Cape Town Street Circuit, Saturday 25 February

Hear from NEOM McLaren Formula E Team drivers René Rast and Jake Hughes, and Team Principal Ian James after the Cape Town E-Prix.

Free Practice 2	P12 (1:09.092)
Qualifying	P7 (1:08.962), Grid: P10 (due to 3-place grid penalty)
Race	P4

“Today was good. I had a good recovery today. I started the race in P10 and finished in P4. I was really happy with my performance in Qualifying in the Group stage, where I was fastest, which unfortunately didn’t come together in the Duels. I then received a penalty from India, so started three places back. However, I had good race pace, good efficiency, good energy management and the team and I made the right calls. I’m very happy with how we executed the race and delighted to have scored some more points, a good step in the right direction. Next up is Brazil next month, which I am looking forward to.”

Free Practice 2	P14 (1:09.262)
Qualifying	P15 (1:09.493), Grid: P13
Race	P10

“All in all, a difficult weekend for me. It was one of the first difficult weekends I have had so far in terms of performance. The result wasn’t there in India for various reasons out of our control, but the performance was really good there. I struggled with the car and the track today, in Qualifying I hit the wall, which meant I carried some damage through the session which compromised us. Still, we started P13 and I felt pretty comfortable in terms of energy, but we found some strange things during the final Safety Car which put us on the back foot. We still need to understand what happened, but for most of the race we were comfortable with energy, which is a positive. A massive thanks to the team, they had to repair my car between Qualifying and the race at short notice. I’m looking forward to going again in Brazil soon.”

IAN JAMES, Team Principal

“Cape Town has, undoubtedly, provided one of the most stunning backdrops to a Formula E race. The Capetonians have also welcomed us with open arms, proving not only to be passionate about motorsport, but knowledgeable about Formula E. I'm confident that the race itself also delivered for the fans, with action aplenty.

“For our part, we didn't see the strong Qualifying pace we've achieved at the previous events. Despite this, René was able to top his group and progress to the duels, eventually starting P10 on the grid following a 3-place penalty carried-over from Hyderabad. Jake started in P13, which left both drivers with plenty to do doing the race.

“Ultimately, knowing that the race itself had the potential to throw up a few surprises, our focus was on executing a strategy which would deliver solid points. To this end, the team delivered, with René finishing in P4 and Jake in P10. There's still work to do in order to realise our full potential, but we've now got a few weeks before the next race on the Saturday 25 March, in São Paulo - and the team will be working as hard as ever.”

Standings after Round 5

	NEOM McLaren Formula E Team	4th (66 points)
	Jake Hughes	7th (38 points)
	René Rast	9th (28 points)

Join the team

McLaren Plus is our free-to-join fan loyalty programme, bringing McLaren fans closer to the team with the most inclusive, rewarding and open-to-all fan programmes in motorsport.

Sign up now, or current members can amend their details in the form below if necessary.