Jake Dennis is committed to taking a long-term view to his Formula E ambitions and won’t let frustration mount if he cannot claim a championship this year.
Season 9 of the all-electric series gets underway with the opening race in Mexico City this time round. Dennis arrives in South America with a new team-mate in Andre Lotterer and a new powertrain after Andretti teamed up with Porsche. It brings with it plenty of unknowns as well as new opportunities.
Dennis went close to delivering a championship in his debut year in the sport, back when Andretti were powered by BMW. Last year was a mixed season, with a win in London the highlight. Now into his third season, Dennis has continued to grow in stature and is determined to claim glory, but won’t become impatient if this year isn’t his time.
He said: “No not really I still feel like I’m quite young in Formula E, but I do want to win a championship at some point. But it is definitely a long-term goal for me to win this championship. I just need to see how competitive we are in the first few rounds. If we’ve got a competitive package and we don’t win it that would be more frustrating than if we just weren’t fast enough, which I’d just have to take on the chin.
“That’s the view I took last year, it was clear that at the start of the year we just lacked pure pace in the races. I think in qualifying we were strong, but in the races we weren’t there, which stemmed from the lack of development with BMW departing and it was just trying to be the best of the rest, which is exactly what I did.”
Changes are a plenty in Formula E this season – none more so than the introduction of the Gen 3 car. Every team has introduced at least one new driver whilst Andretti have also changed powertrains. That has meant the team have had to acclimatise to a new package, but Dennis doesn’t expect it to set them back.
He added: “It is not an advantage for sure, but to be honest it is the same for a lot of drivers this year. I think every team has at least one new driver, so it is not too much of an issue. I don’t I’ll be handicapped that much, but in certain situations like Pascal and Andre might have more knowledge and understanding. Honestly though I can’t use that as an excuse this year, I’ve got a good understanding of the Porsche system already.”
Dennis, as well as his Formula E colleagues, recently featured in the second season of Formula E Unplugged – the sport’s fly on the wall documentary. Similar to Formula 1’s massive NetFlix hit, Drive To Survive, it provides an insight fans won’t usually see as the sport continues to grow – something Dennis believes the drivers have to play a part in.
“I do think it is part of the driver’s role to really grow the sport,” he claimed. “I think we’ve got some really influential drivers, I’m far from one of the big guys – we’ve got Antonio, JEV, Lucas – the guys that have been in it for years. I do think it is a part of our role, albeit a small one, we reach a small audience compared to Formula E’s social platform, but I think it would be wasted opportunity if the driver just drove a race car and asked Formula E to build a platform around us. We are what the fans connect with so it would be waste if we put our helmets off, took them off and then didn’t say anything.”
