The stories of the French manufacturer and its German competitor are opposite in the world of electric single-seaters.
On the one hand, DS Automobiles, first partnered with Virgin Racing and then with Techeetah on its journey to joining Penske, has won it all in Formula E: 16 wins, 46 podiums, 21 pole positions and 4 titles in seven seasons and 5 races.
On the other hand, Porsche had a much longer history in motorsport, underscored by a record 19 Le Mans 24 Hours wins, but failed to do the same in Formula E – just one win in its first three seasons.
After an undemanding test in Valencia in December, the German team improved its statistics with a total of four wins, three pole positions and eleven podiums. This means Porsche has won three out of five races since the start of the 2022-2023 championship, not counting the success of Jake Dennis for Andretti Autosport in Mexico City, whose electric single-seater is also powered by the Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen marque.
However, a closer look at Jean-Eric Vergne’s results for DS Penske shows that Porsche’s dominance is not inevitable.
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske, second position, Antonio Felix da Costa, Porsche, first position, Nick Cassidy, Envision Racing, third position, on the podium
Photo by: DPPI
Is DS Penske finally ahead of Porsche?
This season more than any other, Formula E is a matter of specialists. The new Gen3 cars, more powerful, faster and more technological, are difficult to manage and less experienced drivers are in difficulty. Just look at the standings of the world championship to realize this.
Pascal Wehrlein, Jake Dennis, Jean-Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix Da Costa are all experts on the series. Wehrlein has dominated with two wins in Saudi Arabia this season, Dennis is one of the championship’s rising stars having arrived in 2021 and already has four wins, Vergne is the discipline’s only two-time champion and Da Costa won his first title championship with DS in the 2019-2020 championship.
Also considering that Andre Lotterer, who drove for DS before moving to Porsche, and now at Andretti and Stoffel Vandoorne, reigning world champion with Mercedes and now with DS Penske, are not out of the woods yet, we can say that, at Apart from a few exceptions, drivers who switched to DS Performance or Porsche are now the serious candidates for the title.
Does this mean that this season will turn into an exclusive duel between the two brands, especially in São Paulo, a track that nobody knows about?
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske
Photo by: DPPI
Teams like Envision Racing and McLaren may be able to upset the order. Envision has signed veteran and 2015-2016 season champion Sebastien Buemi, while McLaren has taken over the structure of last year’s world champion team, previously run under the Mercedes name.
While McLaren drivers Jake Hughes and Rene Rast aren’t the ones with the most starts, they do have a Nissan powerplant that seems to work well.
Young Sacha Fenestraz for Nissan proved it by taking pole position in South Africa. In five races, Formula E has had five different pole drivers, none of whom have won the race.
This gives even more prestige to those who dominate the championship thanks to their consistent results.
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