Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne says was “sad” and “angry” when he made his series debut at the 2014 Punta del Este race.
Shortly after losing out on a Red Bull drive to his Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, and being pushed out of Formula 1 altogether, Vergne arrived at the third round of the maiden Formula E season with Andretti.
Despite his supposed issues off the track he claimed pole position, and led for much of the race before running out of energy short of the finish.
“I came into Formula E in the worst possible state of mind,” Vergne said.
“I was out of F1, I was angry, disappointed, sad, I was feeling a lot of negative feelings. Obviously getting pole position was nice but it’s not helped me to get to where I am today.
“It’s difficult to make a judgement. I’m very happy and very fortunate to be in this championship, I don’t think many drivers thought this at the beginning and now you see Felipe Massa and other drivers wanting to do Formula E.”
Vergne suffered a falling out with his season two home DS Virgin, which reached its climax during his home race in Paris during an intense battle for second with team-mate Sam Bird.
He has since cited moving to Techeetah as part of his turnaround and growth as a driver since his departure from F1.
“I realised it is more difficult in Formula E when I arrived from F1,” he said.
“I’m pretty sure a driver would find fighting for a race wins and podiums complicated in Formula E, and it’s something I didn’t realise. That’s why I was quick in qualifying but never finished the race.”
Vergne’s Formula E title win was his first since claiming the British Formula 3 championship in 2010, and has also seen success in sports cars during 2018.
His peak came in May when in three consecutive weekends won the Formula E race in Paris, the World Endurance Championship’s Six Hours of Spa and the European Le Mans Series race at Monza.
