In the second part of our exclusive interview with Nissan FIA Formula E Team Principal Tommaso Volpe, we find out some insight into the preparations for Season 11, including work on the nascent GEN3 Evo car, as well as his thoughts on the newest FE calendar.
Nissan has been working hard on its preparations for the beginning of the GEN3 Evo era that commences in Brazil on December 7th. Volpe is leaving no stone unturned, and is confident the car will show itself up compared to its rivals by the time of pre-season testing in five weeks’ time.
“We still have to fine-tune some things,” he said. “Obviously more on the software side because the hardware is pretty much done. And the car, we think, is a big step forward.
“Then, you know, as any motorsport you need to see the improvement that the others have made as well but I would say that if we are focusing now on fine-tuning some areas of the software, we should be ready for Valencia. We feel quite optimistic there should be an improvement compared to last year.”
GEN3 Evo is of course, in many respects, a big step-up in terms of the technology which is being added to the GEN3 car, with additional features like the all-wheel drive, which aids launching off the line, and contributes towards its record-breaking 1.82 0-60 time.
Volpe explains that he foresees a potential early-season struggle to, quite literally, get to grips with the car, but believes that his drivers, as well as others, will quickly get used to
“Well, you know all of our [FE] drivers obviously come from other series. In a way, these changes add complexity a little bit, but in a way, for instance in the all-wheel-drive phase, this makes in a way the car more similar to other categories because of the traction.
“In those moments efficiency might play less of a role compared to in the standard mode and I think they will adapt quite fast, to be honest. All of them have been involved in development testing.
“It’s not just Valencia, it’s just the work they do during the development test, so I think yes, they will adapt fast. So the main area where they will have to probably adapt, and we might see, it can happen that we will see some, hopefully not, but we might see some accidents at the beginning of the season, is how to manage all-wheel-drive or these other features while racing.
“I think, in short, I don’t think drivers will have big difficulties in adapting to manage the machine itself because it’s just more traction when you have all-wheel-drive, they will learn it fast. But probably at the beginning there might be a little bit of confusion in managing it into the pack.
“When you have the all-wheel-drive, other cars don’t, or vice versa, and maybe this might cause a little bit of extraction to be used to.”
‘Philosophies in development’ to change through peloton
One thing that teams would have been prudent to consider in developing their own GEN3 Evos is ensuring they will adapt to the breadth of circuits on the Season 11 calendar.
The peloton races have caused headaches for drivers and teams alike, and only teams like Tag Heuer Porsche and Jaguar TCS Racing were able to truly enhance its cars to work well on all circuits.
Volpe says that these different styles of races that will take place across the calendar and the teams’ ability to now get used to this will see a reduction in the gulf in pace between certain squads.
“Yeah, this is absolutely a super valid point. When we entered GEN3, in a way we were all surprised, some more, some less, as everybody has different philosophies in development, but we were not expecting a lot of races in the permanent circuits, like what happened in the US or in Italy and other circuits.
“So this was not expected at all. Also, of course, this came as a surprise to all manufacturers. Again, I cannot talk for the others, I’m sure some were more surprised than others, and also what changed as well is that if you look at the difference between Season 9 and Season 10, in Season 10 we had more peloton races than in Season 9, so not just the fact that we have them, but how many of them we have is becoming a considerable number in the season, and the same in Season 11.
“Then we have China now, even if China is more about free race, but you see the point. I would say that definitely GEN3 Evo, in a way, was developed by manufacturers having a little bit more precise view on what is going to be the usage of the machine.
“It’s true that we started two years ago anyway, when we were already into GEN3 Evo, but at that point it already started to be clear that this would have been a little bit of the direction of the calendar, so I would expect that the gaps between manufacturers in the philosophy of the car are a little bit smaller.
“We have all been probably gone to a more similar compromise of serving peloton races as well as more like normal Formula E races with energy management, but without the peloton effect.”
I press Volpe for his views on the Season 11 calendar. With the introduction of a new venue for Saudi Arabia – an abridged layout of the Jeddah Corniche F1 track – the Homestead Miami Speedway as well as the team’s home race on the streets of Tokyo – which debuted last season – now a double-header.
He says he is looking forward to not only an extra day of racing in-front of the Japanese fans, but also going to a wide range of nations in order to promote, what he believes, is the most advanced EV brand that is racing in the sport.
“Look, what I always say is that we are in a very, very, very privileged position as Nissan because we are probably the most global car brand in the sport.
“We sell cars in every single market where we race and we have a Nissan presence in every single market where we race because of our dimension, our footprint as a company, so in a way, wherever we race, the calendar will serve very well our objective of promoting Nissan and our transformation towards electrification in the car business.
“Having said that, for sure, as you mentioned, having a double-header in Tokyo where we are the only Japanese car brand involved in the sport and we also had a great result last year and is literally 40 minutes from our headquarters, means a lot to us.
“But it’s also important for us having the race in China as well as in the US because there are two very important markets for Nissan. And again, Europe as well because Europe is actually the pioneering area for electrification for Nissan.
“Some of the most important investments towards electrification for Nissan are made in Europe, specifically in the UK and with our factory in Sunderland, so again, as long as the calendar is global, it fits the interests and the needs of Nissan because we consider Formula E a global project to promote our global plans, so we are quite happy.
“And also the mix between peloton races and street races I think is good for us because it gives the opportunity to promote electrification in a more flexible way whether it’s more like extreme energy management or a little bit more performance-pushed racing is always a good message because in our plans to transform our portfolio into an almost fully electrified portfolio the fact that electrification can be utilised for family cars as well as performance cars is an important message.
“And if Formula E in the motorsport contest reflects this flexibility, it’s something that serves our promotional narrative as well.
‘Electrification’ of EV brand key to Nissan’s GEN4 commitment
Given that, as discussed in part one, Nissan perhaps over-achieved in Season 10, there may be reason to feel there is a bigger target on its back than originally thought for Season 11, but Volpe disagrees.
“No, I think this is motorsport and you know that there is always pressure on and Oliver and Norman as well are used to be under pressure as drivers but also the team.
“Let’s not forget that the roots of this team is a team that won the championship more than once, three times and some of our key talents have been there since Season 1 so they have experienced already the pressure of being the strongest team and to have expectations around us and other talents come from teams where they won championships so I think we have all, most of our talents and the drivers are used to work under pressure so this won’t be a factor that will make a difference to be honest.”
At the Tokyo race last season, Nissan became the first manufacturer to commit to the GEN4 era of Formula E that begins in two years’ time.
“I cannot compare our commitment to Formula E to other teams but definitely our commitment is serious and the reason why it is serious is because it is very close to probably the most important corporate objective of the company which is electrification the commitment to Gen 4 which we did as a first manufacturer is also due to the nicely aligned deadline which is 2030.
“Our most important corporate plan is called Ambition 2030 and by 2030, Nissan would have converted our portfolio into an almost complete electrified portfolio selling 60% of our global volumes as electrified vehicles and the only reason why the percentage is not higher is because we sell everywhere and there are regions where this is technically not possible like Latin America or India etc, otherwise if you look at Europe including UK this target is 100 percent it is not even 60 percent.
“In short we are serious about Formula E because it is probably the closest to the most important corporate objective which is electrification, so we take it seriously because it serves the promotion of Ambition 2030 and it can also generate additional R&D and IP that we can use even to serve the development of cars for Ambition 2030 so there is this closeness to Ambition 2030 that makes it a very serious project for us and of course we want to win.”
