Formula E embarked on a new era just over a year ago, with the fresh, more powerful Gen3 machines offering teams the opportunity to reset the hierarchy and establish a revised pecking order in the championship.
For Jake Dennis and Andretti Autosport – now renamed Andretti Global – any thoughts that they could be at the top of that new competitive order were a distant dream after a lacklustre pre-season test seemingly put them on the back foot. Fast-forward 12 months, and the 28-year-old Briton is in a very different place; he enters the 2024 season with the coveted #1 on the front of his Andretti machine after claiming his maiden Formula E title in dramatic fashion on home soil last year.
Dennis enters the new season, which gets under way this weekend in Mexico City, as the driver to beat and, in theory at least, with everything to lose as the all-electric championship embarks on its 10th season of racing. But that’s not how he feels.
“To be honest, I actually feel slightly less pressure than I would say I normally do,” professes Dennis. “I feel like I’ve sort of proven to myself, proven to the team, that I can deliver when it matters and, coming into the season, I feel even more relaxed, that I don’t have to prove myself and prove my worth.
“We’ve come off the back of a very strong season, definitely my best in terms of performance and consistency throughout the year, delivering when it mattered. It was obviously down to a strong package from the Porsche powertrain and obviously the Andretti side, but there’s no two ways about it: I’m coming into the season confident in myself, confident inside the team and just hopeful we can replicate what we achieved last season. We’re very much aware how difficult it’s going to be, and the rivalry between three or four teams is going to be very high.”
Dennis’s quest for back-to-back Formula E titles will be a difficult one, with Jean-Eric Vergne the only driver able to manage the feat so far between 2017-19. Getting a foothold in the points could be a difficult task for all given the frenetic and unpredictable nature of races, a consequence of the high-drag design of a Gen3 car that turned last year’s contests into slipstreaming battles that no one wanted to lead, and are likely to be a mainstay once again.
Source: Autosport