MOTORSPORT: Brabham squeezed out of Formula E seat

US-based Australian Matthew Brabham, the 20-year-old grandson of Sir Jack Brabham, has missed out on a drive in this Saturday’s third round of the new all-electric Formula E international championship to a recently-discarded F1 driver and former teammate of Daniel Ricciardo.

The third-generation Brabham became the youngest driver in Formula E – as well as the first Australian and, because of his dual nationality courtesy of having been born in the US, the first American – when he raced at the second round of the championship at Putrajaya, the government district of Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur, on November 22.

Brabham has been hopeful of more starts in the series with American team Andretti Autosports, but Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne – who partnered Ricciardo, Australia’s new triple F1 grand prix winner, at Scuderia Toro Rosso the past two years – has been preferred for the third round at the Punta del Este beach resort in Uruquay.

Formula E events, comprising practice, qualifying and the one-hour races on street circuits mainly close to the heart of major cities, are contained to one day.

The cars – with no emissions or noise, other than screeching tyres – are identical French-made Spark-Renault SRT-01Es in the first season. Drivers need to switch to a second car mid–race because of the short battery life at this early stage.

Talk of an Australian round in future Formula E series – with Adelaide most often mentioned – has not progressed.

Vergne, still only 24, has been dropped from Red Bull’s F1 “family” recently despite having scored 22 points in this year’s world championship for Toro Rosso – the energy drink company’s junior GP team – compared to the eight of younger Russian Daniil Kyvat, who has been promoted to become Ricciardo’s Red Bull Racing teammate next season.

Vergne will join his compatriot Franck Montagny in the Andretti line-up in Uruguay.

Montagny and yet another Frenchman, Charles Pic, finished second and fourth in the opening round of the Formula E championship in Beijing, China, on September 13.

Pic was the reserve driver for Lotus F1 team at the final GP of the year in Abu Dhabi the weekend of the Formula E round in Malaysia, opening the door for Brabham’s debut.

Brabham qualified ninth there in a field that comprises about a dozen ex–F1 drivers and felt he could have finished on the podium if not for a mistake on the opening lap, when he hit German Nick Heidfeld’s car – necessitating an early pitstop for repairs – after an ambitious lunge down the inside of Bruno Senna. He wound up 13th.

Despite his limited preparation for that event, Brabham had been happy with his pace and hopeful of another opportunity in Uruguay.

“We had a lot of potential there in Malaysia,” Brabham said.

“The team did a good job putting a fast car together, and we had a good strategy. It’s just a shame that I made a mistake on the first lap.

“I was probably a bit aggressive. That really hurt our race. We had to change wings, and from then on it was just a struggle from the back.

“A lot of people had incidents there, so if I’d just stayed where I was it would have been a good race and I may have even got on the podium. But that’s just what-ifs. It’s a matter of putting it all together.

“It’s a great series and it’s got some great drivers in it. The talent and experience in the field is tremendous – it's the best that you’re likely to see outside an F1 race.

“I’d love to be in it for a while and do some more races.

“The technology is intriguing. Electric is the future of where motorsport and our road cars are going.

“‘Pop’ (Sir Jack) was at the forefront of bringing new thinking into motorsport,  and many of the innovations he brought into F1 and IndyCar 50-odd years ago are still talked about today.”

Not only is the young Brabham out of the Formula E seat for the third round but Pic seems to have slipped off the Andretti radar in favour of Vergne.

Brabham, born in Florida but having grown up on the Gold Coast, has raced in America for three years – winning the US F2000 Championship in 2012, the Pro Mazda Championship last year and finishing fourth in Indy Lights this year.

He has driven for the Andretti family team for two seasons and won on the Indianapolis road course in May.

His triple F1 world champion grandfather was famous at Indianapolis for having started the rear–engined revolution in the Indy 500, a race in which his eldest son, Geoff – Matthew’s father – raced 10 times as well as driving sports cars for many years, including the Le Mans 24-Hour and four American titles.

The third–generation Brabham’s program for next year has not been announced yet, although a second year in Indy Lights is most likely.

Meanwhile, Red Bull’s four F1 drivers next year will range from 17 years of age – Dutch rookie Max Verstappen at Toro Rosso – to “elder statesman” Ricciardo at 25.

Kyvat is 20, as is Carlos Sainz Junior, the son of Spain’s legendary world rally champion and Dakar marathon rally winner, who will partner Verstappen after winning this year’s Formula Renault 3.5 Championship in Europe.

Vergne feels unlucky to be out of the Red Bull set-up, believing he was best prepared to partner Ricciardo after the departure of 27-year-old four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel to Ferrari.

While outscoring rookie Kyvat by 14 points in the world championship, the Frenchman was outqualified by the Russian 12 times in the 19 GPs this year, but Vergne said his qualifying form was affected by him being 5kg heavier than Kyvat.

“I know things would have been different if I had less technical problems – the engineers at Toro Rosso say I lost around 50 points to this, plus I couldn’t always show [my potential] in qualifying,” Vergne said.

“Last year I know [the reason I lost out on a Red Bull drive to Ricciardo]. This year I guess there is some politics.

“They [Red Bull] always say points matter; they know I was 5kg overweight compared to my teammate, so I had at least two tenths [disadvantage] that no one knew about in qualifying – they know all the technical issues I had that didn’t allow me to score [even more] points.”

Vergne said Saturday’s switch to Formula E would be “a little like a journey into the unknown, but it is a journey that I am thoroughly looking forward to”.

Team principal Michael Andretti said: “We’re really happy to put JEV in the car. He has great talent. And having interest and participation from respected F1 drivers shows great strength and the true potential for Formula E as a series and world championship.”