Here’s a worrying statement for all the rivals of current Formula E world champion, Oliver Rowland: “I’m not fast enough.”
Second in the championship, with a win and five other podium positions from 10 races. And the guy doesn’t think he’s fast enough!
That’s a sobering read for his rivals who will be adamant that Rowland can’t do what Jean-Eric Vergne did in 2018 and 2019 – taking back-to-back titles.
This is no random mind game though from Rowland. He’s actually right. Prior to Monaco a few weeks ago over one lap in particular it’s been a full calendar year since he’s been really on it, from a one lap pace point of view.
Rowland’s average qualifying position this season is 10th. Way behind da Costa, Wehrlein, Mortara, and even 2026 erratic randoms like Taylor Barnard and Dan Ticktum. The Nissan drivers last pole position came over 365 days ago now, in Tokyo.
“My thought process at the moment is to just get faster,” Rowland tells FEN.
“I haven’t really been fast enough, especially in qualifying, to replicate starting on the front two rows every race, which is what I did when I did all the good results last year. So, for me the focus has only been on that.
“I’m not fast enough, I won’t win the championship,” adds the Nissan driver. “So, my priority at the moment is to be better on one lap and to just improve that, and then I can start to manage the championship. I’m still not really in a position where I can comfortably say ‘I’m going to be fast enough every weekend to really challenge for the championship.’
But with the disappointment of the one lap pace there is also some satisfaction in the way most of his races have played out this season. Miami, Jeddah on Saturday and Madrid apart, Rowland has run some excellent races, some even better than his 2025 zeniths.
“I think I have a more measured approach because last year I was probably taking more risks to win races, let’s say,” he explains.
“For example, in Berlin I probably could have overtaken Mitch with the attack mode, and then he might have got me back because I’d have probably consumed to overtake him, but I decided to just consolidate second because there’s always a risk you can get overtaken by more people if you become down on energy. So yeah, it’s always a risk versus reward element, I guess.”
But still that lack of one lap pace rankles a fair bit.
“I have no doubts in my mind that if I have the pace, I can go all the way from an execution perspective, from a racing perspective, I’ll be there or thereabouts to pick up the results,” he says.
Yet, in the context of Rowland’s end to his title season last time around this is an interesting point. Frankly, Rowland had some absolute stinkers last summer. From a clumsy Saturday in Berlin to a really scrappy London weekend, when frankly he drove like he had a hangover, the champion
“But as you saw at the end of last year, I struggled for a bit of pace, and I didn’t score many points,” he attests. “So, the key really is to be faster, and then I think the championship charge will follow that.”
Rowland said those last words before his brilliant Monaco win. They now take on added potency because if he is as good as he was at Sanya in 2019, where he took Nissan’s first ever pole and a second place, then the Nissan driver might be heading into the crucial Shanghai races in July in the lead of the championship for the first time this season.
That’s when the bits of doubt still rattling around his mind will start to dissipate at the same pace as the odds on him becoming a double champion.
