One of racing’s most unfashionable and misunderstood drivers will return to a single-seater later this month and could be given a chance to claim a future in Formula E.
Will Stevens will test with the DS Penske team at the forthcoming Berlin rookie test, becoming the third ex-Formula 1 driver so far to join that entry list alongside Daniil Kvyat and Jack Aitken.
Despite a peculiar passe and undeserved reputation in single-seaters, Stevens is exactly the type of driver that some teams in the Formula E paddock probably need right now. The only surprise is that a top team took so long to give him the call.
That might seem a bold and sweeping statement but Stevens’ stock in sportscar racing is so high that many consider his technical, racing and all-round team-playing professionalism as a must-have asset.
Those people include some senior manufacturer personnel that have worked with him over the years at teams such as WRT, McLaren F1 and his present squad Jota in the World Endurance Championship. It’s little surprise he’s held in such high regard.
Anthony Davidson, the driver he replaced within Jota at the end of 2021, was actually one of the key figures to offer his recommendations – even though the team knew Stevens, having run him twice before in 2016 and 2019.
“Will has really come of age as a sportscar driver. He’s consistently quick and a very polished driver these days. He’s also a good team player and generally a good bloke,” Davidson told The Race.
“I’ve often said that I felt he was overlooked, possibly wrongly pigeon-holed after his brief time in F1, but I think Jota in particular has honed him into the driver he is today.
“He’s always had a good understanding of what’s needed in terms of finding a good balance in a car but I think as he’s matured he’s been able to achieve that in a more constructive way than in the past.
“Will also never lost any of his raw speed but now drives with the ability to see the bigger picture too, which makes him a very complete driver.”
The ex-Caterham and Manor F1 driver, who raced in 18 grands prix in 2014 and 2015, is set to run with the US-entered DS Penske team for the full-day test on April 24.
He came onto the radar of Formula E teams last year when he attended the London E-Prix and is believed to have spoken to McLaren ahead of the 2023 season. Stevens holds a sim testing position at the McLaren F1 squad and frequently assists the team ahead of grands prix.
The 31-year-old has enjoyed a successful sportscar career since his time in F1, winning races in the WEC, Blancpain GT3 series and the European Le Mans Series. He has also won both the LMGTE Am and LMP2 classes at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2017 and 2022 respectively.
Last season, along with Antonio Felix da Costa and Roberto Gonzalez, he claimed the WEC LMP2 title with Jota – the team with which he and da Costa will race a Porsche 963 Hypercar from the 6 Hours of Spa onwards this season.
For several seasons, Stevens’ reputation was blunted by his time in F1 when he was in such starkly uncompetitive machinery. But prior to that he had won Renault 3.5 series races against the likes of Oliver Rowland, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz.
Although snapped up by McLaren for simulator and testing purposes, Stevens shifted his career focus in 2016 with appearances in the WEC for Manor and the G-Drive squad that was run by the Jota concern.
That relationship was revisited in 2019, when he won at Sebring, and then subsequently in 2022 with the title, which included a dominant victory at Le Mans.
DS Penske has had a mixed start to its first season as a new entity combining the old Dragon Racing stable and the DS Automobiles manufacturer. The team is 90% made up of the former DS Techeetah team but, despite being among the early title favourites, had a lacklustre first three races of the season.
Jean-Eric Vergne then won the fourth race in Hyderabad, before scoring a second place in Cape Town and a fifth in Sao Paulo to keep touch with early season points leader Pascal Wehrlein.
Reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne has scored points in four of the six races but has only a highest position of sixth, from the last round in Sao Paulo, where he also claimed pole position.
The test itself is not being viewed by the DS Penske team as especially crucial. This is likely to be due to a combination of the quirky and atypical Berlin surface and the fact that teams want to preserve elements of their technical packages, which are strictly homologated during a season. As a result, some teams are expected to limit their mileage during the day.
But in Stevens, it has a useful asset that it will surely get attracted to for future work – whether it be on simulator or track.
Whether Stevens gets a chance to race in Formula E or not is unknown. On the face of it feels unlikely. Yet many may have thought the same of Jake Dennis or Jake Hughes over the last two years.
Motorsport has a funny habit of throwing up unlikely feel-good stories and should it do so again on this occasion it would be one of the best.
Keyword: A misunderstood ex-F1 driver is getting a long overdue FE chance