By Carlo Platella
DS remains one of the most successful manufacturers in Formula E, with four driver and team titles under its belt. So far the Stellantis brand has not had particular luck in the Gen3 era, with the only victory achieved in the last Hyderabad E-Prix. DS Penske has made important progress since last season, with the temporary goal of reaching the world podium at the end of the year, and then go to the assault of the iris with the new powertrain in 2025.
Performance to capitalize on
“This season is going quite well”he comments Eugenio Franzettihead of DS Performance. “We started better than last year from all points of view, despite the ranking putting us at the same level as last season. In the end, however, I think that by capitalizing more on our excellent performances in qualifying, we will get more podiums and more points, doing better than last year, which is ultimately our goal. In 2023 we finished fifth, possibly this year we would like to get to the world podium”.
The clue to the progress made comes from the results in qualifying, where in Berlin DS took second place on the starting grid for the sixth time out of nine qualifiers held since the beginning of the year. “The work done is positive”, continues Franzetti. “The car performs better and it is evident. We finished second six times in qualifying, while last season we were often left out of duels, which often affected us in the competition. But now we regularly enter the direct elimination phase. In the second part of the championship I would like us to be able to better capitalize on the excellent performances in qualifying.”
If DS’s position in the team classification is not better than in 2023, the reason is therefore not to be found in performances. The director of DS Performance explains: “The championship has changed in terms of competition and this also explains the ranking a little. Last year the Nissan package wasn’t in the top positions, but now it is and we’re nibbling away at some points. This goes beyond the usual Porsche and Jaguar motorized vehicles, among which however we regularly manage to get in the way. In total there are 8 cars out of 22, so to get on the podium you always have to go better than some of them.”
Growing workforce
One of the areas on which DS Penske engineers focused most during their winter work was braking management, improved thanks to the development of powertrain control software. Franzetti continues: “Performance is improved by working on the software, which is free and open for development, while the hardware has remained unchanged. However, just by working on the software we were able to improve.”
The staff working on the software package is the same as last season, while at the beginning of the year there were important new arrivals in the field of track operations. It stands out above all Phil Charlesformer technical director of Jaguar, who has been a constant candidate for the title for years: “Now there are new additions, such as Vandoorne’s track engineer from the beginning of the year, or Phil Charles in the role of Racing Director from the third race. In addition to them, we are adding other engineers dedicated to certain sectors.” Among the latest additions, for example, is included a figure dedicated exclusively to tyreswhose understanding is fundamental in a championship where the smallest details make the difference.
Waiting for 2025
The technical development and expansion of the workforce demonstrate DS’s ambition to soon return to the top of Formula E. Franzetti continues: “We continue to invest where we can, therefore on the human and software aspects. Ambition is important. For now the goal is to get back on the podium, while when the hardware part can also be changed the desire is to do everything possible to bridge the current gap from the other powertrains.”
Work continues on the new powertrain at Satory, with the first full tests scheduled for a month. The director of DS Performance concludes: “We’re testing a few things. Since January, tests have already been dedicated to the Gen3 EVO. In the various phases, piecemeal tests are carried out, while from June we will put everything together, including new tires, the aerodynamic package developed by Dallara, the traction-activated front powertrain and our insights regarding the powertrain. In June you tend to better understand how you are working and how you are doing in relation to the goals you have set for yourself”. The Gen3 Evo will embody a small revolution for the championship, with the prospect of destabilizing the current balance of power. An opportunity for DS to return to the top of Formula E.
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