The half-term report cards of each Formula E team in 2020-21

Nailing down the precise pecking order in Formula E so far this year has been as difficult a job as ever. Off-season rustiness to shake off in Diriyah, rain in Rome and an energy crisis in Valencia are simply the most noteworthy factors that have conspired to mask the true pace.

These elements arrive on top of the usual array of shunts and safety cars plus the group qualifying format which, as intended, has a habit of plonking the points leaders down in the midfield after they have set their flying laps on a slower and less rubbered-in track surface.

A calendar organised amid a global health pandemic has meant three double-header events from only four rounds, with races landing thick and fast since late February. But now faced with a comparatively lengthy layoff until a visit to off-beat Puebla across 19-20 June, and with seven of the scheduled 15 bouts run, now is the time to write the half-term report cards for the class of 2021.

Rene Rast, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, Audi e-tron FE07

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Audi

Teams’ championship: 6th
Grade: C-

Audi is so far on course for its second consecutive season without a win in Formula E. Hardly a fitting swansong for this title-winning manufacturer’s tenure in the championship.

It was a surprise boardroom decision that led to the plug being pulled on the programme, helping explain why Audi invested to develop its powertrain in-house for the first time - rather than leave it to suppliers of race team partner Schaeffler once again.

The hardware proved its worth with Lucas di Grassi’s race-leading form in Rome and the Brazilian has climbed an average of nine places in the five races he has finished this term.

But lying 19th in the drivers’ standings and rating the campaign as “the worst half of the year I ever had in my whole career” reflects the lack of results at the flag. A driveshaft failure cost the likely victory in the Italian capital but both di Grassi and team-mate Rene Rast have also struggled to extract the one-lap speed.

Combined, they have just three top-10 starts to show from 14 attempts. That’s put the team on the backfoot and has left too much heavy lifting to be done in the races.

What hurts the team’s grading further and is harder to defend after seven races is that, as per last season, the customer Envision Virgin Racing squad is delivering more performance more consistently. Using the same motor and invertors as the works team, its driver Robin Frijns sits atop the points.

Jake Dennis, BMW i Andretti Motorsport, BMW iFE.21

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

BMW Andretti

Teams’ championship: 5th
Grade: C

There’s a fair amount of pressure riding on the shoulders of this season for the BMW Andretti camp. With the Bavarian manufacturer ready to exit Formula E at the end of the contest, drivers Maximilian Guenther and Jake Dennis are vying for their contracts to be swapped across from BMW to the staying Andretti race team and need to impress.

Similarly, the American squad wants to be assured that it has a solid powertrain at its disposal, as it’ll have to wade into battle next term with the same kit in a make-do customer deal until it finds a new manufacturer partner in time for 2021-22.

Up until Valencia, it looked to be massively disappointing on both fronts for a performance that would have earned a ‘see me after class’ note. BMW Andretti languished last in the points with a car that didn’t look capable of progressing into superpole. Guenther had repeatedly crashed out and Dennis was yet set the world alight.

But the way Dennis faultlessly managed the second race in Valencia to score a rookie win, combined with Guenther now having made the finish in the points three times, and the turnaround is on. The squad has climbed up to a fine fifth, on par with where it rounded out last season - albeit after a notable drop off come the six-race Berlin finale.

From the spread of results in 2021 alone, that takes BMW Andretti from underachiever to most improved. It’s tough to picture the team surpassing any of Mercedes, Jaguar Racing, DS Techeetah or Envision Virgin Racing in front. Meanwhile, the likes of Audi, Porsche and surely some variety of revival from Nissan e.dams means they are ready to leapfrog past at a moment’s notice.

Sergio Sette Camara, Dragon Penske Autosport, Penske EV-4

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Dragon Penske Autosport

Teams’ championship: 11th
Grade: C

Jay Penske’s American outfit is in some ways the hardest of the battery cohort to assess. It’s on course for another 11th place in the championship but already counts 40 more points than it ended up with last season.

There was the opposite of sandbagging when drivers Sergio Sette Camara and Nico Muller notched the second and third fastest times in pre-season testing. Dragon Penske Autosport has proved its one-lap credentials every so often, but the Penske EV-4 machine had an appetite for energy that meant positions were shipped in the races.

Starting the 2021 campaign with that same car has, unsurprisingly, returned a similar trend. But to the team’s credit, places aren’t bled at quite the same rate as previously seen.

A 4-5 finish in the second Saudi Arabia race brought the highpoint of the season so far, with Muller coming home as runner-up to Nyck de Vries in the Valencia opener again an example of the strife of the grid rather than a Dragon Penske Autosport stroke of brilliance.

