With three DTM championship titles, overall wins in 24 Hours of Spa and Nürburgring, and two class wins in 24 Hours of Daytona, René Rast isn't the type to leave unfinished business. Formula E is an outlier in that regard - the German had never closed the door on a return to the all-electric series and is back to lead our FE charge.

Joining the newly-formed NEOM McLaren Formula E Team after a year out of the championship, René arrives with hunger, determination and experience by the bucketload.

Formula E's season sparks into life this weekend for Round 1 at Mexico City, and the two-time podium finisher will be hoping to add a victory to his lengthy list of honours, although at this early stage, and with FE entering a new era, he was keen to play down expectations.

We caught up with René at the McLaren Technology Centre to discuss the season ahead and find out why he believes it's impossible to predict what to expect from the Gen3 reset.

How excited are you to join the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team?

Being in the factory, driving my car, and working with the team, everything feels real now, and I am very excited. Being a part of the McLaren family is a huge privilege and honour, and I am looking forward to whatever comes this year.

What convinced you that this was the right team for you?

I was in talks throughout the year with Ian [James] after it was decided that the change from Mercedes to McLaren would happen. The team won the last two World Championships, so I knew they would be competitive. The combination of McLaren and then the staff who won two titles with Mercedes-EQ made it, for me, a no-brainer to try and get the seat.

What can you bring to McLaren?

I think my experience in racing, in general, is something valuable because I've done a lot of different kinds of championships and race series, whether it be touring cars and Formula E or sprint racing and distance racing - I have worked with many different types of teams and cars.

I've got experience and knowledge in many ways and areas, and I hope to bring some of that to the team. I have also got that experience in Formula E and know how to race in the series, which is very different from other forms of racing. I think it is important to have a driver in the team who knows how the game works in Formula E. Hopefully, these things can help me and bring value to McLaren.

In what ways exactly can that previous experience in Formula E help you and the team?

I think it's important that one of the drivers has past experience in how to attack a race and what things to focus on. It's positive to have somebody in the team who has done a full season already. I think that outside of driving, the biggest asset I can bring to the team is my knowledge of Formula E and how to win championships, which I believe can complement the experience within the team and add to the understanding of Formula E and winning titles that we already have here.

There's no secret guide to winning championships, but you need to be more than just quick, you need a plan, and I think I can help to bring that from a driver's perspective.

How important is it to foster that winning mentality?

The winning mentality is very important. Every day I want to be a better race driver, and I want to achieve more performance. As a team, we want to push ourselves, and I want to play my part in showing the team what can be better and what can be improved. It's very important for us to all pull on the same rope and try to move in the same direction.

How different is the Gen2 car from the Gen3 car?

Gen3 has more power in general, around 350 kilowatts in peak power compared to 250 in the Gen2, so 100 kilowatts more in peak power, which is a big difference. That's the biggest difference, but not the only one. We now have a motor on the front, which recuperates, braking is different, and accelerating is different. The way the car handles is pretty similar, though.

Where do you think the team is at the moment?

We've bonded together quite nicely, I have spent plenty of time with the team now. I believe that the team is starting on a very high level. I've spent many years in racing now, and I think I can say that the team I am working with now at McLaren is probably the most professional team I've ever worked with. Everything is very well organised and structured.

We have very, very good, high-quality people, and the decision-making is very quick. We have all the key ingredients you need to be a successful team. We just need to focus on the execution now, and work to maximise our performance in every race weekend. The rest is not in our hands.

What do you think is realistically achievable this season?

We don't know. Nobody knows. We could be winning the championship, but it also might be that we don't score points at all. Nobody on the grid wants that, but it's too early to say what we can achieve.

So, you're going in open-minded?

Yeah, we have to be open-minded, but we can only focus on ourselves and hope that the package we have, the car, the powertrain, everything, is good enough to compete with the frontrunners. Right now, we realistically don't know. Of course, the aim is to win the championship – it wouldn't make sense to take part if it wasn't. But that is the ultimate goal, whether or not we are good enough this year, we cannot tell yet.

What have you been working on in the lead-up to Round 1?

We had the Valencia test, and we've been working on getting to know each other as well as possible so that we can speak the same language. It is important that when I am speaking with the engineer, or anyone else in the team, that when I say something, they know what I mean.

The team is already on a high level, though, we've worked on controlling the things that we can control and making sure that side of things runs smoothly. We've been focused on our preparation work, we've spent time in the simulator, and we've been organised. We are good to go for the first race.

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