Pepe Martí on his Formula E Berlin race debut: 'It's unbelievable!'

Formula E rookie Pepe Martí is not short of vivid memories from last weekend's Berlin E-Prix double-header. For the 20-year-old Cupra Kiro driver, the German capital delivered something unlike anything he had experienced before in motorsport — and he has been candid about just how extreme it felt.

The Most Extreme Energy-Saving Race on the Calendar

Martí arrived at Tempelhof having never raced in Berlin before, and left with a seventh-place finish in Race 1 and 12th in Race 2 — the latter being the more extreme pack-racing event. The results themselves were solid enough, but it was what unfolded on track that left the biggest impression.

"We did everything perfectly strategy-wise and, yeah, sort of just got screwed over at times. It felt like sometimes we executed really well, and then sometimes we just didn't get the luck. There's many times where I went for an overtake and ended up losing two positions. Many times where I went for one and gained a position. So you never really know what's going to happen in the corner until you're in it."

It is precisely that unpredictability that makes Berlin so difficult to master — and so challenging for rookies to adapt to. The racing is defined not just by pace or strategy, but by a constant stream of split-second decisions that can move a driver multiple places in either direction within the span of a single corner.

A Race of Chaos — and a Blind Spot

What made Martí's second Berlin race even more treacherous was a mechanical misfortune that compounded the already chaotic nature of pack racing. Just ten laps in, he lost his right mirror — leaving him, in his own words, "completely blind" on that side of the car.

In a race environment where cars materialise from nowhere at high speed, that kind of sensory deprivation is genuinely dangerous. Martí described one particular moment that sent a chill through his afternoon.

"There was a point where we were three-wide down the straight, and I was on the right side of it, and all of a sudden, I think it was Felipe [Drugovich] who appeared on Attack Mode, and I got really scared," he said.

"Because you're so blinded, and they're doing their thing, which is completely fine, but in the space of 0.5 seconds, you go from everything being fine — I'm happy and living life — to facing a brick wall in 200 metres."

The reference to Drugovich is a telling one. As Felipe Drugovich himself has noted, the Gen4 Formula E car represents a massive step forward in performance, and at Tempelhof, that performance arrives fast and without warning — particularly in Attack Mode.

For Martí, the experience was a sharp reminder that adapting to Berlin's pack racing is a process, not an instant skill. The mirror loss forced him to navigate one of the most chaotic circuits in the championship while operating at a significant informational disadvantage — a test that would have challenged even a seasoned Formula E campaigner.

"It's very hard to predict what's going to happen and try to get around it sometimes. But yeah, it's definitely something I'll have to get used to over time," he added.

A Learning Curve Worth Embracing

Pack races are notoriously the hardest element of Formula E for newcomers to understand. The racing logic is unlike anything in single-seater motorsport — traditional racecraft is only partially applicable, and the role of energy management, timing, and positional awareness creates a discipline that takes time to absorb.

Martí's Berlin weekend was far from a disaster. A seventh-place finish on debut at Tempelhof is a result that many experienced drivers would take, and his candid assessment of what went wrong — and what he needs to improve — reflects the self-awareness of a driver already beginning to decode a uniquely demanding challenge.

With the Formula E season now heading to Monaco for its next double-header, Martí will have another opportunity to add to his experience. But Berlin, with its mirrors lost and cars appearing out of thin air at 200 metres per second, will be a reference point he returns to for some time.

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Source: RacingNews365