Andretti Formula E Team welcomed fellow American driver Scott Speed to
the team for the Miami ePrix. Speed may be a Formula E rookie, but this speed
freak is no racing rookie. In fact, he is a former Formula Renault Eurocup and
Germany Champion. A former Formula One driver with both Red Bull and Toro
Rosso with experience in NASCAR and IndyCar among other series.
Andretti had called upon Speed's services before when they tested Spark-Renault at Donington Park before the season kicked off.
The American joined former F1 driver, Frenchman Jean Eric Vergne, (who incidentally, also drove for Toro Rosso). This is a strong driver pairing for Team Andretti. It gives the team to experienced and talented drivers that have the potential to be in the mix and steal points.
The Miami ePrix was bitter-sweet for the pair however. Vergne snagged pole position for the race while Speed qualified in the mid-field.
Speed explained, “In qualifying we got held up on both of our flying laps so we had much more speed than 10th,”
The race played out quite differently. Vergne did finish the race (18th/last) albeit two laps down due to lengthy pitstop and weakening charge. It was Speed who put on an electrifying performance with a podium position, finishing 2nd just +0.433 behind e.Dams of Prost.
Speed had this to say after the race,
“The problem we had at the end wasn’t the battery, I had plenty of energy left but we kept overheating. Prost played his strategy very good too so both of us for the last two laps were at 100 per cent power and I think no one else had that same power so it was a really great race. I think for both of us having to go into the corners at full speed on the last couple of laps when you don’t do that all race was quite tricky and we both had lots of close calls so that made the racing really nice. Having a guy like Michael Andretti calling my race, with his experience was fantastic and I think for what we had we really maximized our possibilities.”
Speed Freak