Envision Racing

Last updated

Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Envision Racing
Envision Racing logo 800x319.png
Founded2013
Team principal(s)Sylvain Filippi
Current series Formula E
Current drivers Flag of the Netherlands.svg Robin Frijns
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Sébastien Buemi
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alice Powell [N 1]
Noted drivers Flag of New Zealand.svg Nick Cassidy
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sam Bird
Flag of Spain.svg Jaime Alguersuari
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Fabio Leimer
Flag of France.svg Jean-Éric Vergne
Flag of Argentina.svg José María López
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex Lynn
Teams'
Championships		 2022–23
Website https://envision-racing.com/

The Envision Racing Formula E Team [1] is a British motor racing team, based at Silverstone Park and majority-owned by Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Envision Energy [2] that competes in Formula E. [3]

Contents

Currently, the three drivers are Robin Frijns, Sébastien Buemi and Alice Powell.

History

Virgin was one of the first teams to enter Formula E; its entry was officially confirmed in December 2013. [4] Virgin partnered with Peugeot but rebadged as DS Automobiles from the 2015–16 season [5] to the 2017–18 season, competing as DS Virgin Racing during that time. With DS moving its support to rival team Techeetah from the 2018–19 season onwards, Virgin chose to establish a long-term customer car deal with Audi Sport. [6]

2014–15 season

The team signed drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sam Bird for its inaugural season. [7] Bird scored three podiums (two of which were wins), which was enough for a fifth place in the Drivers' Championship. For the final round in London, which was a double-header event, the team replaced Alguersuari with Fabio Leimer. [8] Virgin would finish fifth in Teams' Championship with 133 points.

2015–16 season

For its second season, Virgin confirmed Sam Bird and Jean-Éric Vergne, who moved to the team from Andretti Autosport. [9] It was the first season in partnership with Peugeot but rebadged as DS Performance. The season was fairly successful, as the team recorded four pole positions (three with Bird, one with Vergne). The team finished third in Teams' Championship with 144 points.

2016–17 season

For the 2016–17 season, Virgin signed José María López to partner Bird who stayed in the team. [10] López was forced to miss the New York City ePrix due to his commitments in the FIA WEC series. For this event, he was temporarily replaced by Alex Lynn. [11] Lynn retired from both races, but scored a pole position on his debut. Bird, on the other hand, won both of these races. Lynn was later signed to the team for the next season as a full-time driver. [12] López returned to finish the season at the Montreal ePrix and finished his last race with the team on a podium as he finished third.

Virgin improved their points score to 190 points, but it was only enough for a fourth place in Teams' Championship.

2017–18 season

Sam Bird driving the DS Virgin DSV-03 at the 2018 New York City ePrix. DS-PERFORMANCE-FORMULAE-2018-NEW-YORK-EPRIX-224-min.jpg
Sam Bird driving the DS Virgin DSV-03 at the 2018 New York City ePrix.

Virgin fielded Bird and the returning Alex Lynn for its fourth season. Bird was in contention for the Drivers' Championship as the main rival for Jean-Éric Vergne (who competed for Techeetah at the time), however, he got overtaken by Lucas di Grassi in the final weekend of the season in New York City, thus finished third. Lynn was unable to keep up with Bird for the entire campaign and was not kept for the next season.

Virgin would finish third in Teams' Championship with 160 points. This season would mark the end of the partnership with DS.

2018–19 season

For the 2018–19 season, as Peugeot-DS ended their partnership with the team, Virgin opted to become a customer team by switching to Audi powertrains. This move allowed the team to sign Robin Frijns, an Audi factory driver, as Bird's teammate. [13] The team also signed a sponsorship deal with Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Envision Energy, leading to the team rebrand to Envision Virgin Racing.

The Audi e-tron FE05 powertrain proved to be very competitive, giving Virgin a chance at multiple strong results. The team would finish third in Teams' Championship with 191 points, just a point ahead of Nissan e.dams. Both Bird and Frijns would find themselves at the top of the Drivers' Championship at various points during the season, but only finished ninth and fourth respectively.

2019–20 season

Bird and Frijns were retained for the 2019–20 season along with the Audi customer deal. [14] Bird won the 2019 Diriyah ePrix and got a podium in Race 1 of the 2020 Berlin ePrix. Frijns had a poor start until the season stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He then scored two podiums at Race 3 and 5 of the Berlin ePrix. Bird and Frijns finished 10th and 12th respectively that season and Envision Virgin finished 4th in the Teams’ Championship.

2020–21 season

Robin Frijns with the customer Audi e-tron FE07 at the 2021 Puebla ePrix. EFLT PueblaEPrix2021-5.jpg
Robin Frijns with the customer Audi e-tron FE07 at the 2021 Puebla ePrix.

After six seasons with the outfit, Bird left Virgin to join Jaguar Racing. [15] In July 2020, the team announced reigning Super Formula champion Nick Cassidy would partner Frijns for the 2020–21 season. [16]

2021–22 season

Following the 2020–21 season Virgin left the team as a partner and the team re-branded as Envision Racing, and introduced a new green livery for its entry. Cassidy and Frijns were retained as drivers, while Alice Powell became the Simulator and Development Driver for the team.

2022–23 season

The team switched from Audi to Jaguar powertrains for the Gen3 era. Following the departure of Frijns, Formula E champion Sébastien Buemi joined the team to partner Cassidy. The team had a strong performance throughout the season, with Cassidy winning 4 ePrixs and was in contention for the driver's world championship. After a race victory in the season finale of London Race 2, the team has secured the Team's Championship, the first championship in the history of the team under different brands.

2023–24 season

Frijns reunited with the team as Cassidy joined the Jaguar factory team.

