Coming into the Berlin E-Prix, Taylor Barnard sits fourth in the Formula E driver’s championship with five podiums to his name. In the penultimate weekend of the season Barnard hopes to make it to the podium again, and hopefully finally make it to the top step.
At Berlin last year, Barnard took his first points in the series filling in for Sam Bird last year. In just his second race in the series he excelled around Tempelhof and became the youngest points score in the series’ history.
Now, a year on from his stellar reserve work he has a full-time seat with NEOM McLaren in which he has impressed fans and teams at a rapid rate. He’s made it onto the podium five times and sits just 11 points away from second in the standings.
What a difference a year makes
Barnard told FFN at the Berlin E-Prix that it is nice to be at a track that he has previous experience, not necessarily in performance but in comfort.
He said, “It is nice to come back to a track that I’ve been to before, even small things like staying in the same hotel. I actually know the place where I am, which I guess makes me feel a bit more comfortable off track.”
“In terms of my approach to the weekend and driving, it doesn’t change anything, you know. I’ve been comfortable in all of the places where I haven’t been before, so there’s no reason why that should change.”
However, Barnard has also grown as a driver over the last year. He admitted he feels as though he’s more ‘complete’ with almost an entire season under his belt.
“It takes a while to pick things up, and I’d say now I’m more complete than what I was before. Obviously with the whole years of experience, I think that’s natural.”
When asked what he thinks has been the biggest area of improvement, and he said, “I’d say race management, you know. Qualifying pace was always there, I felt. I was always pretty quick, but the way these races work is so complex and so different to anything else.”
A unique track
Berlin is a track unlike any other on the calendar. Taking place in a former Airport the concrete is original to the WW2 era. This leaves drivers fighting for grip in what is undoubtably a difficult track for the tyres.
For this year, the drivers have the unknown of new tyres that they haven’t had the opportunity to try around Tempelhof.
Barnard spoke to FFN about the track surface and the challenges they pose, saying “Coming from Jakarta, perhaps that’s quite a good place to have some experience from. I don’t remember it being so bad, there was some evolution, but I think the tarmac generally is quite low grip, and it will not get that much grippier throughout the weekend.”
“But like I said, I’ve done a whole year now worth of street circuits and dusty tracks and things like that, so it’s not anything new to me any more.”
With Pit Boost being used in the first race, there’s another added level of ‘unknowns’ for the drivers. Barnard acknowledges this as one of the biggest challenges of the weekend, mentioning the possibility of lapping cars being an issue.
“I think there was quite a lot of talk of the potential to lap people, because the lap is so short and the pit lane time is quite long, that you’d end up in quite a strange situation behind cars which you are racing, but they’re a lap behind. So that’ll be quite interesting, obviously we need to do driver’s briefing and see how that will work.”
“In terms of race 2, just the normal energy-saving race, it will look very similar to last year, so that’s where the experience will help a bit.”
Looking for a win
Even with five podiums to his name, Barnard has struggled to make the jump into the top spot. The Brit wasn’t shy in saying that there haven’t been any big issues keeping him from a win. Rather a string of unfortunate moments often out of his hands.
He said, “Nothing’s missing. In Formula E, you need to be in the right place at the right time. Jakarta was quite a good one, and I think Ticktum’s win was a perfect example of that. He was not the fastest, he was not the best on strategy and things like that, but he was in the right place at the right time, did the job when he needed to and of course earned his win.”
“I think sometimes that’s part of it, that you need to be in the right place at the right time.”
Barnard remained positive about his chances of getting a win, acknowledging that ‘it takes time’ keeping a level head regarding his stats.
He told FFN, “I have no stress that it will come. It takes some time, sometimes that’s okay. I don’t think we’re doing anything wrong. As a team, the car’s always been very good in qualifying, the team always do a great job in the races. It’s just a matter of time.”
Weekend hopes
Sitting so close to second in the championship also poses an opportunity for Barnard to end the season on a high. He spoke about his season as a whole, with a focus on the championship fight.
“I feel quite confident as a driver, of course now a bit more complete, I was fighting quite well early on in the year, actually. I feel like I’ve dropped off a little bit towards the end of this year, I was second for quite a while. I’m definitely looking to get that back.”
“Of course, the championship win is very, very far away now and unrealistic to be honest. Like I said, I’ll just do the best that I can and try to pick up the points where I can.”
When asked is he had any specific expectations for the weekend he joked, “A podium would be great. I say that every time.”
Uncertain future
NEOM McLaren will be leaving the Formula E grid at the end of Season 11. With McLaren’s focus going to WEC. For Barnard this leaves his future in the balance, with the tricky question of which team to call him home for Season 12.
While rumours are linking the Brit to Penske, Barnard denied letting the noise affect his on track performance, keeping his head on the Berlin weekend and the end of this season.
He said, “Whenever I arrive at the racetrack, my race head goes on and all the noise stops for me. I’m very much focused on my job, and I’m doing the best that I can on the circuit. All the noise is not an issue for me.”
