worked to broker a sale before the two would stand opposite sides of a breakaway.

McLaren, looking to add to its electric racing portfolio alongside its Extreme E squad, snapped up the squad in its near entirety. Most of the ex-Mercedes personnel began a new life in orange, including James, but there was still the small matter of finding a new driving line-up and a new supplier; McLaren would have to operate as a customer team, in contrast to Mercedes’ status as a manufacturer of powertrains.

Reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne was leaving come what may to link up with DS, as the French automotive concern linked up with Dragon/Penske Autosport for 2022-23. Nyck de Vries, who also had previous with McLaren, was not going to be an option either – even before his long-awaited call-up to a Formula 1 drive with AlphaTauri. Plus, with Mercedes operating from the High Performance Powertrains base in Brixworth, McLaren needed to find pastures new with room to peck and scratch.

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The pieces started to come together; McLaren tied up a deal with Nissan for a supply of powertrains, as the Japanese manufacturer doubled down on its commitment to Formula E. Ex-Audi man Rene Rast returned to the series after a year away to join the British team, dovetailing it with his works BMW duties that looks set to include endurance and DTM programmes, while Mercedes reserve Jake Hughes stepped up for the second seat. The team also moved out of its parents’ house to a new facility at Bicester Heritage.

Hughes’ signing was the last loose end to be officially tied up, completing a lengthy period of transition to McLaren ahead of testing at Valencia. The Mercedes withdrawal news was announced after its 2020-21 title triumph, giving its key personnel ample time to cast its net out for a buyer before the Gen2 era came to a close.

Explaining the overall process to Autosport in a newly painted team truck, James says that he and Mercedes weren’t looking to keep the team together simply for the sake of it – it needed assurances that it could remain competitive with the right backing.

It's been all change at the former Mercedes squad, with both champion Vandoorne and de Vries departing, while the team now under McLaren ownership is no longer a powertrain manufacturer but a customer of Nissan

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

The first step was in getting expanded backing from Neom, the Saudi Arabian ‘smart-city’ situated beyond the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, via the country’s Public Investment Fund. With that in place, James and Mercedes could begin discussions with McLaren to broker a sale.

“I didn't necessarily think we were, this time last year, knowing that we were going to be definitely coming back for Gen3, but I was very much of the opinion that we'd built something up so special, that it would be a tragedy to just let it fizzle out,” James explains.

“And for that reason, we needed to make sure that we had the right setup going forward. So it wasn't just about taking part, it wasn't just about being here for the sake of being here. It had to be something that was going to enable us to in the future challenge for those podiums, those race wins, and ultimately, championships as well.

“The first thing that any team needs is a strong partnership. And we were extremely fortunate very early on to have a positive response from Neom in their appetite for continuing with Formula E and with the team as well. So that was a huge step in the right direction. And then once that had been put on the table, then we had all that open up the discussions with McLaren.

"We’ve been masters of our own destiny in every aspect of the operation. The manufacturer part of it is crucial to that. I remember being here in Valencia a year ago, knowing that in all likelihood, we'd be coming back as a customer team" Ian James

“To come into an operation which historically has enjoyed so much success, but also exists solely to go racing and is just completely focused and passionate about that, is also a real strength. So that's something that we're going to, I think, use to our advantage going forward.”

With the funding and the sale set, selecting a powertrain partner was the next step. With fewer manufacturers involved compared to the Gen2 regulations, this meant that more of the teams would have to be satisfied with running as a customer entity. For a team like Envision, which has operated on a customer model for a number of years, it wasn't a huge adjustment – but for McLaren, having been so closely intertwined with Mercedes’ powertrain development for three seasons, it was a sea change.

At the point the sale was agreed, two customer powertrain deals had already been announced: Jaguar and Envision concluded their business early, while Porsche and Andretti joined forces. For McLaren, Nissan proved to be the most logical partner. The previous two seasons had been tough for the Yokohama concern after it was unable to fix fundamental powertrain issues post-homologation, but the support of one of the world’s biggest automotive manufacturers was too good a fit for one of the world’s best known racing operations to turn down.

