After a roller-coaster Formula E Berlin E-Prix weekend, Pepe Martí came away from the first race with a P7 finish and from the second with a P12. Race 2 saw the CUPRA KIRO driver start from P19 and fight his way through the field to finish in P12. After Race 2 concluded, Pit Debrief spoke to Martí in the media pen.
Martí about Race 2 at the Berlin E-Prix: “A big shame”
While he narrowly missed out on points, he drove a solid race and tried to extract every last bit of pace. At the start of the race, the driver was on an energy-saving strategy. Unfortunately, Martí was not able to reach a higher position despite this being the race-winning strategy.
When asked by Pit Debrief if there is anything he would have done differently in the first stint of his race, Martí reflected:
“Strategy-wise, definitely not. I mean, our strategy was the race-winning strategy, for both Mitch and Ollie, so strategy-wise, I can only praise the team, and I think I also did a good job on the energy side. I think I was same as Ollie, same as Dan, so it was good. They’re known for being very good at this, and I sort of stayed by, held my own around them, so that was good.
“Then, yeah as soon as Ollie started moving forward, I sort of missed out on the opportunity of being in the train following him through, because I just didn’t really feel comfortable enough with the car today, so it was a big shame. I think we did everything right apart from moving forward, so yeah.”
CUPRA KIRO struggling in the hot weather
As the Spaniard mentioned, race winner Mitch Evans and runner-up Oliver Rowland were on a similar strategy. Martí was doing well in keeping a similar energy level to the two drivers. However, it was not as successful for CUPRA KIRO. Teammate Dan Ticktum also attempted to follow this strategy, but it ended up fruitless in P14.
Asked if the result was the maximum with the package or if there was more to extract from the car, Martí responded:
“My race wasn’t perfect. If I’d done a really good job today, I would have been maybe P8, P9, somewhere around that. Maybe get two, three, four points, but to be honest, today we struggled more than yesterday. That’s the reality. We sort of, I felt probably with a change in the behavior of the tarmac from yesterday to today as well, it was a lot sunnier. It was very, very hot, so I think that also didn’t play in our favour. We seem to perform better when it’s a bit colder, like what we had in Mexico. We’re going to go into summer, so we really have to get our head around how to work in the summer as well, if that makes sense.”
With two weeks until the next Formula E race, the team has more time to reflect on the data from Berlin. Once the team learn more about the car’s behaviour in the hot weather, Monaco could be more fruitful for them.
Frantic race and loss of mirror for Martí in Berlin
Race 2 came with plenty of surprises. As always with Formula E, one never knows what to expect, as it can be immensely unpredictable. The race was action-packed from the very start, and several drivers had to get their elbows out to battle it out on the track. Martí was one of the drivers trying to run a consistent, steady race.
When told the race looked frantic from the outside and asked how he would describe it from inside the car, Martí reflected:
“Hallelujah, hallelujah, pray. There was a lot of moments where I felt…It was sort of choose to survive or really take a massive risk in taking damage. I sort of always felt like I want to stay in the race. There’s a chance that it works well, there’s a chance that it doesn’t. As a rookie, maybe I was too safe in some moments. I lost my mirror as well, my right-hand side mirror, so I was completely blinded on the right side, and that didn’t help at all if I’m honest.”
He was then asked about navigating the rest of the race without his mirror.
“I guess in one sense, it’s sort of positioning myself so I could see more with my left mirror, and then also being, a bit intuitive, like please don’t anyone loathe me for being there, and just hope for the best. You sort of have to learn to navigate it as you go, because you look at behind if someone’s in the same situation as you, they won’t catch you, if they’re in the same, they will, so you sort of have to play to that. It’s not the greatest thing to see.”
Learnings for Martí to take from Berlin E-Prix to Monaco
Despite the car not having the pace they wanted, the CUPRA KIRO driver still managed to move up the field and deliver a steady race. Even without his right-side mirror, Martí avoided any big clashes. While the rookie felt “too safe” at times, there will be another chance to bounce back in the narrow streets of Monaco next.
Although he did not get the result he wanted, Martì was asked whether he had learned anything on the strategic side in Race 2.
“Once more, the team proves me that they do a really good job on the strategy side, like that’s another tick on the list of ‘I don’t have to worry about this’, I just need to do my stuff, and my job on track. I think the main takeaway from today is, we need to understand what really goes on with our tyre management.
“What really happens there, because we seem to work very well in free practice, to get a good car, very well in qualifying because Dan’s always out there, I feel like today I would have been in the duels, and a combination of factors just seems to sometimes not work in our way. So we need to understand why that is, what we’re doing wrong, and how to prepare for Monaco. It’s only two weeks away, so it’s a good chance for us to turn it right.”
With just under two weeks to prepare, the rookie will undoubtedly do his best to bounce back into the results for the next race in Monaco.
