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Reflecting on a Formula One champion’s time in Formula E

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When a F1 World Champion shows interest into an all-electric motorsport series that has only just finished its first year, heads will inevitably turn. Jacques Villeneuve, 1997 FIA Formula One World Champion and all round motorsport icon, decided to try his luck at the first all-electric motorsport series ahead of the second season.

Unfortunately his time in Formula E was short, with just two race starts to his name. Talking to fiaformulae.com, Villeneuve tells the fans why he would love to return to the championship.

Confirming he was to join the FIA Formula E Championship in early August last year, the Canadian racing driver was to make his electric debut in pre-season testing within the same month at Donington Park. His testing with the Monaco-based Venturi team also made him the first Formula One World Champion to drive one of the all-electric race cars.

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Before the season started I spent a lot of time working with the team working on different ideas – electronics, steering, dampers, everything – using all the experience I had from Indycar on this type of track – bumpy and close walls – and it looked like it was on its way up,” Villeneuve told the official Formula E site.[/pullquote]

“But obviously it was frustrating to not get the results when we had the pace. But that’s the way racing goes, there are good days and bad days and sometimes the whole season can be full of bad days, sometimes you can’t control all of this.”

Only a few months after pre-season testing, the spotlight was well and truly shone on Jacques. The second season of the electrifying championship came around quickly and all eyes were on the debut of Villeneuve; Beijing once again hosting the season opener.

Mechanical issues meant limited running for the former world champion, leaving the star to settle for a disappointing 12th place in qualifying. During his ePrix debut, Jacques suffered a poor start and fell back to 15th, where he found himself involved in an incident with Team Aguri’s Antonio Felix da Costa. Although Villeneuve managed to return his Venturi back to the race track, his race was pretty much over and wasn’t able to salvage any points.

The following round was Putrajaya and the weekend almost seemed to mirror that of Beijing.

Once again only competing in one practice session, although this was due to the timetable at the Malaysian ePrix, in addition to finding himself in a familiar 12th place after qualifying and finishing out of the points for the second time in two races.
Villeneuve was also involved with contact during the race.

The third and final race Jacques would attend is the Punta del Este ePrix.

Although good pace was shown by Jacques and the Venturi team during practice, a shunt in qualifying proved fatal to the car and as a result Jacques could not compete in the ePrix. His car was rebuilt and ready for testing just after the race day, however the ex-F1 World Champion crashed his rebuilt car again.

For many his fate in Formula E was sealed and just a month later he confirmed he would not return to the sport.

“The crash could have been lack of experience, but also from the team,” Villeneuve told the FIA Formula E site earlier today. “It was somehow forgotten that the brake bias was with regen and not without regen. We only thought about it after qually, and that was just annoying because definitely someone in the team should have thought about it, because they had a year’s experience. But ultimately it wasn’t even that big a crash. It was 70km/h and it did the tub – it was the smallest crash I’ve had!

“I would love to come back. The racing was fun, the tracks were great in parts – in Malaysia the track was awesome – the championship is professional and there’s a great bunch of drivers. It was a worthwhile experience and it would be great to have a proper shot at it.”

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Images of Villeneuve courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

Images of Conway courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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