Nato reflects on maiden FE win after early season 'frustrations'
Venturi’s Norman Nato was in jubilant mood after capping off his rookie Formula E season with a victory in Berlin, having been “frustrated” by missed podium chances in Rome and Valencia.


After a technical issue in superpole robbed him of the opportunity to fight for pole in the FE season finale, Nato steadily moved up the order from sixth on the grid, passing the Mercedes of Stoffel Vandoorne for the lead on lap 11 of 32.
Once in front, Nato extended a gap of nearly five seconds over the chasing Nissan of Oliver Rowland, such was his advantage over the rest of the field with Venturi’s customer Mercedes powertrain.
A mid-race safety car following a crash between Lucas di Grassi and Antonio Felix da Costa put his victory in doubt, with Rowland chasing him hard at the restart, but Nato was able to rebuild a buffer for himself to ultimately cross the line over two seconds clear of his Nissan rival.
The victory came as a relief for the Frenchman, who was previously disqualified from third in Rome for exceeding the allocated energy, and then lost another podium in Valencia for nudging Mahindra’s Alex Lynn into the gravel trap.
In fact, Nato was only positioned 21st out of 25 drivers in the championship coming into the final weekend of the season in Berlin, prompting Venturi to consider replacing him with Audi’s Lucas di Grassi.
A formal announcement regarding Venturi’s driver line-up for the 2021/22 season is yet to be made.
Asked if his Berlin win made up for missed podium finishes in Rome and Valencia, Nato told Motorsport.com: “Yeah, exactly. At the end, we did it for me. It was frustrating not to jump on the podium [at those two occasions], but from my point of view we did it and we showed we were able to [fight for podiums on raw pace].
“At earlier stages of the season when I was still like a proper rookie, on the second race weekend I was already fighting for the win and podium.
“[At that time] I knew we were going to get another opportunity [to fight for a podium]. We managed to put everything together and we got this kind of result, so I'm really, really happy.
“We had a good opportunity and the pace was great this morning in free practice when we tried the energy management and everything, so we were confident from this position to be able to fight for the podium and we did much better than - we won the race. So, it was just a perfect race.”

Norman Nato, Venturi Racing, Silver Arrow 02
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Venturi ended its second season as a Mercedes powertrain customer seventh in the championship, with both Nato and Mortara scoring a win each.
The latter ended up second in the drivers’ standings despite retiring from the Berlin E-Prix and suffering a fractured vertebra in a startline crash involving Jaguar’s Mitch Evans.
Nato, who himself jumped to 18th in the final classification, said Venturi can be extremely proud of what it achieved in 2021, as it even outshone its powertrain supplier Mercedes on several occasions.
“This kind of thing is something," he said. "You have to enjoy this kind of moment, especially for us.
“At the beginning of the year, if somebody would have told us Edo would have finished second in the championship, that we would have won two races and five podiums total, [plus] two [podiums] that we lost, we'd certainly be very pleased.
“It's amazing. We were fighting with manufacturers, top drivers and top teams. It's perfect and I want to thank everyone in the team who has been helping me with good moments and moments where it's been difficult because in Formula E it's up and down all the time, so it's good to leave Berlin with a smile.”
Read Also:
Related video

How de Vries claimed Formula E title glory as Mercedes exit bombshell looms
Da Costa makes gym jibe at FE rivals after Berlin crash

Latest news
Team 18's coin toss chassis allocation
Supercars squad Team 18 used a combination of a coin toss and a ping pong ball lottery to allocate its new chassis to drivers Scott Pye and Mark Winterbottom.
BRT not fazed by Ford aero questions
Blanchard Racing Team isn't fazed about the unresolved Ford aero package ahead of its maiden Gen3 Supercars test at Winton tomorrow.
Australian GP releases more race day tickets
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation has announced a final limited release of race day tickets.
Tickford unveils first 2023 livery
Tickford Racing has unveiled its first livery ahead of the 2023 season with the covers coming off Brad Vaughan's Super2 entry.
How Wehrlein's Diriyah double reveals Formula E's form book shake-up
After Porsche-powered drivers locked out the top two positions to open Formula E's new Gen3 era in Mexico, the order was reversed in Diriyah. Ex-Formula 1 driver Pascal Wehrlein's factory car headed Jake Dennis's customer Andretti machine in both races under the Riyadh lights in a display that leaves little doubt as to which package currently has the edge
The first impressions of Formula E's brave new era
OPINION: Formula E kicked off its Gen3 era at Mexico City with keen anticipation - and anxiety - surrounding its new, more powerful cars. Here's how the new machinery got on in its first race, and what could be open to improvement later down the line
How Dennis dominated Formula E's new generation opener
Formula E’s Gen3 era kicked off with more unpredictability as Andretti’s Jake Dennis recovered from poor pre-season testing to dominate in Mexico. Here's how it played out and what the opener hints at what is to come in the new generation of the electric series
Is this a Formula E 'nearly man's' best chance yet at title glory?
With braking issues scuppering his championship hopes at a crucial moment in the 2021-22 Formula E season, Mitch Evans is more determined than ever heading into this year. He explains how he plans to make it third time lucky after two title near-misses
10 things we learned from Valencia Formula E testing
The prologue to the 2022/2023 Formula E season has concluded as the series gets set for the new Gen3 era. After almost four days of testing in Valencia this week, Motorsport.com takes a look at the 10 major talking points that will dominate the build-up to the new campaign getting underway in January.
How Jaguar got its teeth into Formula E's Gen3 development race
With Mercedes gone and DS moving teams, Jaguar has a big opportunity at the start of Formula E's Gen3 era. The technical challenges in understanding the new car have been vast, with senior figures James Barclay and Phil Charles outlining to Motorsport.com the pitfalls along the way
The trait Vandoorne rediscovered to claim Formula E's era-ending title
After Nyck de Vries was crowned Formula E champion in 2021, his Mercedes teammate Stoffel Vandoorne stepped forward this season as the Gen2 era and his team bowed out. As he did on the way to the GP2 crown in 2015, the Belgian achieved a peerless level of consistency and was only outside the points once, with his sole win in Monaco sufficient to head off a chasing pack headed by Mitch Evans
Why Bird can bounce back after a tough 2021-22 Formula E season
With his winning streak coming to an end this season, the 2021-22 Formula E season was tumultuous for Sam Bird, failing to gather momentum as Jaguar generally struggled. But the long-term favourite looks forward to bouncing back next season as the championship enters its new era
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.