Andretti Formula E

Andretti Formula E
Team Information
Based	Indianapolis, Indiana
Début	2014 Beijing ePrix
Founder	Michael Andretti
Key People	JF Thorman, Kyle Moyer, John Lopes
Driver(s)	Robin Frijns António Félix da Costa
Car	Spark-Renault SRT_01E
Sponsor(s)	Amlin
Website	Andretti Autosport
Team Stats
Last Season	7th (49 pt(s))
Entries	0
Wins	0
First Win
Points	202
Poles	0
Podiums	0
Fastest Laps	0
Titles
Current Season
Entrant	MS Amlin Andretti
Robin Frijns		António Félix da Costa
– (0 Pt(s))		14th (16 Pt(s))
Team Standings
10th (20 Pt(s))

MS Amlin Andretti, better known as one of the Andretti Autosport teams, are an entrant in the 2016/17 FIA Formula E Championship and one of the series' founding members.^[1] Partnering Robin Frijns with FE race winner António Félix da Costa, Andretti will field their own car in the third edition of the series, built by sister company Andretti Technologies.^[2]

BackgroundEdit

Andretti Autosport was officially formed in 2009, but had its origins in Barry Green and Gerry Forsythe's team (Forsythe Green Racing) from 1993.^[3] After various evolutions of the team, Andretti Autosport emerged with Michael Andretti at the head, competing in Indy Car.^[1] Andretti Autosport hold four Indy Car titles, one USF2000 Championship and two Indianapolis 500 titles.^[1]

Formula E HistoryEdit

Andretti Autosport were the first team to be announced for the championship that were based in the United States.^[1] Montagny was the first driver to be announced for the team, with various others testing for the team, including Scott Speed and Gil de Ferran.^[1] Charles Pic joined his compatriot in Beijing with the pair taking second and fourth respectively in the first race. Pic missed the next few races due to other commitments, meaning he was replaced by Matthew Brabham in Putrajaya and Punta del Este, while Montagny missed the Urugyian race through illness, replaced by Jean-Eric Vergne.

Then over the winter break between Punta del Este and Buenos Aires it was announced that Montagny had been suspended after failing a drugs test in Putrajaya.^[4] Montagny was dropped by the team, with Marco Andretti joining the team, replacing Brabham as the main driver in their second pair of cars. At the 2015 Miami ePrix, Andretti announced their sixth different driver for the season, with Scott Speed replacing Marco for the race. Vergne took his second pole position of the season, but would be beaten by his debuting teammate, who claimed second and narrowly missed out on victory.^[5]

Speed stayed with the team until the 2015 Moscow ePrix, where he was replaced by Justin Wilson, with the Brit taking tenth place during his debut.^[6] The Brit had just one chance, however, with Simona de Silvestro taking the second cars for the season finale in London.^[7] An impressive debut saw her out-qualify team mate Vergne (somewhat a qualifying specialist with three poles to his name), but was unable to take points.^[8]

Second HelpingEdit

Andretti founded Andretti Technologies to cater for their development of the Spark-Renault SRT_01E into the second season, ultimately unveiling the new ATEC-01.^[9] A few days later, their driver line up for 2015/16 was revealed, with Jean-Eric Vergne partnered with Simona de Silvestro, who had raced together in London.^[10] A day later, and Andretti unveiled their new blue livery, courtesy of a major sponsorship deal with Amlin, who had previously sponsored Team Aguri during 2014/15.^[11]

However, the ATEC-01 proved to be too unreliable during the 2015 Donington Test, while Vergne left the team to join DS Virgin Racing. Their bad summer continued with news that their IndyCar Series and one time Formula E driver Justin Wilson died in a race in America, while their new car continued to run poorly.^[12] They opted to switch to Season One technology (i.e. the Spark-Renault SRT_01E) for the final day of the test, while also signing Robin Frijns to replace the outgoing Vergne.^[13]

With year old cars, relatively inexperienced drivers and very little running, Andretti's season was pretty much written off from the start. Yet, Frijns seemed to have other ideas, and at the 2015 Putrajaya ePrix the Dutchman shocked the entire paddock by putting the year old car onto the podium, demonstrating the benefit of using proven technology.^[14] Yet, that would be the team's only real triumph of the season, with Frijns scoring minor points for the rest of the season, while de Silvestro took until the 2016 Long Beach ePrix to finally get her name on the board.^[15]

Andretti AttackEdit

With 2015/16 a write off, Andretti threw their full weight at ensuring that their challenger for season three would go to the 2016 Donington Test and actually get out on circuit.^[16] An extensive development programme saw the ATEC-02 cover thousands of kilometres before the public pre-season test, while António Félix da Costa was brought on board to partner Frijns.^[17] The Donington Test would go well for the new Andretti, despite the fact that Frijns and da Costa were both in the lower half of the field in outright pace.

Formula E RecordEdit

Andretti Autosport's Formula E record.

FIA Formula E Championship Record
Year	Driver	Rounds												Pos.	Pts.
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
2014/15														6th	119
	Montagny	2nd	DSQ
	Pic	4th
	Brabham		13th	Ret
	Vergne			14th	6th	18th	2nd	NC	7th	4th	3rd	16th
	Andretti				12th
	Speed					2nd	Ret	12th	13th
	Wilson									10th
	de Silvestro										11th	12th
2015/16														7th	49
	Frijns	10th	3rd	10th	8th	5th	15th	7th	6th	CAN	Ret	Ret
	de Silvestro	Ret	13th	11th	14th	14th	9th	15th	9th	CAN	11th	Ret
2016/17														7th	34
	Frijns	6th	11th	14th	11th	12th	6th	18th	18th	9th	9th	8th	13th
	da Costa	5th	Ret	11th	Ret	11th	Ret	17th	11th	12th	15th	14th	15th

ReferencesEdit

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