Venturi Grand Prix

The Venturi team logo.

The Venturi Formula E team[1] is a Monegasque motor racing team founded by Venturi Automobiles owner Gildo Pallanca Pastor and American actor Leonardo DiCaprio to compete in the FIA championship for electric cars, Formula E.[2] The team competes with the single-make chassis built by Italian manufacturer Dallara for the inaugural season before exploring its own designs once the regulations are opened up to allow for multiple manufacturers.

2014-15 season

For the inaugural season of Formula E, it was announced that the team had signed Nick Heidfeld and Stéphane Sarrazin to drive for them. Heidfeld was running second in the Beijing ePrix on the final lap, but while attempting to pass Nicolas Prost for the lead on the final corner, the two collided, sending both out of the race, Heidfeld alarmingly flying through the air and landing on the roll hoop, which handed the win to Lucas di Grassi. Heidfeld took the team's only podium finish of the season in the Moscow ePrix, with third behind eventual champion Nelson Piquet, Jr and di Grassi. Sarrazin won the final race of the season, but was penalised for exceeding the maximum energy usage, dropping him to 15th. Heidfeld ended the season in 12th position in the standings, with 31 points and Sarrazin was 14th, on 22 points, leaving the team 9th in the standings. Heidfeld left the team at the end of the season to join Mahindra.

2015-16 season

Due to Heidfeld's departure, the team signed 1997 Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve as a teammate to Sarrazin. However, the Canadian left the team after the Punta del Este ePrix after 'disagreeing on the direction of the team'. He was replaced by Mike Conway. Sarrazin outperformed both drivers, scoring points at every race and finishing second behind di Grassi in Long Beach, which was also the scene of Conway's first points finish of the season in 10th place. The team finished in 6th position in the standings, with 77 points. Sarrazin claimed 70 of these to also rank 6th, with Conway claiming the remaining seven to rank 16th. Villeneuve claimed no points and ranked 20th.

2016-17 season

Sarrazin was retained for a third season and FIA GT World Cup driver Maro Engel was signed to the team, with Tom Dillmann filling in for Engel at the Paris ePrix.[3]

2017-18 season

For the fourth season of Formula E, the team re-signed Engel and hired seven time Macau World Cup winner Edoardo Mortara.[4] Mortara claimed the team's first podium since the 2016 Long Beach ePrix with third place at the season opener in Hong Kong, which later became second following the disqualification of Daniel Abt.[5] Dillmann once again filled in part way through the season due to Mortara's DTM commitments.[6]

2018-19 season

In May 2018, the team signed a three year deal with eleven time Formula One race winner Felipe Massa.[7] and rehired seven time Macau World Cup winner Edoardo Mortara as Team mate to Massa.

Next Gen Programme

In March 2018, Venturi became the first Formula E team to establish a junior programme.[8] As of May 2018, there are eight drivers in the programme:

Driver Years Current Series Titles
France Dorian Boccolacci 2018 GP3 Series French F4 Junior Champion (2014)
France Pierre-Louis Chovet 2018 French F4 Championship n/a
Monaco Arthur Leclerc 2018 French F4 Championship n/a
France Benjamin Cartery 2018 Karting n/a
France Louis Iglesias 2018 Karting n/a
France Gaetan Gorant 2018 E-Sport World Championship E-Sport World Championship
France Kevin Leaune 2018 E-Sport World Championship E-Sport World Championship
France Maxime Paine 2018 E-Sport World Championship E-Sport World Championship

Results

Year Chassis Tyres No. Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Points T.C.
2014–15 Spark-Renault SRT 01E M BEI PUT PDE BUE MIA LBH MON BER MSC LON 53 9th
23 Germany Nick Heidfeld 13† DSQ 10 8 12 11 10 5 3 13 Ret
30 France Stéphane Sarrazin         9 12 Ret 10 Ret 10 7 6 14 10 15
2015–16 Spark-Venturi VM200-FE-01 M BEI PUT PDE BUE MEX LBH PAR BER LON 77 6th
4 France Stéphane Sarrazin         9 4 9 4 9 2 5 10 10 5
12 Canada Jacques Villeneuve 14 11 DNS
United Kingdom Mike Conway 15 12 10 14 8 9 13
2016–17 Spark-Venturi VM200-FE-02 M HKG MAR BUE MEX MON PAR BER NYC MTL 30 9th
4 France Stéphane Sarrazin         10 12 12 15 15 10
France Tom Dillmann 18 15 13 7 10 10
5 8
Germany Maro Engel 9 Ret Ret Ret 5 9 Ret Ret Ret 12 18
2017–18 Spark-Venturi VM200-FE-03 M HKG MAR SAN MEX PDE ROM PAR BER ZÜR NYC 72 7th
4 Switzerland Edoardo Mortara 7 2 17† 13 8 17 10 13 Ret
France Tom Dillmann 13 4 Ret
5 Germany Maro Engel 13 7 12 Ret 16 10 8 4 8 11 8 Ret

* Season still in progress.
† Driver did not complete the race, but was classified as they finished 90% of the winner's race distance.

References

  1. ↑ "Venturi Formula E Team". Formula E. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "Leonardo DiCaprio forms racing team to help speed up electric car sales". BBC News. BBC. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  3. ↑ Smith, Sam (24 April 2017). "Tom Dillmann to make Formula E debut with Venturi in Paris". Autosport. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "Mortara joins Venturi for Formula E season four". October 20, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  5. ↑ "FORMULA E – ROSENQVIST WINS AS MORTARA SPINS". December 3, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Tom Dillmann to replace Mortara in Berlin". April 30, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  7. ↑ Smith, Topher (24 May 2018). "Venturi announces Massa for season five". e-racing.net. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  8. ↑ "Venturi establish the first academy for electric motorsport drivers". March 29, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
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