INTERVIEW: Formula E’s Vergne and Günther on challenging for titles in Season 11

In all aspects, evolution is the key theme at play. Starting with the car’s new livery – a striking black with gold accents – it was first run as a special design for the Monaco E-Prix in April, and such was its positive fan reception that it will now be used season long. “The car looks great,” declared Vergne. “I hope it’s going to be as fast as it looks!”

Technology wise, the Gen3 Evo car brings with it new updates to master. “There are a lot of new things. I know what we’ve brought – it’s certainly an evolution, [but] then it's always a question of how much of an evolution it is compared to the other teams. At the moment, we don't really know. I think the key for this year will be to understand those things better than the other teams and to extract the best we can from our package.”

“With the four-wheel-drive, the new tyres, the structure, [there are] so many new elements that now come into play and I think [there are] definitely big challenges,” said Günther. “I think we've got strong competition. We know that Porsche and Jaguar will be the favourites going into the year, but we definitely want to give them a very good fight for their money.”

DS Penske finished third in the teams’ championship last season, more than 100 points adrift of second-place Porsche. Could Günther be the secret for closing the gap? The team’s Performance Director, Eugenio Franzetti, seems to think so: “If we had the points of Max last year [73, to Stoffel Vandoorne’s 61] and the points of JEV last year, I think we could say that we could improve our P3, closing the gap to the P2 or maybe be P2.”

A strong driver pairing will be critical to closing such a gap, so it’s a good thing Vergne and Günther are excited to work together, and push each other to be their best in the process. There is a wealth of experience between the two – Vergne being the sport’s only double champion and Günther a five-time race winner with six seasons under his belt.

“It’s always good to learn from somebody with experience and that is a very quick driver,” Vergne said of his new stablemate. “In Formula E, it is not too much of ‘kill your team-mate’ mentality like in F1 or in other categories. With the way we've been racing those cars in the last two years, […] having a team-mate with whom you work very closely [has] always proved to be the right thing to do.”

For Günther, the sentiments are the same. “It's brilliant to work with JEV. To have [him] next to me in the garage is exciting because he's the most successful driver in Formula E and he's won two world championships, so to partner with him and to push each other to our best possible version is going to be great!"

Having worked with DS for almost a decade, Vergne is “part of the family,” according to Franzetti, a feeling the driver shares. “It’s like a wedding. You get married for a lifetime [and] you make it work in good times and in bad times. I love this company. The group of people working in the team – we’re here to win and I don't want to be anywhere else.”

Vergne knows that circumstances are always subject to change if one side fails to deliver, but for now he feels that he is “at the peak of my performance in Formula E.”

“I think he’s the perfect driver for Formula E because he is complete,” Franzetti stated. “Complete because he is fast in the single lap, he is a fighter and during the race he is able to manage or able to fight because he's a clever guy. We want him with us and we don't want him with others, this is very, very, very important.

“I think that this year we have the perfect combo because we have a young driver beside him, pushing him. Each driver needs to be pushed by the other one, and we are sure that Max will push [Vergne].

“Now we have the responsibility to give to both a faster car.”

Results from November’s pre-season test in Madrid were a mixed bag. Vergne placed 17^th overall, with Günther tenth. The German also topped the third test session, where the six sessions overall delivered six different drivers from six teams to the top of the charts. As always, consistent results will be key to the title challenge the team hopes to mount. The mission to improve is an endless one, though, and it’s from this approach where Günther not only finds his motivation as a driver, but a philosophy for life.

“You're always trying to come up with new solutions and […] you want balance, to basically be the fastest and the most complete as a driver, and you do the same with the team on the set up. You try to work together […] to make the car as fast as possible, but as well to make it fit to your driving style, to get the best out of the whole package.

“This for me is fascinating in our sport, because as much as it is an individual sport when you're in the car, it’s a big team sport, and it's never boring – you always have time to find on track, every time you go out you can do better. This is what I love about racing, and I think it's the beauty of life, to always have the chance to improve yourself.”

Vergne’s outlook is a little less poetic: “I think what motivates me the most is not wanting to lose. I hate losing.”

That’s not to suggest Günther isn’t just as much of a hunter when the helmet goes on. “My goal is always to be in front, to win and that’s actually the reason why I joined this project because my goal is to win world championships in Formula E and I see a very strong project here.

“My goal is every year to drive the best season I've ever driven, so it’s the same for this year.”

Vergne says his target for 2025 is “to have a season with absolutely no mistakes and as always, bringing in as many points as we can as a team, and then we should be in a good position.

“Some races [Günther’s] going to have better results, some races I’m going to have better results. Ultimately, we want to be in a position, both of us, to fight for the championship at the end of the season. May the best one win.”

Raising the curtain on a Formula E season for the very first time, the São Paulo E-Prix takes place on Saturday 7^th December.  

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.