de Silvestro happy with return to points

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Simona de Silvestro made history in Long Beach when she became the first female driver to score points in a Formula E race. Two rounds later in Berlin she did it again, scoring yet another impressive ninth place finish for the Amlin Andretti Formula E team.

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”We just have to do the best job we can with what we have.”
Simona de Silvestro[/pullquote]

“It’s good to be back in the points, I think we could have finished a little bit more up the front, but I’ll take ninth,” she explained after the race. As well as a good finish for de Silvestro, she managed to out-qualify her team-mate earlier on the Saturday; this being the second time during the season she has managed to do so, bringing the ratio to 6:2 in favour of Robin Frijns.

In addition to the strong performance in qualifying, de Silvestro had also shown she was fast around the new track layout in Berlin. Practice one saw her finish +3.198s behind fellow Swiss Sebastien Buemi who topped the timesheets and in practice two was just +1.083s off fastest man Nelson Piquet Jr. When it came to qualifying, de Silvestro placed the car in 13th, while team-mate Frijns could only manage 16th.

When it came to the race, all didn’t seem to go to plan.

“I struggled a bit at the end of the first stint, I lost the regeneration completely and that really killed us a bit. I was close to Robin and all of a sudden I couldn’t see him anymore so it would have been great to finish a little bit more in front but for sure I’m happy to be back in the points.”

Whilst on the topic of the car, the ‘Iron Maiden’ spoke of Andretti’s decision to stick with the season one powertrain and reflected on whether it has held back the team in terms of development.

“I think so,” de Silvestro said. “We’re running a season one powertrain and we can’t do much to it. The other teams like NEXTEV all of a sudden are going really strong as they’re able to develop in the season and understand the thing.

“At some tracks our powertrain is kind of okay, at some tracks it’s a little bit more difficult, but that’s racing and that was the decision the team took and we just have to do the best job we can with what we have.”

With the cancellation of the Moscow ePrix, there are just two rounds of this season’s Formula E championship left – both of which are held at Battersea Park, London.

“We’re right there and definitely the goal is to finish in the points in both races,” she said of the team’s potential performance in London. Amlin Andretti and their pairing of Frijns and de Silvestro have been a success and after Berlin are sat in seventh in the constructors’ championship.

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Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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