Norman Nato spoke exclusively to Fastest Formula News about the challenges he faced this season in Formula E while his team-mate dominated.
Returning to Nissan after a year away at Andretti, Norman Nato has endured a difficult homecoming. While team-mate Oliver Rowland won the championship, Nato scored just 21 points, languishing in 20th in the standings.
Speaking to Fastest Formula News on Thursday before the weekend kick off, Norman Nato was very open about his challenges. He attributed bad luck, and another critical issue as the main reasons behind his slump down the order in Season 11.
“Not so good in terms of points, in a way that a lot of missed opportunities, not because we did mistakes or anything. But just like so many drivers of the season, the new G3.5, which is strategy-wise a lot better than the G3.5, which is much more tricky.
You can be on the good side of the strategy or the wrong side, like I’ve been in Miami and some other races.
So yeah, I would say that in some occasions, I didn’t do a good enough job, like Jeddah, for example, where it’s been a really good weekend. We had a fast car there. And in terms of strategy, the fact to come to a new team, even if I’ve been in Nissan in the past.
Adapting to new surroundings
Norman Nato also highlighted that the attributes can affect a driver jumping to different teams, which can cause issues initially.
“But at the end, I had a new race engineer. The team was slightly different. Jumping back from a Porsche back to a Nissan.
“But some of the things where you need adaptation, like you can still get like Nico Mueller as well. It’s never straightforward when you jump in the car and you can’t perform straight away. So in some occasions, I would say I’ve been struggling a bit.
“But otherwise, if you look from race one, on one lap especially, I’ve been quite strong. Sao Paulo, I made it to the dual straight away, beating the race before having this penalty, winning in Miami. Shanghai, we kind of played the game for Oliver to help him for the championship.
“So yeah, I finished P6, I think. We should have done P2. So you know, at the end, in terms of points, if you just take the performance which has been done, I should be, with missing two races, I should be P7, P8 at the championship.
“For a comeback in the team, it’s not a bad season. For sure, you just look at the point we’re not analysing, it will look bad. The most important people inside of the team, they know what they call me back.
They know what I can bring to the team. And we are still in a fight for the manufacturer championship which is the aim of the beginning of the season. It’s the main target. So we’re going to push for it.“
Improving across Season 11
Norman Nato offered a pragmatic view, outlining where he needs to improve before commenting on Miami.
“No, honestly, when I came back to the team with the car, it felt quite good straight away, as I said. In South Paulo, first qualifying to make it to the duels and to be, I think, same lap time as Oliver, when he’s been doing already one year with the car.
“Honestly, I felt good straight away with the car in one lap.
“It’s more strategy-wise, communication-wise, setup-wise, in race, in a few occasions, and adapting as well to Gen 3.5, which is something where Oliver has been really good, for example.
“He’s been better than me on this aspect, where I needed to, I would say, to improve my communication, my understanding of the race, my setup of the car. And this is something where we made big improvements.
Reflecting on lost Miami victory
A race that he could, and should have won, excess energy caused by a late Safety Car led to a penalty that dropped him off the podium in Miami.
Asked about his lost win, Norman Nato said his points tally for the year does not tell the full story of his season, outlining the events of the race.
“The first big step has been Miami, actually. Where in Miami, the kind of peloton race, in Jeddah, for example, I didn’t manage this race really well.
“And in Miami, we kind of changed quite a lot of things. We’ve been focussing on that. In Miami, it was actually a really strong race that we’ve done, because I was kind of leading the race for a few times, didn’t keep myself in energy, took my first attack mode, safety car, full course yellow.. So I really was kind of lucky.
“And in the second one, we know what happened. I lose the win because of it. So that’s why, when I speak about points, if you just look at the points, of course, we can say it’s a really bad season, but it’s not.
Obviously, I would have preferred to have 70 points or more on the board, but that’s what it is. I mean, at the end, again, it’s going really well with the team, with Oliver as well. It’s also something I think he appreciates as well, the fact we work together, we can push each other, and developing the car as well.
A step forward in Season 11
Nato also praised his team for the step forward in competitiveness seen in Season 11, through Nissan’s domination.
His passion for the team and desire to help the team win the title were apparent as he praised team-mate Oliver Rowland.
“We made a step compared to last year in terms of many things. So so far, honestly, we are pretty confident. We can have a strong weekend.
“It’s pleasant to be in this position, to be in a fight to win championship. As I said, it’s really easy to say we have the best car. We have one of the best cars for sure, but it’s not because we have a Nissan or a Porsche, or you start to do the job.
“And Oliver, honestly, as I said, did a really fantastic job, like the beginning of the season, he’s been impressive, in terms of consistency, especially. And yeah, he’s just been better than the other this year on that aspect. So just congrats to him and the team. And now we need to finish the job.
Working with Oliver Rowland
Nissan missed out on taking a clean sweep in London after a disastrous second race for Nissan. Ahead of he weekend, Nato outlined how he and Rowland would work together at the season finale.
“Honestly, to work together, at the end, you could see Porsche, they tried to do it in Berlin, and it didn’t work out. It’s so difficult to play this game in Formula E, but in every championship in general, I would say, but even more in Formula E.
“Honestly, the best we could do is to already have, with both cars, a really good qualifying, because in this track, it would be really tricky to overtake, and then just to do our job.
“Honestly, of course, we’re going to fight each other for podium or whatever. We’ll probably keep the position if we’re in this position, to maximise the points for the team. But honestly, we’re not going to start to overthink.
“At the end, we don’t need to win the race, or we don’t need, of course, if we win, it’s better. But we just need to score more points than Porsche both days and just enough to beat them. That’s the strategy, just score points. Just good enough to beat them. That’s it.
Aiming for a podium
Although he missed out on his goal of a podium, Norman Nato outlined his work in the build-up to the London E-Prix.
Despite the challenges faced across the season, his work ethic and drive to improve shone through, as he spoke of his detailed work behind the scenes.
“I hope so. Otherwise, it will be my first season with no podium. Yeah, I would hope so.
But again, as I said, it won’t really change anything to my season if I do a podium or not.
“Obviously, I would be really happy, especially for the team and for myself, to jump on this podium this weekend, because we’ve been working pretty hard.
“As I said, the break, almost a no-break between last year and this year, because again, when you arrive to a team, there’s a lot of new things that you have to go through when you are new to the team, as I said, communication, setup, simulator.
“So we’ve been working so hard to get to the level as soon as possible. So I would say that, yes, the best gift I would give to the team, it would be to celebrate together with a podium or to win this championship or both. If we can do both, we will win.”
Despite his difficult season, Nato was confirmed as staying with Nissan for Season 12. After a difficult first year back at the team, he will be hoping for more when the new season gets underway.