There are still moments of bafflement off-track - Muller’s contract to race being signed very late in the day and incredibly not announcing the arrival of its EV-5 successor in Monaco. But it hasn’t slipped behind NIO 333, which was the pre-season school of thought given the improvements that were expected to come from its fellow backmarker.

Antonio Felix Da Costa, DS Techeetah, DS E-Tense FE21

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

DS Techeetah

Teams’ championship: 3rd
Grade: B

DS Techeetah team principal Mark Preston credits the three titles won by his drivers Jean-Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix da Costa as having been built on the days when they overcame their lofty points position in group qualifying to charge into superpole.

That one-lap supremacy hasn’t been as apparent in 2021, with just four appearances in the top-six dogfight amassed so far. And unlike its partial animal namesake, DS Techeetah didn’t accelerate quickly out of the blocks in Saudi Arabia. But the team is getting into its stride.

Vergne maintains that without a terminal driveshaft failure for Lucas di Grassi in the Rome opener, he felt strong enough to hand the Brazilian the lead and pounce back for the win later in the race. That didn’t come to pass, and he still bagged the spoils anyway for a fitting send off to the DS E-Tense FE20 machine that proved the benchmark of last season.

Da Costa’s title defence has been a slow burner. In the eyes of many, he should have been the worthy race one winner in Valencia prior to the energy controversy. But he tasted the just desserts in Monaco when he clawed at Mitch Evans for a sensational last-lap victory.

The new car appears to be another step on, building on the promise of the “exciting technology” as championed by recently departed performance director Xavier Mestelan Pinon - now seen in the pitlane wearing FIA-branded clothing.

Just seven points adrift of current leader Mercedes, that’s an entirely surmountable deficit to overcome. A visit to Puebla, which combines the humidity of Santiago and the permanent circuit nature of Valencia (DS Techeetah has been strong at both) plus returns to New York and Berlin (previous happy hunting grounds) might expedite that climb.

Nick Cassidy, Envision Virgin Racing, Audi e-tron FE07

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Envision Virgin Racing

Teams’ championship: 4th
Grade: A-

Although not mandated by the regulations until the advent of the Gen3 era, Audi is gracious enough to already bless customer team Envision Virgin Racing with the same software upgrades as the works cars in addition to providing the hardware in the first instance. Audi earns twice the data as a result, but the deal poses the risk of being shown up by the independent squad.

And like last season, Envision Virgin Racing is outperforming its German donor all while using the same e-tron FE07 machinery. It has 35% more points than the Inglostadt manufacturer. And that’s come despite the Silverstone-based outfit losing its effective second son Sam Bird to Jaguar Racing.

Robin Frijns has brilliantly picked the baton as the de facto team leader. Second places were achieved in the second Saudi bout and again in Monaco, pipping an energy-depleted Mitch Evans at the line by 0.024s.

Like many over the past 14 months, technical director Chris Gorne has learned to work remotely. While a big miss in the paddock, over a videocall he has still helped overturn the fortunes in Diriyah to pave the way for Frijns’ race-leading credentials.

Super GT and Super Formula champion Nick Cassidy has worked admirably in the second car. He used a drying line to snare pole in Rome but span backwards on the first lap to chuck away his hopes of a win. It’s been fascinating to tune into team radio to hear race engineer Stephen Lane help the Kiwi keep calm and find his feet. Coming after lap record-breaking pace in the Marrakech rookie test last season, 17th place is a subdued return.

With the team currently occupying no man’s land in the table, 17 points behind next-best DS Techeetah but 26 clear of the chasing BMW Andretti, if Cassidy gets on song then consecutive fourth place finishes are on the cards.

While that might seem more a case of treading water rather than pushing forward, given the departure of Bird and the bettering of Audi, it still merits a high grade.

Mitch Evans, Jaguar Racing, Jaguar I-Type 5

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Jaguar Racing

Teams’ championship: 2nd
Grade: A

Two points is all that separates Jaguar Racing from Mercedes. With Mitch Evans circulating in eighth (later disqualified) and Stoffel Vandoorne looking unlikely to score in 12th (before rising to third) on the penultimate lap at Valencia, the Big Cat could have entered the de facto halfway stage of the season on top of the pile.

In fact, only in Spain was the team notably off the pace across both races. Sam Bird won in Saudi, was second in Italy; Evans on the podium for both and then again in Monaco. Outright speed had been paired with consistency and the new I-Type 5 machine appears to enjoy a wider operating window than its ancestor.

Of course, Jaguar Racing found itself in a similar position last year. It was the closest match to DS Techeetah during the early part of the campaign before the car played hardball in Berlin and the team slid down to a lowly eventual seventh.

