eRacing Magazine Vol. 3 Issue 2 | Page 66

Despite being one of the heavier cars on the Formula E grid, the DSV-01 is extremely well-balanced. Has managing the delivery of torque been a contributing factor to DS Virgin Racing’s up-turn in performance from Beijing to Buenos Aires?

I think the defining factors have been out determination to look at all factors to help us with car dynamics. Certainly the car is heavier than the minimum weigh, but I don’t think we’re the only car as there are many other teams that are overweight. But certainly the team has challenges in setting the car up.

The engineering team have done a great job of managing that. Yes, delivery of torque is important but there are many other factors; damping, brakes which affect the handling of the car and have given us the ability to provide a car that Sam and Jean-Eric can drive.

Jean-Eric appears - from the outside at least - to be struggling with balance a little more compared to Sam. Is it simply a case of driving style or a more technical issue?

I think we have to look across the entirety of the season. It’s unfair to judge Jev on the most recent performances because he didn’t really get a chance to practice in Buenos Aires by missing free practice one and two – that didn’t help him set himself up for the race. We did find that Jean-Eric was exemplary in Punta Del Este throughout the race where he came through to score very valuable points for us and was fantastic in the testing sessions for us.

So I have to say we’ve made improvements that have made both drivers more comfortable with the car and hopefully those improvements will turn into positions and points.

Sebastien Buemi’s pace at Buenos Aires was pretty ominous. Is consistency and exerting the maximum pressure on your competitors in qualifying your best approach to staying in the championship hunt?

We must keep pressure everywhere. Not just in qualifying – which is critically important – but through every session. I think that’s one of the defining factors and exciting things about Formula E. Everything happens in one day and you have to be at 110% for every single session; whether that’s free practice, qualifying, super-pole or the race. We will keep applying pressure throughout the entire day - and off racing days – and hope that our competitors – whether Renault or Audi – will make mistakes. If we make less mistakes and keep that pressure applied, we will get the results.

Will look to be extracting hidden performance? Will the remaining track configurations suit the strengths of the car?

We’ve been searching pretty hard for performance, so I don’t know if there’s much performance hiding anywhere (laughs). But we’re still keeping our engineers on it and I think we’re relying on the talents of our two exceptional drivers to give us the performance that we want. There are some tracks that we’re approaching that do suit us and there are others that don’t suit us as well. I don’t want to give away too much as we approach the remaining half of the season but certainly there opportunities for us.