Feature – Katy Fairman

Feature, Formula E, Interviews, news, opinion, Q&A

Max-imum Potential: Günther’s Future In Formula E

May 24, 2019by katyfairmanLeave a Comment

Aged just 21, it could be easy to label Maximilian Günther as just another ‘rising star’ in motorsport. However, he is more than that. So much more.

The young German found himself in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship before being handed a promotion into FIA Formula 2 with Arden International in 2018. Despite this impressive racing resume, all this was cut-short when Günther got the call up for a ‘full-time’ drive in FIA Formula E with Dragon Racing for season five. I say ‘full-time’ in inverted commas as it gets a little confusing, you will see why later.

With a trusted source telling me Günther will be in the car until the season finale in New York this July, I took the time to catch up with the young racer to hear why he has decided to risk his career for Formula E despite still technically representing the team on a race-by-race basis.

“I really enjoy Formula E,” Günther starts with a beaming smile. “Formula E is a very modern championship with attack mode, different power levels and the very nice-looking cars. It is really cool and offers unpredictable races. There are a lot of different winners too. We don’t really know what to expect as spectators or as a driver, so it makes it very interesting!

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Feature, Formula E, Interviews, news

Rome ePrix winner Mitch Evans believes there is “no reason” why he can’t win the remaining races this season

April 13, 2019April 13, 2019by katyfairmanLeave a Comment

“There is no reason why not,” Rome ePrix winner Mitch Evans tells me when I ask if he can win the remaining races in the Formula E calendar this year. He has a huge grin on his face, stinks of champagne and sweat and is bouncing from the contestant hype from the media pen. Just minutes earlier, Evans took not only his first Formula E win after two and a half seasons, but also finally helped Jaguar Racing clench their first win in the all-electric motorsport.

Speaking exclusively to katyfairman.com after the race, Evans described the thrill of this first Formula E win and how he managed to keep his cool one year after a possible podium in Rome slipped through his fingertips – oh and the part when he referred to himself as an “absolute idiot” for missing the second attack mode by just centimetres with a hungry Andre Lotterer breathing down his neck to take the lead of the ePrix.

“Did you wake up this morning and think that today you would win your first Formula E race,” the interview began. “To be honest,” Evans paused, “no.”

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Feature, Formula E, Interviews, Preview

How Gary Paffett left DTM as Champion to find new challenges in Formula E

April 7, 2019April 7, 2019by katyfairmanLeave a Comment

Imagine racing in one of motorsport’s best championships, competing for a top manufacturer and heading for your second drivers’ title. Sounds like the dream, right? For Gary Paffett, 2018 should have been a simple: focus on winning the DTM Championship title with Mercedes.

DTM was a series Paffett had raced in for the past fifteen years with great success but that was all to come to an end when Mercedes announced they would be quitting DTM at the end of the 2018 season, in favour of the all-electric Formula E Championship.

“Shock. Utter shock,” was how Paffett described to katyfairman.com when explaining his initial reaction to the news that Mercedes were leaving DTM. “It was something that shocked all of us, it really did. Nobody expected it to happen. There are always rumours here or there about one manufacturer pulling out of this or that, but Mercedes have been the ones that have been [in DTM] through everything. They are the ones that held it together when it was struggling. They had been there for thirty years without a break. So, it was a big shock not only to the outside world but to us in the team because nobody saw it coming.”

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Feature, Q&A

My Motorsport Year and a Special Announcement

December 28, 2018by katyfairmanLeave a Comment

Welcome, to my final blog post of 2018. It has been a pretty good year with me being able to attend more race weekends then ever before, visit events as accredited media that I had previously only ever dreamed of, oh and there was the day where I travelled to and from Switzerland all within 12 hours. In this blog post, I will reminisce and reflect on my key motorsport highlights from the year and give an honest review of my experiences and any corny life lessons I might have learnt along the way. If you are patient, you can also read about a new project I will be tackling in 2019. It is something that has been in the works since the summer and I am so happy to be sharing it with you all now as we approach the new year and welcome new beginnings. Anyway, enough waffling – I have made myself a huge mug of tea and am ready to confess all from my year in motorsport.

