“Podiums first”

All areas of development have progressed well, and we are now in the transition from development mode to race mode. We have completed twelve days of testing and covered around 6,000 kilometres, which is a good result. The car has been very reliable from the start. It has never been stuck in the garage because of a major failure, which has allowed us to use our track time very efficiently. Of course, we will never stop looking for extra performance, including at the upcoming tests. But the focus now is on getting the whole package ready for racing.

There are still several key milestones ahead of us. We received FIA homologation last Wednesday (Editor’s note: 7 October), which is an important step. We are now building Mitch and Théo’s two final race cars, which will then complete their first laps. Finally come the last tests in Spain, first in Valencia with all the competitors, then a full week at Jarama, where we will also see the other teams. These sessions will be used for the final set-up work on the car. They will also be essential for the race team, which will have to prove its efficiency and reliability in its trackside organisation and procedures, in real race conditions.

You have to look at it this way. All the manufacturers, whether Porsche, Jaguar or the others, run several teams to gather as much data as possible. With that data and feedback from different drivers, you can prepare strategy and race operations much better. We work in the same way.

The development team is mainly based at Satory, at Stellantis Motorsport, with Opel engineers already embedded. The team is brand new, but its structure is in place, with people dedicated to Opel. The hardware components and the main software are developed jointly for both brands. Strategy and race operations, on the other hand, are entirely specific to each. That is very logical. In Formula 1 too, the Mercedes engine powers several teams.

To be completely honest, I have full confidence in our pairing. From the outset, we wanted to put together an attractive line-up combining proven Formula E experience with young talent. The whole team believes that, in a way, we have assembled our dream team.

Mitch has been fighting regularly for wins and the title in Formula E for several years, and no driver has won more races in the series. He is very experienced, with a strong personality. He leads by example through his professionalism, without playing politics, which makes him the ideal partner for a young driver.

For me, Théo is an elite talent with a champion’s record. He was very strong in every junior formula, from Formula 4 to Formula 2. He is Mercedes’ reserve driver in Formula 1, where he does a lot of simulator work, and he races in endurance (WEC) with the Stellantis team. The two drivers have already built a very strong relationship and work closely together. Mitch is ready to share all his experience, and Théo listens to him very carefully.

I am convinced that Théo has all the necessary qualities. Of course, everything is new for him, including some of the circuits. But he has already taken part in the rookie test with the previous generation of cars, so he knows Formula E, and he has a lot of single-seater experience. I believe he will find his rhythm very quickly in the new Gen4.

She has done a very good job so far. She spends a lot of time in the simulator and has a very direct mindset. She knows that, in the end, only performance counts. Her feedback to the engineering team is also of very high quality.

We have often put her in the car during testing, and she has done several shakedown runs. We will also be working together in Formula E’s women’s programme, where she will be our driver. We think she can play a very important role there.

With the Mokka GSE, we already work closely with the engineers from our rally team. For us, Formula E is not an isolated sporting project. It is also a strategic technology accelerator for Opel’s electric future. Race cars and production cars face the same challenges, whether in thermal management, software or energy management.

We see Formula E as a high-speed, high-performance laboratory where we test solutions under very particular conditions. We then share our ideas with our colleagues at the technical centre who develop the production models. In future, software will make the difference in production cars, for energy management but also for chassis tuning.

I can’t tell you exactly what will be carried over into our future models. But all the data we collect and all the solutions we develop are passed on to our colleagues. And believe me, one day you will find some of those solutions in our production cars.

Podiums first. But as I always say, we have a clear ambition: we are not in Formula E just to make up the numbers. We have created a team that wants to learn together, grow together and, one day, win together.

We want to be visible from the start, and you are not visible running around tenth place. It is hard to answer today, because we do not yet know how strong our rivals are. I can only say that we have confidence in our programme. I will know more after Jarama.

In a way, you are right. But I think that by then the team will be so focused and professional that it will do the same job at every race weekend, wherever we are.

There will certainly be more pressure around the team, because we are planning a special event for this race. Lots of people will come, many will want to say hello and will be keeping their fingers crossed for us. For the brand, it is a special moment, with special emotions. But a professional team has to concentrate fully on its work, wherever its garage is.

I would rather turn the question around. I hope and believe that this new car, through its performance alone, will draw more spectators and fans to Formula E. For me, that is a certainty.