The Monaco round was an extremely high stakes and chaotic event, with plenty of drama and accidents throughout the over 30 laps. Pit Debrief had the opportunity to speak with some of the race’s main character on their eventful races, including Robert Frijns.
It definitely was an up-and-down day for the Envision driver. After dominating in the early practise sessions, a positive Qualifying session had seen him start from P9, missing out by only 0.200s on making the cut to the Duels.
The Dutch driver moved a bit forward at the beginning of the race, up to P7 at the first restart.
On Lap 10 however his race was irreversible damaged, as he came into contact with reigning champion Jake Dennis in the Tunnel. The collision caused to his car, as well as to the Brit’s , severe front wing damage, which had him returning to the Pits for a new one.
Ultimately he ended the day in P17, never able to recover from the costly crash. Frijns was left severely disappointed after the day, as he said after the end of the race:
“I’ve had better times. I don’t know what to say. It’s just not fun to drive this anymore, I think.”
Asked on whether he thinks he could have recovered from the accident had his car not been as damaged, the former ABT driver denied, not only due to the specifics of the Monaco track, and especially its narrowness:
“ Impossible. As you can see. “
Frijns also compared racing with the Gen2 cars to the newer generation of challengers introduced in 2023, the Gen3, mentioning that the perks of the evolution have levelled the field due to the severe need for energy saving:
“The previous generation is purely about if you’re good, you’re ahead, if you’re bad, you’re behind. But that’s no longer the case in this sport.“
The issue isn’t just track related, added the Dutchman, bringing up the fact that not returning to Monaco wouldn’t improve the situation. In fact, the uncertainness of the races had been apparent even at the Italian rounds, held at a permanent track and thus allowing much more room for overtakes:
“It has nothing to do with Monaco. It’s the same everywhere, wherever we go.”
While unsure on what could be done by Formula E in order to help improving the standard level of racing and performance, Frijns remarked that action needs to be taken:
“ I have no idea… More penalties or I don’t know what, but this isn’t normal,” he concluded.
