2022 Formula E: Chatting with Berlin E-Prix race winner Edoardo Mortara

Edoardo Mortara won last weekend’s Berlin E-Prix Round 7, driving for the Rokit Venturi Racing Formula E driver. With the result, he now also sits in second positiong in the driver’s championship in the 2022 season currently. We talk to the enigmatic Italo-Swiss driver about how he performs so well, what the future holds for him and the restaurants he owns!

"It's not often that you have these kinds of weekends as a driver. Obviously very pleased and very happy with what happened. From my side, I can only tell you that I think that we managed to squeeze pretty much all the performance out of the car. I don't know what the others, what kind of problems they have, but I think that we had a strategy in the qualifying sessions and we executed the plan very well and I think my laps were also quite good without big mistakes. So yeah, was very happy, very pleased to see the results."

"Well, obviously Sunday was nothing. It was a strong showing from, you know, from both Mercedes teams as you said. And so we can say that the power train worked very well in Berlin, but we should not underestimate the amount of work that has been done also by the two teams on the setups, on the driveability on all these things. And I think that, for sure, the power train was a big key to our success but it was also all the work that was done by the teams. I would say 50/50."

"And we seemed to struggle a little bit more in Rome, and Monaco. I believe there were reasons why we struggled in Rome, especially because we didn't have the right tyre strategies in quali. And so, in two out of the three qualies we couldn't qualify well because of that. So it's up to us now, to try to do less mistakes. Personally, I need also to do a better job in quali, sometimes extracting more performance out of the car and then I guess we will find more consistency here."

"I've got no idea. So, on that level, you know, we're equal because I've only seen the car, let's say during the Gen 3 lounge and in pictures. I've never driven the car so far. Well, I'm not announced for next year. So we will take care of that. We'll have to focus first on season 8 and then we'll see."

"Yes and no. So yes, obviously, because he brought quite a good amount of knowledge and experience, from his previous years in Formula E. But as you could see last year in Berlin last year, we were also very, very strong. But I mean, there was no Lucas last year, so both are true. He brought us some knowledge, some experience. But the team had already shown that they were gonna be extremely competitive in Berlin and that they could win races, they could do very well."

"It’s difficult in Formula E to be consistent and if you check only the results for sure, you can define it as a non-consistent season. But I have the impression that I did a really good job so far in terms of extracting the best of what I had and results are coming over, from the entire package team, car and driver. And so sometimes when you're not performing, it's not only the fault of the driver. We have to become more consistent. Minimise mistakes and I'm sure that we will be there more often do it."

"Or that I can be quick, at least on normal circuits street circuits. So no, I don't think that I can only be competitive in Berlin. We were strong in Riyadh and if you check also the races, even if we were starting from the back in Rome and Monaco, we were extremely strong in Monaco. I was starting P16 I think, and I was already in the top six on the track where normally, it's very difficult to overtake. The same for Rome in the first race. We were starting from the Verdina, I think something like that. And we came back sixth, after the penalty seventh. So, so far, we've been competitive pretty much in all the races actually."

"So far, I've never driven the track. I barely saw a map of it. So I cannot really comment on the racetrack, on the layout, at least, but I'm extremely happy that we're going to Jakarta. It's fantastic to go, visit and know more about these countries that are actually quite far from where we're living and I cannot wait actually to go there."

"I’m very happy! I've never been to India and Formula E has really given me the chance actually to know more, more about other countries more about other cultures and I'm very keen on that on top of that. It's difficult for me to judge, but I think that could be very positive to bring Formula E to India because of the pollution and maybe environmental problems. It's something that I'm really looking forward to."

"I think we were very strong actually the last two years because of the amount of work and the quality of the work that Venturi has done. engineers have been doing a really fantastic job both in races and in qualifying, they found really great setup solutions and that's why we can really fight with the works team because the works team obviously have a lot more resources than we do. And they can pretty much decide whatever they want to do with us. So bringing the fight to them is something that actually you don't see that often in motorsport, I think. And it shows the quality of the work of Venturi. And then for next year, I've got no idea because Venturi and Maserati announced that they were working together, but I'm not part of that so far."

"I’m Italo-Swiss. That's perfectly correct. I don't have any more sushi restaurants. I sold them a couple of years ago so at least on that part, that's done. And for next year, no idea if I'm gonna stay with Venturi because you know, it's not been announced yet and for the second driver, if I don't know where I'm gonna drive next year, we can imagine you know, I don't know what they're gonna do."