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The BMW i Andretti Formula E team will “fight to the end” despite losing any realistic chance of challenging for the teams’ title after a series of issues in Berlin.
That is the view of its team principal Roger Griffiths who has told The Race that its disastrous two races in Berlin has “not knocked our confidence.”
Despite the team having collected just two points in the two Berlin E-Prixs this week, it has hung on to its second place in the teams’ standings but has had its previous 24 point buffer slashed to just five.
Jaguar’s similarly poor points haul in Germany has protected BMW’s position, but Griffiths says that it must “act fast and decisively” to regain its form which allowed drivers Maximilian Guenther and Alexander Sims to score a win each earlier in the season.
Guenther was disqualified from Wednesday evening’s race for going over the usable energy limit. He then suffered another non-classification on Thursday due to a clash with Envision Virgin’s Sam Bird.
The pair collided in the early stages after Guenther went on a mission rising from 11th on the grid to eighth place. He was hounding Bird when contact forced him to pit for a new nose section but suspension damage ultimately meant he had to park his BMW iFE.20 and retire.
Sims was on the backfoot immediately in the second Tempelhof encounter after a team error damaged his battery and he was forced to begin the race from the pit-lance after incurring a 20-place grid drop. He completed the race in a lowly 19th position.
Sims’ two points in Wednesday’s race are the only performance where BMW i Andretti has scored across the entire first double-header.
The disappointing points haul has not phased Griffiths though, who told The Race that the team is determined to keep the pressure on DS Techeetah.
“We’re never going to right off a season while we’ve still got four races and 120 points to fight for,” said Griffiths.
“Yes Formula E takes no prisoners, shows no mercy and it punishes you really hard.
“Their [DS Techeetah’s] form is strong but they could easily have two races like we’ve just had and all of a sudden you are back in the game.
“I said to the team in the debrief that we still have four races to go and we have to fight to the very last lap, the very last corner.
“The onus is on us to pick our game up and deliver, rather than expecting DS Techeetah to falter.”