But with the experience and race-winning credentials of Bird now partnered with Evans, there’s a depth of talent and Formula E knowledge to tap into to ensure that should similar problems arise, the fix will be found far sooner to arrest the decline.

There’s still work to be done in qualifying, however, with just three graduations into superpole for the team this season. But Jaguar Racing has pieced together a stellar driver line-up and a sterling car and is more often than not extracting the potential from both. For now, it’s top of the class if not quite leading the teams’ championship.

Alexander Sims, Mahindra Racing, M7Electro

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Mahindra Racing

Teams’ championship: 8th
Grade: C+

Mahindra Racing chalked its first season without a podium in 2019-20 but the fresh driver line-up of Alexander Sims and Alex Lynn have both put a foot on the rostrum thanks to the former’s work in Rome and the latter’s efforts in Valencia. Marks for improving.

Recognition must also be given to the fact that Dilbagh Gill’s team, even with its shiny new HQ, doesn’t operate with anything like the budget of Mercedes, Porsche and company. Even with that considered, it’s still perhaps overly generous to say that, sat in eighth place, it’s consistently punching above its weight.

After the myriad transmission reliability issues of last year, it’s shrewdly drafted in renowned gearbox specialist ZF to sort the powertrain and is now back on the right path.

However, from the wins of former drivers Felix Rosenqvist and Jerome D’Ambrosio plus Pascal Wehrlein’s very near miss in Mexico in 2019, this team is now more a midfield contender that sometimes shows flashes, rather than developing as an established front-runner.

That has a knock-on effect of placing Sims and Lynn amid the rough and tumble of the pack, with race-ending crashes arriving in both Saudi Arabian events and last time out in Monaco as a result.

Stoffel Vandoorne, Mercedes-Benz EQ, Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 02, Nyck de Vries, Mercedes-Benz EQ, Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow 02

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Mercedes

Teams’ championship: 1st
Grade: B+

As the narrow points leader, Mercedes might be expected to come out top of the crop. But it loses out to second-placed Jaguar Racing for the fact that the operational errors of last term have crept back in despite team principal Ian James insisting “Our rookie year is now behind us. We cannot make errors twice, that's clear.”

The breadth of the Silver Arrows 02 machine is evident. Monaco aside, in the hands of Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries, the car has adapted and won at every track it has visited this season. But an entirely possible Mercedes monopoly has been avoided thanks to no fewer than three double non-scores for its drivers.

A wrongly recorded barcode sent pole-winner Vandoorne to the back of the grid in Valencia and the recovery to a 1-3 finish was more down to the energy woes of its rivals rather than a premeditated strategy masterclass.

De Vries’ victory in Saudi Arabia was sublime. The double retirement in Rome wholly unfortunate - Vandoorne took avoiding action when Lucas di Grassi slowed and was sent into the wall by a manhole cover, with de Vries collected in the aftermath. Given that Andre Lotterer was handed the penalty in the clumsy battle with Vandoorne for the lead earlier on, that can’t be held against the Belgian either.

But a tepid showing in Monaco - when de Vries knocked the car out of full-power mode in qualifying and then triggered a shutdown in the race as Vandoorne retired with brake failure - goes further to denying Mercedes top marks.

Had these errors not occurred, the team would be on course for the dominance previously only shown by Renault e.dams and DS Techeetah. If Mercedes doesn’t walk away as champion, at this point in time it would be a title lost rather than one won by another team.

Tom Blomqvist, NIO 333, NIO 333 001

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

NIO 333

Teams’ championship: 12th
Grade: C

With new owners arriving at the 11th hour and a powertrain that was little more than a placeholder, NIO 333 became the first team in Formula E history not to score a point last season. It was a ‘learning’ year ahead of the strides that would come in 2021.

That fresh start is signified by the new car’s name, the NIO 333 001. And there have been steps taken forward but no giant leaps. That means, as the rest of the field has developed also, this Anglo-Chinese set-up is still at the foot of the table, now with a haul of 18 points.

An average taken from team mainstay Oliver Turvey’s ideal fastest race laps, this season compared to last, show a gain of 0.09s. Or, to put it another way, a climb from the 21st quickest driver to the 18th.

It’s no step change, but earns merit nonetheless and signifies that, with Tom Blomqvist replacing perennial backmarker Ma Qinghua, NIO 333 is moving in the right direction.

However, with Dragon Penske Autosport next up the table with 42 points, having now equipped its drivers with a newly homologated powertrain as of Monaco, a large gap has already opened up.

So far, 2021 has been a respectable campaign for NIO 333 that should earn positivity both from critics and from within. But the pre-season expectation was that this team would have cut its deficit to the midfield to a greater extent than results currently reveal.

