Ahead of the first practice session of the Berlin E-Prix weekend, Florian Modlinger participated in the Team Principal Press Conference attended by Pit Debrief. The Porsche Team Principal was asked about the pressure of the home race, the team’s approach to the races, and their confidence.
As the Berlin E-Prix takes place on home soil for the Porsche Formula E team, the weekend ahead is crucial. While every race is important, there are additional eyes on the German team in Berlin. Still, when asked how the team handles the pressure of a home race, Modlinger admitted that there is no more pressure than at a regular race weekend.
“It’s amazing to have a race in front of our home crowd here, and people also visiting from our development team, from the factory and so on. I would not say that we have additional pressure because it’s the same point as in every race, but it’s a special race for us.”
Modlinger: “The field is very close together”
In Formula E, the competition is immensely high. As the racing can be very unpredictable from session to session, the victories are rarely taken for granted. The Porsche team currently sit at the top of the Teams Standings with 133 points. Additionally, one of the team’s drivers, Pascal Wehrlein, also finds himself at the top of the Drivers’ Standings.
When asked about how they would go about grabbing the victory this weekend, Modlinger said:
“First of all, we are in the last year of the generation. This means the field is very close together, competition level very, very high. We need to have two clean days, be focused, have clean operations, no issues and start on the right foot with the setup and then the two races will be quite different.
“One with the pit boost and the other one quite energy sensitive and Berlin style, what we saw in the past. You need to have two different approaches to two days with a good strategy, good tyre management, good energy management and good pace in the car as a baseline.”
The Team Principal was next asked how confident he is that Wehrlein will still lead the Drivers’ Championship at the end of the weekend.
“For sure, that’s hard work and that’s the target, but for me it’s more important that it’s after the last race of the season. There are still eleven to go. So it’s a nice standing, and a good start into the season and we push for it this weekend that we keep this, but we are looking on the global picture and it counts at the end of the season.”
Porsche focused on themselves ahead of the Berlin E-Prix
The Team Principal continued to emphasise the competitiveness of the Formula E grid. The team has one driver leading the Championship, with the other slightly behind in sixth. With the leading driver having 83 points thus far, the Team Principal will hope Wehrlein can fight for more this weekend. FP1 saw the German driver finish P2. Teammate Nico Müller found himself in P11.
Asked how much the team thinks about other teams’ results compared to their own, Modlinger explained their focus.
“First of all, we always focus on ourselves to extract the maximum of our package. Package is not only the car, it’s the driver, the team, everybody who’s involved in the project. We are not underestimating any of the other teams, any of the other drivers. As I said, the competition level is so, so high and when you start a little bit weak in the first free practice, it can go completely wrong. This we want to avoid, so the focus is on our side. Clearly, you look a bit at what the others are doing, but the main focus is what we do.”
Questioned if he wishes there were more German manufacturers in Formula E, Modlinger said:
“I have to say first of all we are very happy that Opel is joining and we are looking forward to race them next year. As I said before, we focus on what we do. We are here to win races and championships. We have a big bunch of great manufacturers here. Good teams, quick, very fast drivers, world-class, and that’s it. If other German manufacturers are joining in the future would be good, but we race what is out there.”
