Mitch Evans: Putting the 'Je Ne Sais Quoi' in Jaguar

Mitch Evans, like many New Zealanders, appears almost perpetually calm, but even he had to reflect on the unexpected things he’d witnessed in 2020. “The world’s taken a massive turn the past four months, but everyone’s in the same boat. We’ve been in a strong position in the championship, and obviously I want to continue that form.”

The lockdown, for much of Europe, is over for the time being, and Evans is in Berlin competing in the six-race mini-series that Formula E has set up to conclude the season. Life on the road was something Evans got used to, and during the shutdown it took some adjustment not to be constantly waiting for some form of transport.

“It was tricky, but I’ve been on the road, travelling, for something like ten years, spending no more than a few days at home, then off to the airport to somewhere else, washing clothes on the go, a bit of a rush, so if I got a week or so to myself it was very rare and very welcome. So once everything shut down, it was a bit bizarre.”

Luckily Monaco, where Evans has an apartment, was a relatively safe place to continue training. He also spent some time learning basic French. “With the racing coming up, it’ll have to go on the backburner, I don’t want to learn it to a crazy level, just to a level where I can communicate. Let’s say it’s not been completely successful, but we’ll get there.”

Evans is a thoughtful individual (photo: copyright FIA Formula E)

Everything goes on the backburner while Evans is chasing Antonio Felix da Costa at the head of the championship. This is the most consistently competitive Jaguar Racing has looked in Formula E since it entered in Season Three (2016-17), and one of the reasons the Evans-Jaguar partnership has worked so well is because driver and team are on the same wavelength, as evidenced in the dominant win the Kiwi took in the Mexico City E-Prix. That hasn’t been the case with every driver, as any observer following Nelson Piquet Jr’s exit from the team in the middle of Season Five could attest, but Evans radiates confidence in his colleagues, and it appears the feeling is mutual.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in the team, we can think on our feet and adapt well to changes.” The changes, if they come, will happen because of the jam-packed nine days of racing in Berlin. “It’ll be fascinating to see what happens in that format - a lot can happen in six races. You could have the whole championship flip upside down in the course of just over a week, and that’s fascinating. Having that number of points up for grabs is scary, but you’ve got to see it as an opportunity to try and score as many as possible. We’ve got a lot of flexibility if we’re thrown some new variables.”

Jaguar’s engineers, like those at other manufacturer teams, haven’t let the health crisis stop them making progress on the performance of the car. “Maybe some of the resources are at the factories, but a lot of it’s done on computer. With this massive break, engineers could still work from home, and teams are going to be pushing the boundaries to try and bridge the gap, so I’m expecting teams to have made a lot of improvements. I’m still hoping to be at the front, and I’ve got confidence I will be, but you’ve got to keep your wits about you. It’s going to be fascinating to see if people have been able to make any gains over the lockdown period.”

Mental preparation has been key for Evans since he was a young driver in Formula Atlantic in New Zealand, but recovery is a huge issue in Berlin, with the quality of rest during overnight halts in racing, in those locked-down Berlin hotels, being potentially vital in a sport of so many marginal gains.

“Getting as much sleep as rest as you can, that’s going to be key, making sure you’re as fresh as possible, and hopefully the rest of the team will be able to manage that too, so that on the operational side we’re as slick as possible as every race day, because with those opportunities we can’t afford to let them slip. It’s going to be tough, by the end of the week I think we’re going to be absolutely destroyed, and that’s for us to manage and do the best job possible.”

It was announced before racing resumed that Sam Bird would be leaving Envision Virgin Racing to join up with Evans under the Big Cat in the forthcoming Season Seven. While James Calado, who joined Jaguar to the surprise of some who were expecting Alex Lynn to be retained alongside Evans, has struggled this season, Evans has empathy for the British driver, and says the two have a good working relationship.

James Calado has faced challenges (photo: copyright FIA Formula E)

“We’ve been getting along very well; it’s obviously very important for the drivers to get along. Obviously he’s a rookie, and he’s brought as much as he can, because it’s difficult for a rookie - the car is just so new and the technology is very new, it’s a different [driving] style, even the format, so for him I’d say it’s been very challenging to get on top of everything in that very short space of time. He’s brought some fresh ideas, but as a rookie, there’s very little you can bring, to be honest, and that’s not isolating James, that’s just in general.”

“For someone like myself, who’s been in the championship for quite a few years, you know, I know what to expect and I’m a big driver in the team for direction, but when you’re a rookie, when you’re just trying to work out how everything’s operating, it’s tough. I do feel for him; it’s a period that we’ve all gone through, but there’s definitely things he’s brought that have been good, like fresh ideas that we wouldn’t have thought of. Hopefully he can continue that progress over the course of the week in Berlin, which I’m sure he can.”

Evans was very pleased to see Lynn return to Formula E, after an unexpected vacancy arose at Mahindra, Pascal Wehrlein having, according to some reports, announced to the team he would be leaving for Porsche, the manner of his announcement having allegedly caused some consternation at the team.

The result is Lynn, the former DS Virgin and Jaguar Formula E driver, and Williams F1 junior driver, returns with a third chance to make a positive impact on the category. “I’ve known Alex since 2011, we’ve been great buddies since, and that was before I came to Europe! It’s great to have him back in Formula E, and he definitely deserves to be on the grid, so I hope he can have a good time at Mahindra and have some good results in Berlin, which you need at a new team. He’s a very professional driver with a lot of speed, and he’s very smart.”

Evans dominated in Mexico City this season (photo: copyright FIA Formula E)

Lynn isn’t the only close friend Evans has on the grid. Porsche’s Andre Lotterer and Evans spent some time in the south of France early on in the shutdown, though Evans denied that any of Lotterer’s renowned photography skills had been passed on to him. “We didn’t do any photography, it was more coffee-making! I’m a cappuccino sort of guy. Back home [in Monaco], lattes and flat whites are quite common, but I like a cappuccino. I have a machine back home, so I grind the beans and all that sort of stuff. I order beans from down under, and there’s a place in the UK I order from.”

“Another reason I got one is because the coffee in Monaco and France is horrific! Back at home in New Zealand good coffee is so accessible you don’t really need anything like that at home.”

Mitch Evans’ success in Formula E is in no small part down to his having the emotional intelligence to get along with most people he meets, and as the coffee-making, and his attempts to learn the language of the place where he lives, show, he’s willing make a major effort to create a comfortable atmosphere around him, wherever he is.

Whether this is enough to win the Formula E title this season will likely depend on many factors outside of Evans’ control, but he’s determined to make anything he can control work in his favour.

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