You could argue that Nissan’s patience and wider outlook in backing its driver Norman Nato, despite contributing zero points to its teams and manufacturer crown challenge, is a refreshing antidote to the mercenary approach adopted by Red Bull recently.
On the flip side, you could also reason that after Sacha Fenestraz completed an entire season last time in a similarly frustrating and points-poor situation, then actually Nissan isn’t anywhere ruthless enough right now.
Either way, the next two events, at Miami and Monaco feel crucial for Nato’s second time around with the Japanese manufacturer.
Here’s the positive and negative situation for Nato as he heads stateside.
The Bad News
Clearly, not getting off the points mark while your team-mate has three front-row starts, two wins and 68 points from four races, is a very troubling reality and trend for Nato. But, how he got there isn’t a straightforward tale of woe nor underachievement.
In fact, far from it because two of those races - Sao Paulo and the first race in Jeddah - saw him compromised via legality, power application issues and tyre pressure errors respectively.
But in Mexico City and Jeddah in race two there were some errors and missteps on his side that constituted non-scores. Mexico City was particularly galling as Nato just failed to put everything together at the crucial time in qualifying. out of sequence on his group run and unable to generate the required tyre temperature was dispiriting in arguably the best overall package that day.
In Jeddah Nato initially looked to be on the ascent, running seventh in the early stages. But then things got scrappy with some contact and he just seemed to fade away.
Any other time this might seem unremarkable but when your team-mate is scorching to his third victory in five races up the road and opening up a 17-point gap at the top of the standings, then the optics are just plain bad.
Between Jeddah and Miami this week Nissan spent a couple of days testing at the Mallorca track. This was definitely needed for Nato, and despite some of the test being compromised by inclement weather, a progress of sorts appears to have been made.
But perhaps there was something of an omen too at the test, because Nato shared the Nissan development car with reserve driver Sergio Sette Camara, who is said to have got a good amount of running in his first appearance in the car.
The Brazilian’s inclusion in the Nissan squad was a masterstroke pre-season. Snubbed by the new KIRO entity, Sette Camara stacked up very well against Dan Ticktum last season and is still very hungry to prove he has results as well as the undisputed pace to bring rewards in Formula E.
Nato is set to miss the Berlin doubleheader in July, the penultimate event of the season. Sette Camara is nailed on to deputise and if he were to get a hatful of points then would Volpe really bring Nato back for the final two races?
That’s not a question for now. But what is, will be Nato’s performances at Homestead and Monaco in the next three weeks.
Historically he has always been super good in the principality, just a few kilometres from his birthplace of Cannes. He took pole and won there in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series beating not only team-mate Rowland but also Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz and he was second there in F2 in 2016 (below). In Formula E he has also shown his mettle in Monaco and should have got a podium in 2023 having qualified third.
Nissan and its leader Tommaso Volpe learned a few lessons last season. You can’t show your true potential as a manufacturer with a lop-sided, see-saw side of the garage when it comes to points. Had Fenestraz even gathered just 18 more points last term then Nissan would have been third instead of fourth in the final standings.
This season, with the official advent of the manufacturers' championship, he knows that imbalance can’t happen again.
“This championship is becoming more and more professional, and we’ve become more and more ambitious in our plan,” Volpe told The Race.
“So, we when we had to choose our reserve driver we really wanted to have a professional like Sergio, because we think that anything can happen, and in any case in any eventuality, we need to be in a position to score as many points as possible, or to be not as weak as we were last year.
“He is already giving value since day one. He has already delivered beyond our expectations.”
Will Sette Camara be delivering more? And Will he actually have to wait until Berlin at all?
That may feel like ominous news for Nato, but in reality, the outcome is ultimately up to him, and there is also some positivity to feed off too for the Frenchman.
The Good News
Nato has been quick for Nissan but just not when it mattered most.
He’s been either right with Rowland or on two occasions ahead of him in free practice so far this season. But in qualifying it’s just not worked out and that, technical issues apart, is what has compromised him getting points.
“Over the four races, the performance of Norman in two races was heavily compromised by mistakes made on the garage side, so I cannot say that this was specifically him,” summarised Volpe.
“But in the other two races, he compromised himself during qualifying, so what we have done is we tried to find the root cause of his lack of confidence, specifically in quali and we think we found it, or at least we try to focus on that in our testing.
“Norman is a very experienced driver, so he was very lucid also in analysing the situation, it was not emotional. The fact that we had to work on this area to make him feel more comfortable, and hopefully we have ticked these books as well. Let's see in Miami.”
Nato is a race winner in Formula E (Berlin 2021) and in his previous season with Nissan in 2023 he stacked up very favourably against Fenestraz. But even that analysis has had to be historically re-evaluated now in light of Fenestraz’s woeful 2024.
Nato is far from naive. As a seasoned pro, he knows Rowland is doing a better job than him at present. Yet, he’ll also believe he is not, and shouldn’t ever be, as far away as he is points-wise.
The faith he will have in himself and his team should see him through, but Formula E has a nasty habit of often unfairly punishing drivers who need big results. Look at Andre Lotterer in 2023 or even Fenestraz last season. These are two drivers that got in a rut and simply never got out.
Although he possibly doesn’t have much of it, Nato does have some time. He’s proven he has the laptime, so if he can match that with performance and poise then handing his car over to Sette Camara in Berlin in July shouldn’t give him too many sleepless nights.
