Jake Dennis has outlined his and Andretti’s goals for the rest of Season 11 as Formula E prepares for this weekend’s Tokyo E-Prix.
Jake Dennis and Andretti arrive ahead of the Tokyo E-Prix confident of a strong result after a positive weekend in Monaco.
Dennis showed excellent pace in the principality during Saturday’s race. Starting from seventh, he jumped two places at the start of the race and aimed to move further up the order.
He later pulled off an audacious double overtake on Nyck de Vries and reigning world champion Pascal Wehrlein after a full course yellow to secure second place at the chequered flag,
Speaking exclusively to Fastest Formula News ahead of Free Practice in Tokyo, Dennis admitted when asked, that the podium result was somewhat unexpected after qualifying, praising his team.
“Going into the race, probably not from seven. To be honest, it was a very difficult race to actually make passes on, in terms of on track. But thankfully, we had a pretty good strategy to put ourselves in that position.
“And then the pace what we showed was very good. I think going into qualifying, I think we had the chance of a podium.
“But then my lap against Nyck de Vries in the duel’s wasn’t great. So, then we got knocked out quite early. So, then I thought I kind of lost the podium chance starting all the way back down in seventh. But like I said, we had a good result, good strategy.
“We managed to make it happen. And yeah, I think it was well deserved. We put in a lot of hard work prior to that event and it sort of showed off in the dry, at least.”
Monaco a turning point for Andretti’s season?
When asked if the strong performance and pace seen in Monaco will impact Andretti’s goals for the season ahead, Jake Dennis spoke of only one ambition: to win.
“The target is always the same, just to try and win as many races as possible. I think that has to be our only goal now is to get podiums, get race wins. Right now my aim is not to focus on the championship.”
“You know, Oliver [Rowland] has such a big lead now. So, it’s important for us to just focus on ourselves and try and get to the top three at least. We’re not too far away from that.
“So, that has to be the goal. But I think it just gives us increased confidence of going into the dry. So, I think we’ve found like a bit of a sweet spot right now in terms of dry running.
Dennis currently lies sixth in the standings after his podium visit in Monaco. When asked if this was in line with his expectations, the British driver gave an honest assessment of his season.
“I think we’re actually closer and closer to the sort of season nine level of performance. There’s still some fine-tuning to be had to really get back to that level. I think it’s extremely difficult to achieve what we did back then because the level now is so much higher from everyone.
“But I’m not too unhappy with sixth place in the championship. I’m just a bit unhappy with how the season first started. We had two retirements out of three when we were easily in contention for a podium and then a top five.
“So, we threw away a lot of points there. And then Jeddah was just a complete write-off for the team. We had no performance, really underperformed, slow weekend. Whereas now, I’m starting to build that momentum and feel really good inside of the car again.
“I’ll take that over what we did in Jeddah, where we were slow, but we had a really good race and finished fourth. It’s important to feel good in the car and then eventually the results will come
“That’s what we’re building on now. Hopefully, we can continue to keep this progress and now fight for frequent podiums ultimately.
When will the first race victory of Season 11 come for Jake Dennis and Andretti?
Dennis was bullish on his chances of victory this weekend in Tokyo when asked when he believes he can take his first victory of the year, adding that multiple elements need to align to secure it. The Briton last secured a win at the Season 10 Diriyah E-Prix.
“Hopefully, this weekend. I think that’s really the goal. I don’t think we’re too far away from it. We came close in Monaco. We had a really bad pit stop, unfortunately, in Monaco, which probably cost us definitely a P2, maybe the win. But ultimately, I don’t think we’re far away.
“We just need a little bit of luck. Like any race win, you need luck on your side, especially now with the pit move situation. You can do everything perfectly, but a guy from last can win the race if he pits under FCY [full course yellow].
“You need luck, you need pace. I feel like we’ve got the pace sorted now. We just need to fix the reliability and have a little bit of luck as well to piece it all together.
Can Jake Dennis and Andretti be regular podium finishers?
Asked about his expectations for the rest of the season and if Andretti is now a regular podium contender, Jake Dennis was resolute.
“I think so, yeah. I think, as you said, coming into this triple-header of Asia races, there’s not a lot of time now to really make many changes. What we’ve got, the package we’ve got, is what we’re going to carry now until Jakarta.
“If I can just continue to build on what we’ve got, then I think we’re in a really good position. Ultimately, the goal is to try now to always be in frequent podium positions. I generally think we can do that.
“It looks like it’s going to be wet tomorrow. We didn’t have the best pace in the wet in Monaco, so it might be a bit of a difficult Saturday. Sunday looks pretty dry.
“Hopefully, we can do a good job there and get a result on Sunday. Anything can happen in Tokyo. It’s a pit boost race.
“It’s super slippery here in the rain, so I’m feeling optimistic and pretty open-minded of what can happen over these next four weeks at least and these next six races.“