Sebastien Buemi, Nissan e.dams, Nissan IMO2

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Nissan e.dams

Teams’ championship: 9th
Grade: D

First as the imperious and three-time championship-winning Renault e.dams, then rebranded to Nissan, this team is on course for its Formula E nadir.

Oliver Rowland can, and emphatically does to Autosport, argue that he would be in the title picture had it not been for a drivethrough penalty for exceeding energy limits while briefly leading the Rome opener. He was also sitting pretty in third in Valencia before the whole grid supped the dregs of their permitted battery usage and slowed to a crawl or were disqualified.

Results, or the lack thereof, are much more baffling on the other side of the garage. Sebastien Buemi is a series champion and carries the championship record with 13 wins. But he cuts a forlorn figure in the paddock just now and is at a loss to explain his almost incredible 22nd place in the points.

This is not a driver out of form, having finished fourth last season and winning the World Endurance Championship curtain raiser. But his Formula E results are far from electric, thanks to a best finish of only fifth.

Matters haven’t been helped by the pandemic forcing Nissan e.dams to delay the homologation of its new car until Rome and then putting it off again to Monaco. But after recovering so much lost ground during the mid-season hiatus last year, making amends for its twin-motor powertrain of 2018-19 being outlawed, the team simply hasn’t picked up the mantle.

For many Formula E commentators, Nissan e.dams was the title favourite for this season. To date, it’s fallen hugely short of expectation. Once more, it needs to stay behind after class to find a software upgrade equivalent to a rabbit in the hat.

Pascal Wehrlein, TAG Heuer Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Porsche

Teams’ championship: 7th
Grade: C-

It’s harsh to compare Porsche directly with Stuttgart neighbour Mercedes. While the latter publicly badges 2021 as its second season, the year spent running under the HWA Racelab banner cannot be discounted towards the vast amount of learning it has done in Formula E.

For Porsche, however, this is genuinely only its second campaign. And while it doesn’t hold a candle to the results of Mercedes, it still carries the weight of expectation that comes with 19-time Le Mans 24 Hours victories and transferring a host of talent across from the uber successful 919 Hybrid programme.

But for all the sporting pedigree and financial backing of sponsors Tag Heuer and Vodafone, it hasn’t yet delivered the goods in the field of electric competition. Chiefly, the wait for a maiden win still lingers on.

As per last season, the one-lap potency is the strong suit thanks to five superpole appearances split between drivers Andre Lotterer and Pascal Wehrlein. But it’s yet to come close to the top step of the podium. Non-finishes charitably set to one side, combined both drivers have only a net gain of two positions to show for this season so far as the race pace is wide of the mark.

Lotterer has been off the boil with his wheel-to-wheel combat, coming a cropper in Valencia and Rome. There’s a lack of consistency across the garage as well, with Porsche yet to snare a double points finish this season.

Nobody said the move into Formula E would be easy, but a thorough debrief and some handy software upgrades are needed for an upturn in results to arrive for Mexico.

Norman Nato, Venturi Racing, Susie Wolff, Team Principal, Venturi, Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Racing, pose for a photo with the team

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Venturi Racing

Teams’ championship: 10th
Grade: C-

Despite the efforts of Envision Virgin Racing this term and last, it’s not the norm for the customer team to beat its donor. But it arguably should get closer to the factory squad than Venturi Racing has so far to powertrain parent Mercedes.

While the Silver Arrows are on top in the teams’ battle, the Monegasque squad is at the wrong end of the table and sits down in 10th.

There have been highlights. a fine podium for Edoardo Mortara in Saudi Arabia and Norman Nato has twice crossed the line in third. But overconsuming energy cost the rookie one rostrum in Rome, a clumsy tag with Alexander Lynn in Valencia sent another begging. That loses marks here as well as real-world championship points. Although brake failure for Mortara in Diriyah and missing race two, an issue attributed by the FIA to Mercedes kit, can’t be held against him.

The curiosity with this team lies with its strategy. Using the same car, when Mercedes does one thing, Venturi Racing does the opposite. Whether that be (no) preparation lap in qualifying or pushing in the race when Mercedes is conserving.

By no means should they exactly mirror one another all the time, but when Venturi Racing is throwing away top-three results rather than banking points, a conservative concession might be the order of the day.

Mortara is undeniably quick, if a little peaky, and promoted simulator driver Nato is adapting better to Formula E than predecessor Felipe Massa. But with the team currently on course to match its disappointing 10th place of last season, gains in the results haven’t been made and that hurts Venturi Racing’s assessment.

Jerome d'Ambrosio, Deputy Team Principal, Venturi Racing, Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Racing, on the grid

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

- The Autosport.com Team

Read and post comments