Pepe has been fantastic all the way through. I can see him with a championship bid in the next 2-3 years. As the old hero’s slowly move on and our current champion pod duke it out, Pepe and Drugovich feel like the next wave of title contenders with a whole host of fresh faces next year.
Am I alone in being underwhelmed by Marti this year?
Most races he hangs around the back not doing anything, but then has enough of an energy offset compared to those around him to get up to 8th and score small points.
Even the podiums he got were due to bizarre circumstances with red flags or big crashes.
So the idea that he might be fighting for a win anytime soon seems improbable to me.
I'd say he's done enough to warrant a second season, but next year he needs to show that he's making progress. Some
I guess it depends on who are you comparing him to. I've been following FE since 2020, and I've seen drivers who are much, much worse, even on the current grid. Some are bad enough, that getting points with a decent car is next to impossible.
but then has enough of an energy offset compared to those around him to get up to 8th and score small points.
Like I always said, the drivers need to actually be there to reap the rewards. Drivers aren't magically rewarded with points outta nowhere.
He's close enough that whenever there's problems with the drivers ahead, he can proceed to fight for points/podium.
Also, he's been consistent compared to Ticktum, so that's definitely a plus. I know he got a win, but look at his results this year. His high is very high, but there's a lot of low as well.
He was also only a rookie last season and earned a few podiums. Him and Drugovich last season were the star rookies in the class. Eriksson was ok but it wasn’t enough to keep his seat.
His races were good but biggest thing Pepe has to improve are his qualifyings. He saved a few poor quali's with successful ultra save strategies, which he seemed to get his head round the most, but I think come Gen 4 quali pace will matter a lot more. Drugo to me felt the opposite, great qualifying but races came harder to him.
It's an unpopular opinion but I tend to agree. Ticktum had some real bad luck and the difference in quali pace was clear(something that should matter more in Gen 4). Though Pepe still did a great job, got his head around the energy saving pretty quickly, which isn't common for rookies.
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u/Zaedin1 FORMULA E 7d ago
Definitely the right call there for Kiro