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Feature, Formula E, opinion

Why it is time you gave Formula E a chance

December 12, 2018April 27, 2019by katyfairman2 Comments

As season five of the Formula E championship rapidly approaches, I have been spying plenty of you on social media pondering if the hype for the all-electric championship is actually real. Well, Ladies and Gents, I am pleased to confirm that the rumours are in fact true: Formula E is one of the best championships motorsport has to offer.

Don’t worry, I was once like you. Living my life in the dark, thinking that roaring V12s were motorsport’s best and only offering and anything below that would send me to sleep – I grew up a nineties baby for goodness sake. Heaven forbid I was to ever find myself watching a motorsport championship which produced little to no noise at all (not true by the way), solely battery-powered even, but then along came Formula E. It was new, innovative and fresh and as my interest in championships like F1 took a dive, Formula E was there to remind me why I fell in love with motorsport in the first place.

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Feature, Formula E, Interviews

Made in Monaco: How Susie Wolff plans to turn Venturi Formula E Team into a Luxury Brand

November 28, 2018by katyfairmanLeave a Comment

Having defined herself as an influential figure in racing through her intense hard-work and talent both behind and away from the wheel of a racing car, Susie Wolff is no stranger to grabbing a challenge with both hands and overcoming it. Her grit, determination and willingness to learn and teach others makes her not only someone I greatly look up to, but also the perfect ingredients for a Team Principal for a ‘life after racing’.

“It was never in the game plan,” Susie tells me as we sit down for this one-to-one interview in the back of the garage for Venturi Formula E Team at Formula E Pre-Season Testing. Despite the torrential rain outside resulting in no running on track, the Venturi team remain busy with their season five driver line-up, Edoardo Mortara and Formula E debutant Felipe Massa, making the most of their time spent with engineers and mechanics.

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Feature, Formula E, Interviews

Allan McNish on Audi’s Formula E manufacturer renaissance

November 16, 2018November 18, 2018by katyfairmanLeave a Comment

The last time I sat down for an interview with Allan McNish was at the Geneva International Motor Show earlier this year. Months before our meeting at the world-famous exhibition, McNish was confirmed as the Team Principal at the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E Team – arguably a big jump for the hugely successful racing driver into managing a Formula E team. It is fair to say the start of the season for the team didn’t quite go to plan: disqualification, disappointment and disaster for then-series Champion Lucas di Grassi. Odds of winning the Constructors’ title seemed near impossible mid-way through the season, with McNish telling me that “the chances of winning the championship is a bit like a train that had already departed the station.” Fast forward just a little over seven months later and Allan and I reunited for another 1-to-1 interview. This time we are sat in the Audi Motorhome in Valencia as pre-season testing gets underway behind us. It is a very chilled environment, drivers Daniel Abt and Lucas di Grassi continue to soak up laps during the three day test in a car that looks to be pretty competitive for season five, oh and Audi did the impossible and are the current Constructors’ champions.

“That sounds like a good analogy, doesn’t it?”, McNish begins with when I tell him of his ever-so slightly pessimistic attitude the last time we managed to sit down for an interview. “There was a few times when I look back and think, there is no way that that could ever happen,” he continued. “If you look at the points and where we were and the performance we had and the performance everybody else had, then normally, it wasn’t possible. I think it was partly due to, I would say, a reasonable car, because I do think the car was good. No, we knew the car was always good. We knew we could be competitive.

“Us taking advantage of every situation that came, I think that was one key factor. Another key factor was having two drivers that were competitive all the time. And that wasn’t the case with everybody in the pit lane. And the final one was, when it came down to it, we held our nerve, and not everybody did.”

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