Formula E Berlin E-Prix II
Nato reflects on maiden FE win after early season 'frustrations'
Venturi’s Norman Nato was in jubilant mood after capping off his rookie Formula E season with a victory in Berlin, having been “frustrated” by missed podium chances in Rome and Valencia.
Rachit Thukral Matt Kew
Published: Aug 16, 2021, 4:06 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
After a technical issue in superpole robbed him of the opportunity to fight for pole in the FE season finale, Nato steadily moved up the order from sixth on the grid, passing the Mercedes of Stoffel Vandoorne for the lead on lap 11 of 32.
Once in front, Nato extended a gap of nearly five seconds over the chasing Nissan of Oliver Rowland, such was his advantage over the rest of the field with Venturi’s customer Mercedes powertrain.
A mid-race safety car following a crash between Lucas di Grassi and Antonio Felix da Costa put his victory in doubt, with Rowland chasing him hard at the restart, but Nato was able to rebuild a buffer for himself to ultimately cross the line over two seconds clear of his Nissan rival.
The victory came as a relief for the Frenchman, who was previously disqualified from third in Rome for exceeding the allocated energy, and then lost another podium in Valencia for nudging Mahindra’s Alex Lynn into the gravel trap.
In fact, Nato was only positioned 21st out of 25 drivers in the championship coming into the final weekend of the season in Berlin, prompting Venturi to consider replacing him with Audi’s Lucas di Grassi.
A formal announcement regarding Venturi’s driver line-up for the 2021/22 season is yet to be made.
Asked if his Berlin win made up for missed podium finishes in Rome and Valencia, Nato told Motorsport.com: “Yeah, exactly. At the end, we did it for me. It was frustrating not to jump on the podium [at those two occasions], but from my point of view we did it and we showed we were able to [fight for podiums on raw pace].
“At earlier stages of the season when I was still like a proper rookie, on the second race weekend I was already fighting for the win and podium.
“[At that time] I knew we were going to get another opportunity [to fight for a podium]. We managed to put everything together and we got this kind of result, so I'm really, really happy.
“We had a good opportunity and the pace was great this morning in free practice when we tried the energy management and everything, so we were confident from this position to be able to fight for the podium and we did much better than - we won the race. So, it was just a perfect race.”
Norman Nato, Venturi Racing, Silver Arrow 02
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Venturi ended its second season as a Mercedes powertrain customer seventh in the championship, with both Nato and Mortara scoring a win each.
The latter ended up second in the drivers’ standings despite retiring from the Berlin E-Prix and suffering a fractured vertebra in a startline crash involving Jaguar’s Mitch Evans.
Nato, who himself jumped to 18th in the final classification, said Venturi can be extremely proud of what it achieved in 2021, as it even outshone its powertrain supplier Mercedes on several occasions.
“This kind of thing is something," he said. "You have to enjoy this kind of moment, especially for us.
“At the beginning of the year, if somebody would have told us Edo would have finished second in the championship, that we would have won two races and five podiums total, [plus] two [podiums] that we lost, we'd certainly be very pleased.
“It's amazing. We were fighting with manufacturers, top drivers and top teams. It's perfect and I want to thank everyone in the team who has been helping me with good moments and moments where it's been difficult because in Formula E it's up and down all the time, so it's good to leave Berlin with a smile.”
Read Also:
- Mortara suffers fractured vertebra in Berlin E-Prix startline crash
- De Vries hits out at driving standards in Formula E after Berlin
- Evans "hurts in every aspect emotionally" after Berlin Formula E crash
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article De Vries hits out at driving standards in Formula E after Berlin
Next article Da Costa makes gym jibe at FE rivals after Berlin crash
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Rachit Thukral
MotoGP riders say 850cc bikes will be less physical and more fun to ride
MotoGP
MotoGP
Indonesian GP
22 h
MotoGP riders say 850cc bikes will be less physical and more fun to ride
Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams
MotoGP
MotoGP
Indonesian GP
Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams
More from
Norman Nato
Frederik Vesti steps up to full-time role as Cadillac Racing details 2027 IMSA lineup
IMSA
IMSA
Frederik Vesti steps up to full-time role as Cadillac Racing details 2027 IMSA lineup
Is Cadillac walking into a trap of its own making while chasing victory at Le Mans?
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
Is Cadillac walking into a trap of its own making while chasing victory at Le Mans?
Nato rejoins Nissan Formula E team in place of Fenestraz
Formula E
Formula E
London ePrix II
Nato rejoins Nissan Formula E team in place of Fenestraz
More from
Venturi
Venturi boss d'Ambrosio leaves rebranded Maserati Formula E team
Formula E
Formula E
Venturi boss d'Ambrosio leaves rebranded Maserati Formula E team
Di Grassi's 1000th Formula E point an "emotional" landmark
Formula E
Formula E
Seoul ePrix I
Di Grassi's 1000th Formula E point an "emotional" landmark
Di Grassi explains London Formula E race-winning tactics
Formula E
Formula E
London ePrix II
Di Grassi explains London Formula E race-winning tactics
Latest news
How Geri Halliwell helped Christian Horner deal with fan hate
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 20 min
How Geri Halliwell helped Christian Horner deal with fan hate
Max Verstappen stars with 15-place charge in 45 minutes: 'I learned a lot and had fun'
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
Portimão
45 min
Max Verstappen stars with 15-place charge in 45 minutes: 'I learned a lot and had fun'
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe