Allan McNish: “It’s a luxury to have two fast and aggressive drivers in the team”

How do you moderate the situation that Daniel is chasing the much more experienced Lucas?
For me the way to look at it is very simple: We need to have two fast, aggressive, hard-charging drivers and we need to have cars that deliver them race wins. If we do have that, we have the chance of taking some titles. If we don’t, we don’t. And then sometimes we might have the occasion that the two guys are at the front at the same time and unfortunately in motorsport only one can win. I much prefer to have a situation like this than not to be competitive at all. From my perspective, it’s a luxury to have two drivers and a team that are so passionate to win. Daniel stepped up very well and probably a little more than Lucas expected. Now they are pushing each other and that is exactly what we want and need. 

How do you rate Formula E – considering it is still kind of a start-up?
I was not an instant believer that the championship would flourish to the same level it has. Mainly because I have seen a lot of championships come and go in their first couple of years. Formula E has been able to get that momentum much more than I, plus 95 percent of the motorsport community expected. Now, Formula E has to ensure that it stays clear with its DNA – and that is city street racing, taking the racing to the fans, close and hard competition, focus and the efficiency of electric drivetrains. At the same time, the series needs to evolve with the technology that is available and make sure that it stays the exciting Formula E that we have today. I don’t think Formula E should compete with Formula 1. It should make its own road and follow it.

What do you expect from the future now with more big players like BMW, Mercedes and Porsche joining?
It’s not that the competition is low at the moment, but I think it will get much more intense. Right now, you have quite a consistent grid in Formula E and you can roughly work out which circuit is going to be strong for which team. When the other manufacturers step in we might have a bigger fluctuation through the course of the season with guys at the front in one race and at the back in the next one. I can only see it strengthening the competitive element of the series. It will be harder to get a consistent season together for everyone which is great news for the fans and a tough story for the teams. But that makes victories even sweeter.

Season 5 starts in the middle of December. What is your schedule in terms of preparations?
Our new Audi e-tron FE05 has been running since the first group test with the other manufacturers in March. Since then, we have done a couple of private tests with Lucas and Daniel. From our perspective, we know where we are relative to ourselves and relative to what our goals were – which is following in line. However, the good and the bad thing is that we don’t know where anybody else is. So, it will be exciting to see all the teams at the only official Formula E test in Valencia in the middle of October. I believe that the new car is a big step forward – visually as everyone can see, but also in terms of battery, performance or regeneration. Daniel and Lucas enjoy driving it a little bit more than the generation one car.

The all-new Audi e-tron is just about to get on the road. How do you like it?
At Audi, motorsport has always been a leader prior to the technology coming to the road. That was the same with all our racing programs in the past. e-tron technology has been succesful on track at Le Mans with us since 2012, is now in Formula E and will be on the road for the customers later this year. This again shows the way we at Audi are developing road cars through pushing the boundaries in racing. Personally, I have already put my name down for an Audi e-tron and I hope I will get it as soon as possible.