Frijns "couldn't care less" if he takes Formula E title without a win
Robin Frijns “couldn’t care less” if he becomes Formula E champion without a race victory after his unlikely climb to eighth in New York ties him second in the standings.
The Dutch racer sits just five points behind new leader Sam Bird, who won race two in America last weekend, and is level with defending champion Antonio Felix da Costa.
This followed his meritocratic rise from 21st to score eighth in a race in which there were no major safety car interventions and no one ahead of him retired for Frijns to inherit positions.
He told Autosport: "I drove to the front with pure speed."
His best result of the 2021 season came with second in round two at the Diriyah E-Prix following overnight Zoom calls to his team to rectify a lack of pace in the Saturday race.
Without a win so far, he reckoned a lack of crashes combined with a strong mechanical track record for his Envision Virgin Racing team-run Audi machine had kept him in contention.
Frijns said: “Consistency is always key, as it is in every championship.
“Formula E is obviously very difficult, but we don't have any mechanicals issues in the car, we don't breakdown like [Jean-Eric Vergne, on the start line], for example, did.
“That's obviously a help. We're not in silly crashes so far as well.
“We're being quite consistent.”
PLUS: How Bird's crash recovery became Formula E's fairytale of New York
He added that he “couldn’t care less” if he walked away in 2021 with the crown without a race win - which would be the first time the champion did not score a victory in Formula E.
Robin Frijns, Envision Virgin Racing, Audi e-tron FE07, Maximilian Gunther, BMW i Andretti Motorsport, BMW iFE.21
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Frijns said: “We didn't win a race yet, but if I win the championship without winning a race then I couldn't care less.”
Combined with team-mate Nick Cassidy scoring fourth and second in New York City, the privateer Envision Virgin Racing squad leads the teams’ table over DS Techeetah and Jaguar Racing.
Rookie Cassidy, who claimed pole in Rome in April, told Autosport that he had quickly adapted to Formula E but it was only in the last three rounds things “clicked a bit more”.
The Super GT and Super Formula champion said: “I was really happy earlier in the season with how I adapted to the car and how I adapted to Formula E.
“I made that transition quite quickly,” continued the Kiwi, who set a lap record in the Marrakech rookie driver test for Envision Virgin Racing last season before replacing Bird at the team.
“But there's 23 other world-class drivers here, so it's not easy,” he continued.
“I didn't put it together earlier in the season.
“We had moments of great speed, but a little bit was me, a little bit was with other circumstances.
“In the last three rounds, it's clicked a bit more in terms of putting the day together.
“I'm doing a more consistent job but also the team are alerting me more and giving me a package that suits me a bit better and I'm able to get more out of it.
“That's been a huge difference.”
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