All photos are courtesy of Sergio Álvarez. Interview: Sergio Álvarez.
Interview with Florian Modlinger, Team Principal, PORSCHE FORMULA E TEAM.
Q, FIA host: How happy are you with what you’ve seen so far in testing here in Valencia?
FM: I’m very happy with what we did this week, we conducted our programme as planned, with procedures and operations, integrating Nico (Müller) within the team. From all that we did this week, I’m really looking forward to going to Sao Paulo (for the 1st race) because we had a long week of testing, we have known the car for some years and now it’s time to go racing.
Q, FIA host: We sense some confidence in your expression, in your voice. There will be things that you’re working on in the next few weeks that you’ve learned from this test. Can you give us an insight into where you’ll be focusing your attention in preparation for the first race?
FM: You’ve mentioned confidence and in Formula E you can never be confident. You need to progress. As soon as you think you’re good, you’ll not be good and that’s the message. We need to always try and find all the bits which are left over: controls, software, car set-up, preparation, getting the last bit out of it. And that’s the target: we collected a lot of data here. We had a clear programme which we conducted without any scratches on the car or technical issues. And this data will now be properly analysed at home. We will try to identify further potential and work on this until the Sao Paulo race. You will never be able to rest in Formula E, that’s the huge challenge here. The competition is so close that you can’t make any mistakes.
Q, FIA host: How has Nico (Müller) found his first week with the team? What’s the relationship between Pascal Wehrlein and Nico?
FM: When we’re here on the race track, we work hard on every little detail. I think they go very well together and for me it’s very nice to see. What they need in the car, which set-up they need to drive, they’re very close together which is important for any team. And also (it’s amazing) how close they’re together on the timing sheets in each session and in each sector. It’s been a good week, a good start, a good introduction for Nico in the team and obviously we need to build (on our relationship) and we’ll see in the race.
Sergio Álvarez: How do you juggle the development of the current Porsche 99X Electric Gen3 car and work on the new GEN4 racer for the 2026/27 season?
FM: A really good question. We’ve been there in the past in previous seasons. It’s always a huge challenge, especially for manufacturers and for factory teams (like Porsche). I can only speak for ourselves. We need to do separate testing which means during testing we always use the resources of the people who go racing (who are on the racing team). It’s a big challenge to get everything right. The race calendar, the test calendar. You can be competitive in this season with the older generation car but also to try and develop a competitive car for the next generation. You need to be wary on the manufacturer’s side when it comes to the cost cap. You have two separate projects and you need to really allocate your resources in a way where you want to be competitive this year but we also want to have a competitive car in the future. It’s always going to compromise each of your projects but that’s the same challenge for everybody and it’s not an easy one. It’s really tough but we like challenges, that’s why we’re here in Formula E. We’re really looking forward to developing this Gen4 car. It’s going to be amazing.
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