"You can't win the championship with just one driver" - Nissan increases pressure on Norman Nato

A Formula E season could hardly be more different within the same team and garage: While Oliver Rowland took two victories and a second place in four races and is therefore on course for the title as championship leader, nothing came together at all for Norman Nato, who still has no points. After a quarter of the season, Nissan team principal Tommaso Volpe has clear words for him.

Nato, who surprisingly took the cockpit alongside Rowland shortly before the eleventh season, has so far failed to impress in either qualifying or the race. At the season opener in Sao Paulo, he at least made it into the duel phase of qualifying once (while Rowland started in the top four every time). But in the four races so far, he has not even come close to the points. His positions: 13, 13, 17 and 15.

"He comes back from four races with zero points, and you can't win the championship with just one driver," says Tommaso Volpe to Formula E Notebook. "I am sure that other manufacturers and teams will come back stronger (after the long break until the Miami E-Prix). If we don't address the weaknesses we still have, our lead won't last long."

Volpe is alluding to the various Formula E championship rankings: Nissan currently leads both the teams' and manufacturers' championships - de facto with the haul of a single driver. However, the lead among the teams is wafer-thin: Nissan is just one point ahead of its own customer team McLaren, four points ahead of Porsche and five ahead of DS Penske.

Volpe: "Norman needs to be a bit more careful"

"If you look at the numbers, unfortunately we didn't score any points with Norman, which is due to a very unfortunate combination of small mistakes from him and some mistakes from us as a team," explains Volpe. So he is not letting his team off the hook, but is also clearly looking towards Nato.

"We now have an eight weeks gap. We really have to push and improve as a team, because we've made some mistakes. Norman needs to be a bit more careful", said Volpe. But the overall Nissan package is not yet fully maximised either, he says. "We have to improve in all areas, keep improving."

Nato himself is equally unhappy with the current situation: "It is frustrating. We have a competitive car, as Oli has proven, and I feel comfortable on the track. But a bit of bad luck and a few mistakes have made it difficult", said the Frenchman. "We will continue to work and are determined to learn from this weekend (...) to fight for the top positions."