Andretti Formula E team principal Roger Griffiths has moved to downplay speculation regarding Norman Nato’s future at the team.
There has been speculation that Nico Mueller could be placed at the team by Porsche following his recent exit from Abt Cupra and Porsche’s longstanding link with the Swiss driver. Such a move would mean an exit for Nato, who joined the team ahead of this season to race alongside series champion Jake Dennis (pictured above leading Nato). But Griffiths has dismissed the speculation, insisting the Frenchman is contracted to the team.
“Norman is still under contract with us,” Griffiths insisted when asked by RACER about the Mueller speculation. “So yeah, until that changes, we don’t have anything to say.”
Andretti gets its powertrain from Porsche and were it to sign Mueller, it would be the second time a Porsche driver has raced for the customer team. But Griffiths says the German brand has no say in Andretti’s lineup and that the last time it fielded someone from Porsche’s roster — Andre Lotterer in Season 9 — it was at Andretti’s request in order for it to get up to speed with its new partner..
“It’s completely our decision,” he said. “With Andre, that was actually a request from us to see if Andre would be available, because we knew that he was stepping away from his factory seat and what we talked about was to help us to get us up to speed with the Porsche car and the Porsche systems. We had yet to decide where we were going with drivers for season nine (2022-23). So it all worked out really well. Driver lineup is 100 percent our decision today and tomorrow.”
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While Andretti went into the championship final doubleheader with a shot at retaining the drivers’ title with Dennis, it ultimately came up short as Porsche and Jaguar’s factory operations came to the fore. While Griffiths admits disappointment at not being able to execute a repeat, he admits he wasn’t entirely surprised with the outcome of the season.
“Obviously going in as defending champions, you always have that hope that you can do it again,” he said. It’s massively difficult to do a repeat championship. I mean, if you look across any motorsport category, there’s not too many people that are back-to-back champions. And there’s a reason,
“I think we got out the gate really well in Season 9 and took a great advantage. Jake got a really good advantage. I think we also figured out the ‘peloton-style’ racing quicker than some of the others, so we sort of carried that momentum, and that took us all the way to the championship.
“Obviously in the offseason, others did their homework around us. I think what we’ve seen generally across the board — and not just with us — is the manufacturer-backed teams have really come to the fore.”
Dennis ultimately finished seventh in the standings with one win and a further three podiums to his name, while Nato added another with third in the second Shanghai race. That combined to put Andretti fifth in the teams’ championship, behind Jaguar TCS Racing, TAG Heuer Porsche, DS Penske and Nissan, but ahead of last year’s teams’ champion Envision Racing and the much-improved NEOM McLaren and Maserati MSG Racing operations that both also reached the winner’s circle during the year.
“We’re the only independent team in the top five, so that sort of says something,” Griffiths said. “The manufacturers have had additional test days; they get an advantage there. So (it’s) not surprising (but) I think, generally, we’re a little disappointed from my perspective. I’d like to have seen one more win.”