Post-race press conference: what the drivers said after Round 5 in Rome

After Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans came, saw and conquered both races in Rome - Rounds 4 & 5 - over the weekend, hear from the Kiwi as well as fellow podium sitters Jean-Eric Vergne (DS TECHEETAH) and Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns. Here’s what the drivers had to say after the second race in Rome.

Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing: 1^st

"A double win here is pretty special. We weren’t necessarily going to do a different ATTACK MODE strategy – it was just about finding the right time and gap that made sense.

"With it being eight minutes, you have to be careful you don't leave yourself exposed. Once I saw going to Robin and Andre (Lotterer) come up pretty quick on ATTACK, I thought we needed to start looking into it because you know, we're gonna start losing ground.

"Sam did a good job for me, you know holding up Jean-Eric, otherwise I could have seen myself in a bit of trouble. I didn't expect to leave [ATTACK MODE] that late. But I had trust in the team - they're the ones with the full picture and, fortunately, it just paid off.

"This is where we wanted to kick start the campaign, after the wake-up call in Mexico. Obviously, there's been a lot of hard work that's gone in but we never expected a double win. I just wanted to get a solid amount of points, gain some solid momentum and get the car feeling good but this is like that but on steroids!

RESULTS: See the full Rome race weekend classification

"Just a huge thanks to the team - obviously this is a huge confidence booster, but we have to keep going to keep grounded because it's so easy to get carried away and think we're going to destroy whatever race it doesn't work very well like that. I wish it did.

"So, we’ve got Monaco coming up and we were strong there last year, but there's no guarantees this year as we've seen in Mexico and other circuits, so it definitely adds an element of relief into the team and that's always really, really powerful.

"Honestly, this performance was down to pure graft and hard work the teams, you know. We realised after Mexico we were struggling so Sam and I let them know what we needed and asked if they could find the answers. Since then, they've just got their heads down and really worked a lot. It’s the hardest I've seen them work in a long, long time. This is the reward; it's nice when it pays off."

Jean-Eric Vergne, DS TECHEETAH: 2^nd

"Let's put it this way. I don't want to have another race like this. It was it was a complete mess.

"You know, in one corner, one engineer was telling me a race strategy and in the other corner, someone was telling me there was one lap more to go, then one lap less – I was completely confused. I don’t want another race like this – it was confusing.

"Those are important points but when you start from pole, you want to win obviously. The Jaguars and Mitch were clearly untouchable this weekend, so congratulations to them. It's nice to get a double win. It shows you know how strong they were and beating him today was simply not possible. I had to fight hard to come back to second and I finished there.

"I think we're happy with that but it's not good enough. We need to find more pace in the car if you want to win races. We're going to be pushing hard for Monaco, to be the fastest car for once."

Robin Frijns, Envision Racing: 3^rd

"I think the race was was pretty smooth at the beginning. I was P6 after Turn 7 and then I was saving quite a lot of energy just to prepare for the end and then after 10 laps or so, the team told me that I was good on energy, so I was trying to move myself forward to the to the top three because I felt quite strong in the car to be honest.

"So, I overtook Jake (Dennis) in Turn 15 and then I noticed that the track was breaking up, so we both went wide and he lost a lot of positions. I feel sorry for him - that was definitely not planned.

"I was one of the earliest in ATTACK MODE compared to the group I was with, so I was trying to use the pace I had in the ATTACK MODE to break away a bit, but then I went off in Turn 15 again in front of Mitch (Evans) and hit the wall as a bonus.

"By dropping back on the grid, I could recover the energy I was using to break away and I think the last Safety Car didn't really help me because the team was telling me that I had 1% more than Jean-Eric (Vergne). So, I was waiting for the last two laps, but then the Safety Car came out. At the end of the day, it's a podium again. If we'd have come to Rome and someone said two podiums for the two races, I would definitely sign for it, so I'm quite happy.

"I'm definitely happy. Consistancy is always key in Formula E and now with the new qualifying format, I think the racing has improved a lot with the quick drivers and the good teams in front of all the time and everybody is thinking in the back of their head to about the championship. No one is making a crazy move anymore. So, it's good for Formula E and it's good for the sport. So, we'll see what happens Monaco."