James opted to partner with Nissan as he felt it would be the most collaborative with customers

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“That's without a doubt the biggest change for the team as a whole,” James concurs. “We’ve been masters of our own destiny in every aspect of the operation. The manufacturer part of it is crucial to that. I remember being here in Valencia a year ago, knowing that in all likelihood, we'd be coming back as a customer team.

“I knew at that stage that, again, the collaboration and the relationship we were going to have with our manufacturer partner was going to be crucially important. And it's for that reason above all others that we decided to go with Nissan. I felt very strongly that they were going to be the most collaborative in the way that they were going to approach this situation and the relationship as well.

“The work that we've done together has been, has been very, very positive so far - don't get me wrong, we're very much at the beginning of the journey, and there's a huge amount of work still to do. But it's been very much a two-way dialogue and where we've been able to input through our experience that we've built up over Gen2, they've welcomed that input. And I think that that's going to make us as two teams that are stronger going forward.”

Getting the right drivers on board was another difficult step. With Vandoorne and de Vries - one of the strongest line-ups on the grid – departing the team, McLaren had to consider who could hold a candle to their former charges and offer other tangible qualities in working with the team to cover for the enforced lack of continuity.

Rast immediately stood out as an option. When Audi left the field at the end of 2020-21, Rast also dropped off the grid to focus on his ultimately unsuccessful tilt at a fourth DTM title alongside his LMP2 duties for WRT. The 36-year-old German, James says, was enough of a “pain in the arse” as a competitor to consider bringing on board, feeling that “unfinished business” would also offer motivation.

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“Rene had been a proper pain in the arse when he was racing with Audi, because he was super fast, had some real results. But at the same time, and I think he'll admit this, he never really achieved what he set out to achieve here.

“So he's coming in feeling that he's got unfinished business, that's a very healthy position to be in as a driver. I'm excited to see how he can now sort of tackle Gen3 and we'll be throwing everything at it to make sure that that he can achieve his potential and make sure that he can help the team to achieve its results as well.”

Rast has unfinished business with Formula E, after Audi's withdrawal left him without a seat at the end of his rookie season

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

For Rast’s part, he admits to having been impressed by McLaren’s set-up and professionalism. Although he cited the cultural shift in environment, having largely worked with German works outfits prior to his move to a British team, as not inconsiderate, he feels he has been able to adapt to the challenge.

In fact, Rast says that he was able to immediately understand why the team as Mercedes won two titles on the trot. The attention to detail, he says, has been important during the testing phase; with limited track time for a customer team, every single mile on the odometer must be forensically analysed to yield a full picture of data to be competitive.

“It is definitely different. I had to adapt quite a bit. But in general, I have to say I'm impressed,” Rast told Autosport. “I've been impressed by everybody who's working within the team, they're on a very, very high professional level. And I know why they won the championship two times in a row as Mercedes.

"I always believed my ability would get me to this point. Now it's about going out and capitalising" Jake Hughes

“It's as well an honour; racing for McLaren is a big, big honour for everybody. In racing, they have such a historic background - so many great drivers have driven for McLaren. And to be one of them now is a big pleasure.

“[There's the] attention to detail, and the quality of people. They're just doing the deep dive into everything and they want to have the certainty that whatever they test, that it's a quality test, and they get a result after they test something. Then they take conclusions and they move into one or the other direction. It's a very analytical way of motorsport, which I think is very professional.”

The adaptation to the Gen3 car has been another obstacle for Rast to contend with; although he’s been out of the all-electric series’ confines for a year, memories of the Gen2 car linger in the recesses of his brain. He confesses that he attempted to operate the new systems in a similar way initially, but the slightly skittish Gen3 machinery didn’t fancy being corralled in the same manner. Old habits die hard, but Rast feels he’s working on them.

That’s not been as much of a problem for rookie Hughes. The Birmingham-born racer had limited exposure to the Gen2 car, and so has not had to endure a process of steady deprogramming in his adaptation to the Gen3 chariot. Although Hughes had been in the Mercedes stable, his promotion to a race seat could have been viewed as a left-field choice. Years of leading lesser funded teams in Formula 3 and Formula 2 masked his performances; often characterised as quick and consistent, Hughes’ efforts often flew under the radar.

