Mitch Evans had admitted it took nearly a whole season to get on top of the Gen3 Formula E car, such were the differences between the current machine and Gen2.
New technical regulations and new tyres were introduced for 2023 which saw Porsche and Jaguar regularly at the front of the field, with Evans clawing himself into the title race approaching the final events.
He finished the season in third, behind compatriot Nick Cassidy and Andretti‘s Jake Dennis after high drama in Rome and London.
“It basically took a whole season to get on top of the new car completely,” Evans exclusively told Total-Motorsport.com.
“There was nothing we could carry on from Gen2 – the tyres were so different, the way the car has been designed was totally different. There’s massive potential for us to improve.
“We all didn’t expect the tyres to be as hard as they were. That definitely made it trickier because we had more power and less grip. That was tricky to get on top of.
“As a whole, the car has produced very good racing. But it has got a lot of potential to be faster. From where we were at the start of the season I felt a lot more comfortable at the end.”
Will 2024 be Evans’ year?
Evans, who will remain with Jaguar next year, has been the bridesmaid in Formula E after coming close to the title in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
He was off the pace in Mexico City and Diriyah at the start of the season, was taken out by teammate Sam Bird in Hyderabad, given a drive through penalty in Cape Town and made a rare race-ending error in Rome as he hit Cassidy.
The 29-year-old feels he’s driven at a high level since 2019 and is targeting a cleaner 2024 to win the title.
“Since Season 5 I’ve felt at one with the way the car behaves and everything,” said Evans. “This year we had a good qualifying car while last year we did struggle with that a little bit. It’s just, trying to execute a full year seems to be our struggle at the moment.
“I had a pretty solid year. I made one mistake. We just need to have a clean year as a team. We missed a few opportunities at the start – obviously Hyderabad, Cape Town and Rome didn’t help.
“At one point I think I was 80 points behind the lead and from Sao Paulo I had a lot of work to do. We had a really strong year, it just wasn’t good enough.”
When is the 2024 Formula E season?
The new Formula E season begins with pre-season testing from Valencia at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo from October 23-27, with Mexico City hosting the 2024 opener on January 13.
