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Qualifying sixth and setting the Visa Fastest Lap on his Formula E debut was a clear sign of what was to come during a stunning rookie season for Felix Rosenqvist.
He claimed Mahindra's first win, was unlucky not to add a second and proved himself to be one of the hottest properties on the grid...
Out of 10, what mark would you give your season?
Out of ten, I think in the end I would say nine. It was in a way much better than I ever expected when I started and I managed to hit all my targets; which was first taking a podium and then after that taking a win, and then in the end finishing third in the championship which was the mid-season goal. I guess it’s not a ten because, like everyone else, I made a few mistakes, and we could’ve fought for the title and kept it on the road a bit more, so I would say nine for an almost perfect rookie season.
What surprised you most about racing in Formula E?
I think most of all it was quite easy to get up to pace, but it can always go. If you’re relaxing at any point and you get confident that’s when you crash, it can just catch you at any moment. I think compared to other racing, you can go flat out all the time but in Formula E you always have a risk calculation that you need to think about. At the end of the year, a lot of people start to take it easier as they don’t need to think about the championship and you start to risk it less even in qualifying and your speed drops a bit. In the beginning, you speed all the time as you had nothing to lose or anything to prove - it’s that sort of risk management. Even if you have one season behind you, you can still make big mistakes if you don’t take it easy, so that’s the biggest surprise of the championship.
Is Formula E more competitive than you thought it would be?
I think it’s as competitive as you would think looking at the entry list. You’re thinking if you have a bad day, you’ll be at the back of the field and that was more or less the truth, so it’s what I was expecting, a very big challenge.
What do you think was your best performance?
Definitely Berlin was both for me and the team a really, really good weekend where we put everything together and that’s the only way you can win a race; to have everything sorted, the timing and everything goes right, then you can actually be there to win a race, and that’s what Berlin was.
What do you think was your worst performance?
I would say Montreal in race one where I hit the wall being P4 and having a shot at the podium while protecting my third place in the championship was quite a low point for me as it was late in the season and I wasn’t expecting myself to make that kind of mistake. Also in New York I, had a similar mistake, so those two in the late season were really something that I could’ve avoided, where the other mistakes would be considered expected when being a rookie.
Who do you think was your toughest rival on track?
Sebastien in the beginning of the season was at the front and untouchable so I wasn’t really racing him at any point. I think Sam was my rival as we raced quite a lot together and he is a very good racer, like he won’t open a door and he’s very aggressive but he’s always giving you respect and room to race. Every time I see him on the track I expect a tough challenge. Where I think some other drivers might have been quicker but normally would then make a mistake so I would say Sam is a solid racer.
Off track, what was your favourite city we raced in and why?
Hong Kong was my favourite one as it was my first week, I was quite excited and looking back it, it was probably the best location for a race. I have some history driving in Asia and have been to Hong Kong many times with friends living there. I have spent quite a lot of time there so it was cool when I saw the location being right in the middle of downtown and Hong Kong. That was also the most fun track to drive, so Hong Kong was the highlight for me.
What was the team's approach before the first race?
I think we always had an approach that we were the underdog and weren’t taking anything for granted. Hong Kong was mainly about the procedures and things that you needed to remember in your head while driving. I think I was overloaded with technical stuff the whole weekend so I didn’t have time to think about what I was going to deliver on track, I was just trying to get the thing to the finish. We always had a humble approach and were always thinking that we had a very hard task and I think that was the reason why we had a good second half of the season.
This season, what do you think you and the team need to improve on?
I think in the end we can just look at the all the mistakes that we made on the driver and team side. In Mexico, we had a technical failure during the pitstop and in Berlin we had the pitstop and then maybe some questionable strategy, but I think most of these things we got rid of during the season. I would say giving away a race for a stupid mistake or a failure of any kind is so expensive so whatever you can find to be quick it’s better to focus on that than doing anything stupid - that would be my approach for next season to gain and be clever.
Could you be fighting for the title next season?
Even if we weren’t the strongest in terms of efficiency in the races, I had the overall best starting position of everyone so looking at the numbers we definitely should’ve been able to fight for the championship. If we can keep the same level or improve, we’re good enough to give it a good go.