Hughes finally gets the opportunity to show what he can do outside a junior series

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Regardless, an opportunity to take a Formula E seat was a deserved chance after years of hard graft, and it’s one Hughes has grasped with both hands. He immediately looked comfortable during the Valencia test and was a mainstay in the upper reaches of the timesheets, as McLaren hinted at strong underlying pace. And, crucially, Hughes wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary – he explains that he just applied his natural driving style to the Gen3 car to get a baseline, and that it seemed to be quite receptive to his inputs.

“Honestly, it's been very positive so far in terms of just jumping in and basically going about with my natural driving style, how I feel with the car, and it seems to come to me quite quickly so far,” Hughes elaborates. “I mean, it's not the first time I've driven the car, but being a customer team, I really haven't had a lot of time in the car. I was kind of intrigued to see how it would go, especially the first day. But I was really surprised, I mean, got out of the car, my first run in the morning on day one, I was already P1. It's encouraging.

“It's never guaranteed for someone in my sort of scenario in motorsport, and how I've gone through my career and had to fight to stay just actually with a career - let alone get here,” he continues, alluding to the difficult and lengthy road throughout his time in the junior categories. “It's a big moment for us. So to just enjoy [getting the McLaren drive] with my family was really nice.

“I was privileged enough to, to get those opportunities with Hitech in [the FIA F3 European Championship], then HWA for a couple of years in [current F3], then HWA in F2 and with van Amersfoort this year. But they were new projects; I think it goes without saying that it was not going to be a case of winning the championships, it was going to be a case of trying to get some standout results, which we did in various scenarios.

“But it's not a guarantee with those kinds of results that your career keeps going even at that level in junior formula, let alone with manufacturer brands and teams such as big as McLaren. I've been fighting like that for a number of years. It was nothing new to me. I always believed my ability would get me to this point. Now it's about going out and capitalising.”

James agrees that Hughes has the wherewithal make it work in Formula E, and refuted the suggestions that his new charge was a surprise choice. Instead, he says it was very straightforward call to make.

“We've had a lot of comments that he's been maybe the slightly left-field choice, and I don't see that at all,” he says. “It was a reasonably straightforward decision, once we knew that we had the second seat open. He's been with the team throughout its development and success that we've had as well. That's been absolutely crucial to what we've been able to achieve, again, his input has been, has been very, very valuable indeed.

James has full confidence that Hughes can make the most of his long-awaited opportunity

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“I just think he is a driver of the calibre that deserves a chance at top-flight motorsport and in what I believe is a great team as well, that can provide him with the opportunities that maybe have been lacking in the past. He’s just in a good place at the moment.

“He's confident, he's hungry. He knows that this stage in his career, this is a golden opportunity for him. And again, I think that that puts him in a very strong position. So I'm excited to see what he can do as we go into the new season. I’m very confident in his in his abilities.”

While success as a customer team is certainly possible in Formula E – ex-Mercedes customer team Venturi proved that in recent years – the closely contested nature of the championship means that the newly minted McLaren team will have to adapt to its new environs swiftly

James, initially a McLaren man before moving to Mercedes, has come full circle in his own career in his bid to lead one of the Woking outfit’s teams to a world championship title. Although he cites huge cultural differences at the operation compared to the McLaren he left behind nearly 20 years ago, particularly following Zak Brown’s installation as CEO, the mantra remains very much the same – this is a team involved in racing to win.

In our conversation, James spoke of not wishing to become complacent and continuing to strive for the excellence that the team has achieved in its Formula E spell so far – a mindset cultivated by Wolff in Mercedes’ motorsport operations. The team will bring that attitude to the McLaren family, which in turn will have its own input and ethos of how it goes racing. While success as a customer team is certainly possible in Formula E – ex-Mercedes customer team Venturi proved that in recent years – the closely contested nature of the championship means that the newly minted McLaren team will have to adapt to its new environs swiftly.

But, as the core of the double championship-winning team remains, McLaren has the chance to make its expanded foray into electric racing a success. The team’s future is orange, and it’ll almost certainly be bright.

McLaren has all the recent experience of winning under the Mercedes banner, but must get quickly onto the pace in the Gen3 era to remain a competitive force

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images