until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Jack Aitken will test for the Envision Racing team at the forthcoming Berlin E-Prix and has told The Race that racing in the all-electric world championship is a consideration for his future in motorsport.
The current IMSA and DTM driver has been close to testing in Formula E before but his deal with Envision to complete the Berlin Tempelhof rookie test later this month could be the first step in a new career direction for the 27-year-old.
Aitken has previously sim tested for both Mahindra and Jaguar and was also in discussions with the DS Techeetah team prior to today’s confirmation that he will test for Envision on April 24, the Monday after the Berlin E-Prix races. He was due to take part in a planned 2021 test which ultimately fell victim to COVID-19 restrictions.
Aitken made a single F1 grand prix start in 2020 when he deputised for then-Mercedes stand-in George Russell at Williams during the Sakhir Grand Prix. Until the end of 2022 he dovetailed reserve duties for Williams with a branching out into GT3 racing with the Emil Frey organisation, the same team that he will race for in the 2023 DTM.
In January 2023 he announced he’d spit with Willaims after three years together.
In addition to his DTM programme, Aitken is also competing with Action Express Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech sportscar series. He recently won the 12 Hours of Sebring with team-mates Alexander Sims and Pipo Derani.
Now, Aitken is seriously looking at Formula E for the future, confirming that he “always kept an eye on it, sort of trying to see if I could find a way to experience the car for quite a few years now”.
“This came up, and it was a really good opportunity to check some boxes,” Aitken told The Race.
“Formula E is quite an exciting proposition because I spent a lot of time on Gen2 – and moving into the Gen3 with the increase in performance [that] is impressive in a car racing on street circuits, which are quite technical and it takes a lot to control the car. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Aitken added that he felt as though he didn’t necessarily feel under pressure to continue his single-seater career and that he is comfortable with the way his career has developed in recent seasons.
“It’s not like the transition to endurance was because it was like ‘ahh, it’s the only option I have and I wish I was driving single-seaters’,’ he said.
“I’m very happy with where my career is going.
“Having said that, there is something special about single-seaters that you don’t get from other cars. I’m very open-minded with regards to my career because I never want to rule anything out before I’ve tried it.”
Aitken admitted that he does have a deep technical interest in electric elements of race car engineering and that he feels attracted to the challenge of racing in a software-heavy discipline.
“I think Formula E has a lot of pretty amazing, interesting differences to what I’m used to,” he said.
“That’s why I was so keen to get in a car and do this test with Envision and the way that they go about the work as well with regards to optimising the software and the regen in the powertrains is pretty fascinating to me.
“I’ve dabbled with it in Formula 1, and now with the hybrids in the LMDh cars, but never in such a focused way as it isn’t Formula E, so It is absolutely something that I’m looking at in the future.
Aitken also reckoned that making his first track test at Tempelhof is in his opinion “a pretty ideal place to do this test”.
“It’s not the typical circuit that Formula E goes to,” he added.
“But then the typical circuit is quite an intimidating prospect to jump in for your first time.
“We’ve all seen how punishing some of those circuits can be for small deviations in your line, or a little bit of lack of knowledge of the surface here and there.
“Berlin is still going to be tough because it’s a little bit more of a known quantity, so it takes a few more variables out.”
Several seats are likely to be available for the 2023/24 Formula E season, including possibly one at Envision Racing. This is because Nick Cassidy’s deal with the Silverstone-based team ceases this summer, with the Kiwi known to be looking at several future possibilities including pursuing IndyCar opportunities after a successful first test with Ganassi Racing in February.
Sebastien Buemi is expected to take in a second season with Envision for the 2003/24 campaign.
Porsche’s test roster
Over at Porsche, Yifei Ye will join David Beckmann at the official rookie test sessions.
Ye will become the first Chinese driver to drive a Formula E car since Ma Qing Hua raced for NIO 333 at the 2020 Marrakesh E-Prix.
Beckmann, who was confirmed as an official test and reserve driver prior to the start of the present season, has already driven the Porsche 99X Gen3 car in private testing at the Calafat Circuit in Spain.
He is now set to get additional mileage ahead of what is expected to be his Formula E debut at the double-header Jakarta E-Prix races in June for Porsche customer team Avalanche Andretti.
That is when he is likely to deputise for Andre Lotterer, who will be at Le Mans for the official test day ahead of the 24 Hours.
Ye, briefly a Renault F1 junior back in 2019, is contesting the 2023 FIA WEC with the British Jota team and will join Will Stevens and Antonio Felix da Costa in a Porsche 963 LMDh entry from the 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps onwards. He raced in the opening WEC round at Sebring last month – where he, Stevens and Beckmann won the LMP2 class.
