Venturi Grand Prix

For the team that competed as Venturi in the 1992 Formula One season, see Larrousse.
The Venturi team logo.

The Venturi Formula E team[1] is a Monegasque motor racing team founded by Venturi Automobiles owner Gildo Pallanca Pastor and American actor Leonardo DiCaprio to compete in the FIA championship for electric cars, Formula E.[2] The team competes with the single-make chassis built by Italian manufacturer Dallara for the inaugural season before exploring its own designs once the regulations are opened up to allow for multiple manufacturers.

2014-15 season

For the inaugural season of Formula E, it was announced that the team had signed Nick Heidfeld and Stéphane Sarrazin to drive for them. Heidfeld was running second in the Beijing ePrix on the final lap, but while attempting to pass Nicolas Prost for the lead on the final corner, the two collided, sending both out of the race ,Heidfeld alarmingly flying through the air and landing on the roll hoop, which handed the win to Lucas di Grassi. Heidfeld took the team's only podium finish of the season in the Moscow ePrix, with third behind eventual champion Nelson Piquet, Jr and di Grassi. Sarrazin won the final race of the season, but was penalised for exceeding the maximum energy usage, dropping him to 15th. Heidfeld ended the season in 12th position in the standings, with 31 points and Sarrazin was 14th, on 22 points, leaving the team 9th in the standings. Heidfeld left the team at the end of the season to join Mahindra.

2015-16 season

Due to Heidfeld's departure, the team signed 1997 Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve as a teammate to Sarrazin. However, the Canadian left the team after the Punta del Este ePrix after 'disagreeing on the direction of the team'. He was replaced by Mike Conway. Sarrazin outperformed both drivers, scoring points at every race and finishing second behind di Grassi in Long Beach, which was also the scene of Conway's first points finish of the season in 10th place. The team finished in 6th position in the standings, with 77 points. Sarrazin claimed 70 of these to also rank 6th, with Conway claiming the remaining seven to rank 16th. Villeneuve claimed no points and ranked 20th.

2016-17 season

Sarrazin was retained for a third season and FIA GT World Cup driver Maro Engel was signed to the team.

Results

Year Chassis Tyres No. Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Points T.C.
2014–15 Spark-Renault SRT 01E M BEI PUT PDE BNA MIA LBH MON BER MSC LON 53 9th
23 Germany Nick Heidfeld 13† DSQ 10 8 12 11 10 5 3 13 Ret
30 France Stéphane Sarrazin         9 12 Ret 10 Ret 10 7 6 14 10 15
2015–16 Spark-Venturi VM200-FE-01 M BEI PUT PDE BNA MEX LBH PAR BER LON 77 6th
4 France Stéphane Sarrazin         9 4 9 4 9 2 5 10 10 5
12 Canada Jacques Villeneuve 14 11 DNS
United Kingdom Mike Conway 15 12 10 14 8 9 13
2016–17 Spark-Venturi VM200-FE-02 M HKG MAR BNA MEX MON PAR BER BRU MTR NYC
4 France Stéphane Sarrazin        
16 Germany Maro Engel

† Driver did not complete the race, but was classified as they finished 90% of the winner's race distance.

References

  1. ↑ "Venturi Formula E Team". Formula E. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "Leonardo DiCaprio forms racing team to help speed up electric car sales". BBC News. BBC. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
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