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A member of the Formula E drivers club, a collection of drivers who registered an interest in racing in the championship ahead of the first season, Nathanael Berthon had been following the fully-electric series closely from the start.
He was announced as the final name to complete the driver line-up for season two ahead of the first race of the season, the Beijing ePrix.
“I think we were missing a bit of pace and the cars were not fully ready at this stage but we scored points and in my first race, it was good! It was my first time in China and racing around the Olympic stadium was a good experience.”
“There are no comparisons to any other car I have driven but let’s say you really have to use your brain. That’s the main thing because a lot of it is about strategy and energy saving and you have a lot of things you can do with the car, a lot of development,” he added.
After an impressive point’s finish on his debut, crossing the line eighth, the GP2 driver’s season was off to a flying start. Unfortunately, in a sport where your performance is measured against that of your teammate, Berthon was on the end of a losing battle. Antonio Felix da Costa, who had joined Team Aguri at the start of Formula E’s inaugural season, was regularly scoring points and had better reliability in the car.
“If we talk about performance, I always had problems with my car with brakes or something, but always the issue was in my car. It was difficult in only three races to make a difference. The only time I didn’t have a problem was at Donington where I think I set the fastest time ever for Team Aguri, by over a second, even with a lot of good drivers there. Personally I was really happy to have him as a teammate but there was a bit of frustration when you see your teammate performing so well and you can’t because you have a problem.”
Punta del Este was to be Berthon’s final outing with the team as they made to the decision to replace the Frenchman with Salvador Duran.
“You have to ask the team why as I was really happy and proud to be a part of the team and I think we were working well. We had a good focus on the coming races and it was really last minute. They called me and told me they were going to put Salvador Duran in the car. I have no idea the reason if it was regarding the Mexico City ePrix or anything else but it is not my business. Definitely everything was fine with the team at this stage so it was a surprise and it was a disappointment as I was really involved in the team and I really believed in the project which at the end they have now sold the team.”
“I am now working with new management and I am talking to them about pushing with Formula E as it’s a series I believe in and I want to be a part of it. We are trying to find a championship with a good team and a good car so hopefully we find this in Formula E. This is really something I want to do, I want to race in Formula E next year.”
Season two stats:
Nathanael Berthon
Starts: 3
Championship position: 17th
Points: 4
Wins: 0 (best result: 8th)
Poles: 0 (best qualifying: 14th)
Fastest laps: 0
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