00:00Jaguar TCS Racing has successfully defended its Formula E title in a nail-biting finale in London.
00:07A third place from Antonio Felix da Costa in race 16 was followed by a fourth place from Mitch Evans
00:14in the final race of 17,
00:17meaning that Jaguar held off Porsche to secure this season's team's championship.
00:22Our correspondent Michael Morillia spoke to Jaguar team principal Ian James.
00:27Ian, motor racing fans may be asking the question, why should I watch Formula E when I can watch Formula
00:34One?
00:34How would you respond to that question?
00:37Our races are typically shorter, so about 45 minutes.
00:41So it's something that, especially in this day and age, I think is easier to digest.
00:46A huge amount of overtaking, which you don't necessarily get in Formula One anymore.
00:51So a lot more action. And I think from a strategic perspective, actually, it adds a little bit more as
00:57well.
00:58So there are certain elements. We have something called attack mode, which we've had for a number of years now,
01:02which really gives us sort of strategic challenge to the teams, adds a little bit more excitement into the races.
01:07And then we have two different race formats at the moment.
01:09We have what we call a pit boost race, where we come into the pit stops for additional energy.
01:13And then we have other more traditional races where we don't stop during the race.
01:17And again, that adds a different challenge from a strategic perspective, which I think from a fan point of view
01:22can also be of interest.
01:25Yeah, that is really interesting.
01:26Now, the races offer a chance for car makers to market themselves to the general public.
01:32How does Formula E help Jaguar to grow its brand?
01:36We're about to launch Type Zero One, which is going to be the first in our new product lineup as
01:41we go into a new age,
01:43which is a new chapter, if you like, where we're now going to be a fully EV brand.
01:47So I think, again, the connection between what we do on the racetrack in Formula E and the road car
01:52side of the business is stronger than ever.
01:54And it obviously goes beyond just a marketing exercise.
01:58Our engineers are working together, both on the racing side as well as the automotive side,
02:03to make sure that we can really capitalize on the knowledge and the technology transfer that we get in both
02:08directions.
02:08China is a huge consumer market, electric vehicles, very popular in that country.
02:14What do you think China means for the growth of Formula E?
02:18It's very rare that you actually see anything other than an EV driving around.
02:22So we can see that growth potential coming through there.
02:25China remains an incredibly important market for us.
02:28So it's important that we get our brand out there and Formula E provides a great platform for us to
02:33do just that.
02:34Do you think that a Chinese team will be part of Formula E in the next few years?
02:38I think it's only a matter of time and I welcome it with open arms.
02:41I think the competition would be fantastic.
02:44But I think that they also recognize just how competitive the championship is and they will want to come in
02:51and be competitive themselves.
02:52And that's not done overnight.
02:54So I would anticipate that if somebody is going to be looking at coming in, they're going to be doing
02:58their homework in the background
02:59and probably spending some time really understanding what it's going to take to compete with the likes of Jaguar, Porsche,
03:05Nissan, Mahindra and the rest out there.
03:08And then making sure that they can hit the ground running.
03:11Talk to us about the use of artificial intelligence in Formula E.
03:14How has that helped to enhance the technology inside the cars?
03:18With Formula E, we actually have 30 operational personnel at a track, which is an incredibly small team.
03:24And it means that we need to rely on other tools, other systems such as AI to be able to
03:28develop at the speed that we want to develop.
03:30We're going to be leaning heavier into AI as we go forward, really making sure that we leverage that.
03:36And the championship welcomes that as well.
03:37I think we want to be at the cutting edge of technology.
03:39So it's going to be exciting to see what we can do to really get the most value out of
03:43that in the coming years.
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