Jaguar remains vigilant in Formula E championship battle: "Can't rely on last year's performance"

The second half of the 2023 Formula E season has begun, and the race for the world championship is taking shape. At the top, Envision, Porsche and Jaguar are battling for the title after nine of 16 races. Ahead of the double-header in Jakarta, some favorites are overmodest, while others are showing up more feisty.

At the Formula E premiere in Indonesia just over a year ago, things were extremely close and tense. Mitch Evans defended himself to the finish line against the furious Jean-Eric Vergne and celebrated his third victory of the season at that time. This season, too, Jaguar is one of the favorites.

Nevertheless, team principal James Barclay cautions, "It's always good to return to the scene of success but we are realistic that with a new race car, the Jaguar I-Type 6, and the new Hankook tyres it is a reset, and we cannot rely on what we did last year. Success will require a perfectly executed race."

Tyre and power management will be very important, he said, in part because of the extreme outside conditions. "It's a difficult race to manage," Barclay predicts. "While we've had some fantastic races recently - both for Jaguar TCS Racing and our customer team - we are not complacent and our focus is firmly set on having two strong races in Jakarta."

Nick Cassidy: "See no reason why we shouldn't be confident"

His top driver Mitch Evans arrives confident as the only Jakarta winner to date. "We've been able to make up ground recently in both the team and driver championships. This has given the team a healthy momentum for the next double-header. Jakarta is a physically demanding race, but I performed well there last season. We will try to get some strong points and podium finishes this weekend."

Also in good spirits is brand colleague Nick Cassidy, who won the last two races in Berlin and Monaco to take the Formula E world championship lead. The Envision driver knows: "The season is going really well. It's still totally weird that we won the last two races. We have some very talented people here in the team who are working super together. I see no reason why we shouldn't be confident."

Despite this, Cassidy admits, "There's still a long way to go. The key thing is that there are still seven races. That's quite a lot in Formula E - more than 150 points (ed. note: 203 points) are still at stake. It's too early to talk about the championship, but we're in a good position, of course."

Wehrlein & Porsche eager to attack: "Can also turn it around very quickly"

Porsche, on the other hand, finds itself in the role of the hunter for the first time this season. Both the team and Pascal Wehrlein recently lost their championship leads in Monaco. However, the German says this "doesn't bother him that much, there are still too many races ahead of us for that," says Wehrlein. "Monaco was just a snapshot in the middle of a long season."

"In Formula E, every race is fiercely contested, and as banal as it sounds, the decisive factor is the points score after the last race," explains the 28-year-old. "With the potential that lies in the team and the car, we can also turn it around very quickly. In Jakarta, we have two chances to do so. Now we're attacking again."

Porsche team boss Florian Modlinger is also eager to attack and wants to get back to the top of Formula E: "We expect to take another step in Jakarta and bring home significantly more points again." We will find out whether this is successful in Saturday's race, which starts at 10 a.m. (CEST).