Both the Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team drivers finished inside the top five in race two of the New York City E-Prix on Sunday, but both felt an even better result was possible around the Brooklyn Street Circuit.
Pascal Wehrlein started and finished fourth while André Lotterer ended up fifth after starting sixth. But the German pairing both felt this was below what they were hoping for.
DS Techeetah’s António Félix da Costa managed to jump both drivers when using his attack modes, and when Mitch Evans clipped the wall whilst running second and fell down the order, it was the Portuguese racer who was in prime position to take the final spot on the podium.
And Wehrlein says they will look into what went wrong in New York and come back stronger in the London E-Prix in two weeks time.
“We earned important points for the team,” said Wehrlein. “Still, we always want the maximum and more would definitely have been possible today.
“We had the potential for this. But right now we’re pleased with the strong team result. We’ll analyse where we can make improvements and come back even stronger in London.
“We’re definitely heading in the right direction.”
“A podium would obviously have been nicer” – André Lotterer
Lotterer says it was disappointing to lose the position to Félix da Costa and then not be able to fight back against the reigning champion as he felt the car had better potential than fifth.
The German admits a podium finish would have been a nice result, but like Wehrlein, he says it is now important to work out what they could have done differently in order to improve for London.
“We can be very satisfied with this team effort,” said Lotterer. “But there’s still a bitter feeling that we had the potential to finish on the podium today.
“Our cars were set up well and very fast, but we had to allow an opponent to pass in attack mode and we weren’t able to counterattack. It’s a shame because a podium would obviously have been nicer.
“Now we have to try to do even better in London.”
André Lotterer finished fifth but felt a podium could have been achieved in New York – Credit: FIA Formula E