Taking over the title-winning Mercedes entry and its past pedigree in motorsport meant there was plenty of expectation for McLaren's entry into Formula E. But while its Nissan-powered premiere was lacking in results, there's confidence in the organisation that it can contend closer to the front with a second crack of the whip
– and only one rostrum across the 16 races is hardly something to write home about for a racing entity with such a successful motorsport heritage.
Realistically the previous success was always going to be a difficult act to repeat, although initially it looked like things had clicked into place from the very outset of the new era. Formula E rookie, a reserve driver for Mercedes previously, was given the call-up and duly delivered on the faith put in him straight away as he challenged towards the front on his debut in Mexico City before dropping to fifth by the flag.
Rast scored McLaren's first podium in Saudi Arabia, but the remainder of the campaign would go without silverware“We knew we were hitting the reset button in terms of a new generation of car with the Gen3 car, a steep learning curve of that. We also transitioned to becoming a customer team – obviously we’re very much reliant on the performance of the package your manufacturer provides you – and we had two new drivers in Jake and Rene.
The performance drop-off was noticeable, and steep. While Hughes scored seven times in the first 10 races, which included a second pole position at Monaco before briefly leading, he only finished in the points once over the final six outings with 10th in the first London E-Prix. “A combination of factors but at the same time I’m not overly concerned, and I say that because there’s been no mistake made twice and as long as we’re learning, as long as we’re continuing to develop then we can make sure we put ourselves in a strong position going forward.”
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