2024–25 season

Both Frijns and Buemi were retained in season 11.

Results

YearChassisPowertrainTyresNo.Drivers12345678910111213141516PointsT.C.
Virgin Racing
2014–15 Spark SRT01-e SRT01-e 1 M BEI PUT PDE BUE MIA LBH MCO BER MSC LDN 1335th
2 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sam Bird 31Ret78Ret48Ret61
3 Flag of Spain.svg Jaime Alguersuari 11954118Ret1213
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Fabio Leimer 14Ret
DS Virgin Racing
2015–16 Spark SRT01-e Virgin Racing Engineering 2 DSV-01 M BEI PUT PDE BUE MEX LBH PAR BER LDN 1443rd
2 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sam Bird 72Ret1666117Ret
25 Flag of France.svg Jean-Éric Vergne 12Ret7111613†2538
2016–17 Spark SRT01-e DS Virgin DSV-02 M HKG MRK BUE MEX MCO PAR BER NYC MTL 1904th
2 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sam Bird 132Ret3Ret16771154
37 Flag of Argentina.svg José María López Ret10106Ret245Ret3
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex Lynn RetRet
2017–18 Spark SRT01-e DS Virgin DSV-03 M HKG MRK SCL MEX PDE RME PAR BER ZUR NYC 1603rd
2 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sam Bird 1535Ret31372910
36 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Alex Lynn 8910Ret106Ret141616Ret14
Envision Virgin Racing
2018–19 Spark SRT05e Audi e-tron FE05 M ADR MRK SCL MEX HKG SYX RME PAR MCO BER BRN NYC 1913rd
2 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sam Bird 113196Ret111116†9484
4 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Robin Frijns 1225113114117†13RetRet1
2019–20 Spark SRT05e Audi e-tron FE06 M DIR SCL MEX MRK BER BER BER 1214th
2 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sam Bird 1GRet10Ret10361311205
4 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Robin Frijns 5Ret15DSQ12Ret42DNS2Ret
2020–21 Spark SRT05e Audi e-tron FE07 M DIR RME VLC MCO PUE NYC LDN BER BER 1655th
4 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Robin Frijns 172G4186192G1611581341512
37 Flag of New Zealand.svg Nick Cassidy 191415Ret4138Ret2421171417
Envision Racing
2021–22 Spark SRT05e Audi e-tron FE07 M DRH MEX RME MCO BER JAK MRK NYC LDN SEO 1945th
4 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Robin Frijns 162723412517183616784
37 Flag of New Zealand.svg Nick Cassidy 716139Ret7Ret2116131153Ret108
2022–23 Formula E Gen3 Jaguar I-Type 6 H MEX DRH HYD CAP SAP BER MCO JAK POR RME LDN 3041st
16 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Sébastien Buemi 64615510420820105Ret536
37 Flag of New Zealand.svg Nick Cassidy 96132325117181214Ret1
2023–24 Formula E Gen3 Jaguar I-Type 6 H MEX DIR SAP TOK MIS MCO BER SHA POR LDN 1216th
4 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Robin Frijns Ret10218917Ret1712922Ret7
Flag of Sweden.svg Joel Eriksson Ret9
16 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Sébastien Buemi 212WD101312Ret1581220934
Flag of Estonia.svg Paul Aron 1314
2024–25 Formula E Gen3 Evo Jaguar I-Type 7 H SAP MEX JED MIA MCO TOK SHA JAK BER LDN 6*9th*
4 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Robin Frijns DNS11
16 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Sébastien Buemi 717
Notes

Notes

  1. ↑ Simulator and development driver.

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References

  1. ↑ "Envision Racing goes green as new-look livery is launched at COP26". FIA Formula E. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Kalinauckas, Alex. "Virgin sells majority stake in Formula E team to Chinese company". Autosport.com. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  3. ↑ "Virgin Racing". FIA Formula E Championship. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "Virgin enters Formula E electric car racing series". BBC News . 5 December 2013. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  5. ↑ "Citroen poised to enter Formula E". Racer . Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. 7 May 2015. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Kalinauckas, Alex. "Virgin's 'multi-year' Audi Formula E supply deal announced". Autosport.com. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Jaime Alguersuari and Sam Bird join Virgin Racing". Formula E Operations. Formula E. 13 May 2014. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  8. ↑ "Fabio Leimer in Alguersuari out at Virgin Racing". Formula E Zone. 23 June 2015. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  9. ↑ Biesbrouck, Tim (8 August 2015). "DS Virgin Racing confirms Sam Bird and Jean-Eric Vergne". Electric Autosport. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  10. ↑ Clarkson, Natalie (11 July 2016). "DS Virgin Racing name new driver". Virgin . Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  11. ↑ "Alex Lynn gets DS Virgin call-up for New York". FIA Formula E . 28 June 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  12. ↑ "Lynn joins Bird for full-time drive at DS Virgin". FIA Formula E . 5 September 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  13. ↑ Kilshaw, Jake (5 October 2018). "Frijns Confirmed Alongside Bird at Envision Virgin". e-racing365.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  14. ↑ Smith, Sam (11 June 2019). "Bird, Frijns to Remain at Envision Virgin for 2019-20". e-racing365.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  15. ↑ "Sam Bird to join Panasonic Jaguar Racing for season seven following mutual decision to part ways with Envision Virgin Racing". 14 July 2020. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  16. ↑ "Envision Virgin Racing signs Nick Cassidy for season seven". 15 July 2020. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  17. ↑ Kane, Mark (8 September 2015). "DS Performance To Support Virgin Racing In Formula E". InsideEVs. Archived from the original on 3 December 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  18. ↑ "BEIJING E-PRIX - Official Starting List" (PDF). FIA Formula E. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 December 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
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