Karun Chandhok is extremely impressed by both Taylor Barnard and Oliver Rowland this season, and the former Formula E and Formula 1 driver thinks it’s just a matter of time before Barnard wins his first race, and emphasises how impressive Rowland is behind the wheel of his Nissan.
The 2024/2025 Formula E season is in full swing, and it’s been an absolute treat for the fans so far. Oliver Rowland is currently leading the pack with a big lead to the rest of the field. The British Nissan driver currently has 161 points to his name, giving him a 77 point lead to Pascal Wehrlein on P2 (84 points) and an 88 point lead to António Félix Da Costa on P3 (73 points). Taylor Barnard and Jake Dennis round up the top five with 69 points and 56 points respectively.
What makes Barnard’s fourth place in the standings so impressive, is the fact that he’s just a rookie, with a lot less experience than the other guys in the top five. According to Chandhok it’s just a matter of time before he becomes a race winner in Formula E.
“I think we’re looking forward to seeing Barnard win his first race,” Chandhok admitted to Pit Debrief in an exclusive interview. “It looks like it’s coming – he’s done a great job this season. He’s so impressive, because he’s fully committed to Formula E. He is not here thinking: ‘Oh, I wish I could be in F2 or I wish I could be an F1.’ He’s here because he’s fully mentally committed to this and focusing on this, and he is doing an excellent job.”
Karun Chandhok praises ‘impressive’ Rowland for being ‘better than half the strategists’
“I think he’s one of the stars,” the 41-year-old continued. However, there’s another driver that really caught his eye this year: Oliver Rowland. “There’s no doubt about Oliver being the standout driver of this year. You know, he’s better than half the strategists. I think he’s better than most of the strategists on the team.”
Chandhok went on to explain how he listens to all the team radio’s in the commentary box.
“You listen to him, and he’s dictating the strategy from the cockpit. He’s so, so impressive, and it’s not a surprise that he’s won four out of nine races.”
When Pit Debrief pointed out that it does make sense that Rowland is strong strategically in Formula E, as he also leads a group of young racers, Chandhok said: “I think it’s not just that. Reading a Formula E race is actually quite an intense thing, because you have to calculate the time lost when you take attack mode, then the time gain when you have attack mode – so you have to calculate that twice. Then, if you have a pit stop, you have to calculate that time loss. You’ve actually got five elements that you have to calculate in a 45-minute race, which is much more intense than a Grand Prix, for example. I think to actually do all that from the cockpit, it’s very impressive.”
Alain Prost in Formula E?
It’s become clear that Formula E drivers profit from being able to read the race and oversee everything from the cockpit. So when asked which Formula 1 champion he would love to have seen in a Formula E car, Karun Chandhok made sure to choose a tactically smart driver.
“I think it would be cool to see someone like Alain Prost, who’s got a very good tactical brain, to see how he’d do. I think he would’ve been very good at reading the race and managing the energy and getting the car working the right way.”
