After Formula E exit: Hankook wanted to continue & does not rule out Gen5 return

After four seasons, Hankook's time as the official tyre supplier to Formula E came to an end at the London E-Prix. In an interview with e-Formula.news, motorsport director Manfred Sandbichler reveals that Hankook would have liked to continue, discusses the lost Gen4 tender and does not rule out a future return. He also points to a remarkable record: there had not been a single tyre failure in four years.

"4 years without a single tyre failure"

After four years in Formula E, how would you sum up Hankook's time in the championship?

The conclusion is very simple: four years without a single tyre failure, four years without a tyre problem. As far as the tyres are concerned, we are completely satisfied. We also had no issues with the teams. Our engineering team worked very well with them throughout the entire period.

Our marketing department is also very happy with the output and the return on investment we have achieved through Formula E.

And I would personally add one more thing: four years with friends. We have made new friends and deepened existing friendships, which obviously makes saying goodbye a little harder. You have to be honest about that. But overall, our conclusion is more than positive. Formula E and Hankook remained a really strong team right until the end, and we are proud to have been part of this family.

If the assessment is so positive, why is the partnership ending nevertheless?

You know how motorsport works. There are tenders. There are days when you win, and there are days when somebody else wins. This time, we did not win the tender.

We would have very much liked to continue, absolutely. That was our intention. But you also have to be a gracious loser and say: Okay, now it is somebody else's turn. They deserve the chance to prove themselves.

Formula E return? "We are open to everything again"

Bridgestone is taking over for the Gen4 era. If Formula E puts the tyre contract out to tender again, would Hankook be interested?

We look very closely at every tender, that is clear. If you look at the parameters that came with the Gen4 tender, it is a huge step compared with Gen3.

Formula E will obviously continue to develop as well. We will look at it very carefully and then decide relatively quickly whether a return is an option for us. But in general, as I said, we are open to everything again.

Formula E is often described as a development laboratory for car manufacturers. What has the championship brought Hankook from a technical perspective?

Formula E gives us just as much as any other racing series. As you just said, we are essentially a rolling development centre. What our engineers develop around the world is tested under extreme conditions in motorsport. With everything we do, we go to the limit or even beyond it.

Of course, that does not mean we race today and say tomorrow: We are going to transfer this development directly to a road-going product. But individual findings repeatedly make their way into tyre production. That could involve raw materials or new combinations of different materials.

Formula E has brought us a great deal in terms of electric mobility in particular because the demands keep increasing. The cars are getting heavier and, above all, more powerful. Today, we are talking about outputs of 1,000 hp that have almost become commonplace. And of course you need a tyre that can cope with those demands.

From that perspective, Formula E was an ideal development environment for us because it allowed us to really push things to the limit.

More tyres sold? Why Formula E's impact is difficult to measure

Can you quantify how many additional tyres or new customers Formula E has brought you?

If I could answer that, I would be the marketing guru of the planet. I cannot tell you. And probably nobody can really quantify it.

Of course, it would be nice if you could say after a successful race weekend: Tomorrow, the masses will flock to tyre dealers and ask for a Hankook iON. But unfortunately, that is not how it works.

What we do know is that if we look at the overall development of the company, the trend is still moving very much in the right direction. So what we are doing cannot be entirely wrong.

Alongside Formula E, Hankook is involved in the World Rally Championship, among other series. What will be your focus in motorsport now?

Naturally, people always talk about the major championships, such as Formula E or the World Rally Championship. But in Europe alone, I am responsible for around 30 other racing series that have taken a bit of a back seat recently.

I will now be able to pay a little more attention to those again. I will also get to see a lot of old friends. We have been working with some racing series for 15 years, so it is about time I showed my face there a little more often again.

But that does not mean we are not continuing to work in the background so that, at the right time, we might become active in this area again.

"You are part of the family": Sandbichler's favourite Formula E memory

What is your favourite memory from four years in Formula E?

Every event has its own good memories. But what has particularly stayed with me was the preview presentation in Valencia before the car ran for the first time. Back then, the car was presented to a very small group.

I was there with my CEO at the time. In the evening, we were sitting in the hotel garden. It was a beautiful late-summer evening. Then the entire Formula E leadership team arrived and sat down two tables away from us.

After five minutes, Alberto came over and said: "Come and join us at our table. You are part of the family." That sentence has stayed with me to this day.

And your worst memory?

There is not really anything terrible. Perhaps those extreme rain showers in Tokyo recently, when we were evacuated. It was our own fault because we were completely unprepared. Afterwards, we were soaked to the skin. That was one of those moments when I said: I could do without this.

The heat battles in Jakarta or Sanya also stick in the memory. As Central Europeans, we are simply not used to temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius.

But we did not really have any problems throughout all those years. So when you ask me that question, I can really only fall back on those kinds of personal memories.

Over those four years, we had an extremely friendly and, at the same time, highly professional relationship with every team, every engineer and every driver.