Pigot talks Formula E with AR1’s Brian Carroccio
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| Dragon Racing's Oriol Servia leads into turn 1 at the start of the Putrajaya ePrix |
The world's first all-electric racing series is now four races old, after last month's Buenos Aires ePrix. Amlin Aguri's Antonio Felix da Costa managed to avoid the mistakes and misfortunes that plagued many of the other front-runners in scoring a surprise victory.
Da Costa joined Lucas di Grassi, Sam Bird and Sebastien Buemi as the fourth Formula E race winner.
To help us breakdown the first four races of the inaugural Formula E season, AutoRacing1 welcomes 2014 Pro Mazda Presented by Cooper Tires Champion Spencer Pigot. You might remember, the Juncos Racing Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires driver interviewed with AR1 in December to discuss his impressive 2014 racing season and move to Indy Lights in 2015. Over the past few weeks, the Orlando native has been busy testing #12 Mockett/Vitamin-D Pro Dallara IL-15 in preparation for his debut season at the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy.
Today, Pigot joins AR1 columnist Brian Carroccio as a guest analyst for a Q & A outlining the 2014-2015 Formula E season.
Enjoy!
| Question | Brian Carroccio | Spencer Pigot |
| Best race so far? | Beijing had as memorable an ending as I can remember. But all three other races were more entertaining start-to-finish. If I have to choose one, I'll say Buenos Aires. | I would have to agree with Brian. Buenos Aires was very exciting. Lots of action throughout the field all the way to the end of the race. |
| So, have you gotten used to the whole switching cars thing, or does it still seem strange to you? | I find it strange. Maybe, I'm old-fashioned but to me a fundamental part of an automobile race has always been the automobile (singular) making it to the finish. This is one that's going to take some time to get used to. | It's pretty exciting to watch them jump out of one car into another as quickly as possible. Something I never thought I'd see in an open-wheel race series. |
| What have been your impressions of the FE presentation? | It's been excellent. I'd love to see a race in HD one of these days to say for sure, but the presentation of Formula E has been very professional so far in my opinion. | Very impressive. The teams are all top class and the organizers have done a great job putting on the events. |
| Driver you've been most impressed with? | Lucas Di Grassi. Sam Bird had the best singular drive in Putrajaya, and Buemi has been really good the last two races. But other than the mistake at Buenos Aires, di Grassi has been the most consistent front-runner. | Jean-Eric Vergne. He hadn't driven the car until the race weekend in Uruguay and he put it on pole. He could have easily been on the podium in the two events he raced. |
| What's something you would like to see changed about Formula E? | The races are too short. I get the limited power thing and that they're going for a newer audience and such. But 50 minute races are for lower categories IMO. Also, if I purchased a ticket to a race, I'd want it to be longer than 50 minutes. | I'd like to see the cars going faster and for longer races. I'm sure as they develop the technology we will see these things happen. |
| A driver who has pleasantly surprised you? | Nicolas Prost won the first 2 pole positions, dominated Beijing before the deal with Heidfeld, and has been fast at every round. I do think he makes his car a little wider at times than should be permitted, but I didn't expect he'd be this strong. | Nelson Piquet. He's been out of open-wheel cars for quite a few years now and has been able to run up front against guys that are in open-wheel or prototypes regularly. |
| Driver you'd most like to see get a win in the remaining races? | I always thought Nick Heidfeld was under-appreciated in F1. He had the thing at Beijing and then gets called for penalty when leading with two laps remaining in Buenos Aires? If anyone deserves a break, it's Heidfeld. | Jean-Eric Vergne. Like I said before, he's been great in his first two races. I think he will win a few for Andretti before it's all over. |
| FanBoost: Yea or Nay? | More nay than yea. Yes, the fan engagement element is a positive. And FE is showing racing series how to utilize social media. I've even voted in all 4 races for a certain driver that subscribes to AR1. Still, I don't think a popularity contest should factor into the outcome of a world-class competition. | I don't really like this one. There are some drivers that have way more fans than others. Due to their last name like Senna and Prost, past achievements, etc. I don't think they should be rewarded for that. |
| Other than Spencer Pigot, name a driver you'd really like to see in Formula E? | Any of the top stars in F1 or IndyCar would be cool. But since there's an obvious connection, I'd love for Michael Andretti to run Ryan Hunter-Reay. RHR's aggressive style suits Formula E perfectly. | It would be fun! I'd like to see more IndyCar drivers in the championship. Power, Dixon, RHR, any of the top guys over here. |
| Who wins the championship? | Di Grassi. I think his stiffest competition will come from Buemi. Bird, Prost and Heidfeld will likely factor as well. But di Grassi has been the best driver so far. And I don't expect that to change. | I'm going to go with Sebastian Buemi. He's been coming on strong the past few rounds. If he didn't have two DNF's he'd be right there with Di Grassi. |
Brian Carroccio is a columnist for AutoRacing1. He can be contacted at BrianC@AutoRacing1.com.
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