McLaren’s Ian James: “Our competitors have clearly made a step in performance”

Ian James, Team Principal of the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team is confident that the Woking-based team will put in “all the work needed to close this gap”, after the side fell behind their rivals at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix.

The sixth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was a challenging one for the British side, as for the first time this season they really struggled for outright pace. McLaren are typically one of the strongest sides in qualifying, yet Jake Hughes was the only driver to make it into the duels. He started the race from sixth whilst René Rast was down in eleventh, making for a challenging race.

Both drivers did well in the race to claim a points finish, although, Hughes did slip from sixth to eighth, whilst Rast rose from eleventh to ninth. Eighth and ninth certainly isn’t what McLaren would’ve been hoping for ahead of the weekend; however, any points are better than no points. Formula E’s newest team did slip from fourth to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship following their difficult weekend in Brazil, with James recognising that “our competitors have clearly made a step in performance”.

“We’re leaving our inaugural race here in São Paulo with a handful of points – although our goal is to leave every race with more than just a handful. Having said that, I’m incredibly proud of how the team performed; both the drivers and the team behind them dealt with a chaotic race with a calm efficiency which maximised the potential we had in the package.   
 
“Our competitors have clearly made a step in performance, so we will be putting in all the work needed to close this gap. We’ve got around a month until the next race weekend in Berlin, so the focus between now and then is to find the improvements necessary to get us back towards the front. 
 
“I’m confident we will be coming back stronger.”