How Mercedes and Porsche can avoid a difficult second FE album

By:

Matt Kew

Feb 17, 2021, 3:27 PM

Mercedes and Porsche compete to win and have done so across the board: in Formula 1, sportscars, the Dakar Rally and endurance road races - even working together to break land speed records. Next in the crosshairs is the Formula E teams' championship crown.

Subscribe to PRIME Sign in

Success coming decade after decade hasn't allowed delusions of grandeur to creep in. Complacency doesn't take a manufacturer to the top, nor does it keep it there. But, owing to their accomplishments, there's an expectation from spectators and the boardroom that they will deliver the goods in the electric series, despite the relative youth of both programmes.

The two German titans share a common goal ahead of the 2021 campaign, their second in FE. Both are gunning to topple incumbent king DS Techeetah to win the teams' crown. This target has been placed knowing just how hotly contested FE is, that consistency and incremental gains - rather than silver bullets - are the keys to a sustained title push.

comments

Related video

Matt Kew

Twitter

Matt Kew is Autosport's F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 after stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham's banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing is undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.