Felipe Drugovich got a lot of the fluctuating emotions of Formula E out in his first ever race for Andretti on home soil in Sao Paulo earlier this month.
A silly error in qualifying, a patient race, the glittering chance for a podium and then the disappointment of a Full Course Yellow error, penalty and seeing points evaporate.
As wild rides go it was standard Formula E and in the long term it should do him a lot of good. Badges of honour, etc.
Drugovich is not under a huge amount of pressure this season. He’s in that Andretti seat, barring absolute disasters, for at least until the end of Season 13. The start was tumultuous but there is more than enough there to reckon he will score more points than his predecessors Norman Nato, Andre Lotterer and Nico Mueller did.
The fact that this is likely to be the closest ever Formula E season with points spread hugely through the vast majority of the field should also help the Brazilian. It’s something his team boss Roger Griffiths agrees with.
“I think what we’ll see is that it’s going to be super close and I don’t think there’s going to be any one particular standout team,” Griffiths told Formula E Notebook.
“I don’t think we’re going to crown a champion as early as we did this last season with Oliver, and I think there’s going to be some really strong battles.”
The deal with Drugovich was a few months in the making and it is fair to say that the early decision for Andretti to move away from Andretti after four sometimes irritable seasons with the German manufacturer helped it along.
Andretti had bowed a bit to Porsche wanting Andre Lotterer and Nico Mueller in a seat in 2023 and 2025 respectively. They even gave Porsche reserve David Beckmann his debut at Jakarta in June ’23. But a cleanish break from finding homes for Porsche contracted drivers is now over and Andretti is in charge of its own final Gen3Evo destiny.
The key to an additional layer of stability is that Drugovich is on a long-term deal and will be part of Andretti’s Gen4 programme for at least the first season in 2026-27.
“We’ve kind of gone all in on Felipe,” said Griffiths.
“It’s a multi-year agreement, it’s not a one and done. So, we’ve committed to him as much as he’s committed to us. I think that’s a little bit of a different mindset to what we’ve seen in the past, so that for me shows our confidence that we believe he can deliver.
“I think also it’s a little bit of a look to next season as well, season 13, where it’s a very different car. And maybe the skill set required to drive that car is not quite the same skill set as you have in the current line-up of drivers.
“I won’t say we’re hedging our bets, but I think it’s an early recognition that maybe we need somebody more used to that high horsepower, high grip, high downforce car than perhaps some of the other players in this championship and the experience that they’ve had, so we’re looking at it sort of twofold.”
The expectations for Drugovich are high in the long-term but for this season 60-70 points and a podium here and there would be viewed as a very strong maiden full season indeed.
“We know that this year is going to be a bit of a learning year for him,” added Griffiths.
“I think, we’ve seen that with pretty much every rookie.
“I mean, Taylor came on super strong towards the end of the latter half of last season, so we anticipate it’s going to be a steep learning curve.”
The first ascent of that curve was experienced in Sao Paulo and in a sense there isn’t much more for the Brazilian to experience. A thick skin is developed very quickly in Formula E.
