Pepe Martí opens up on eye-opening Formula E experience: 'It's unbelievable'

Formula E rookie Pepe Martí has opened up about his first experience of a Berlin pack race — the most extreme energy-saving event on the calendar — describing it as "unbelievable".

While pack races, often referred to as peloton races, have become a common sight in the Gen3 era of Formula E, Berlin's Tempelhof Airport Circuit takes it to an entirely new level.

It has consistently produced the most extreme energy-saving races, often featuring hundreds of overtakes and, at times, four cars abreast at certain corners.

For Martí, it was an eye-opening experience of how dramatically positions can change from corner to corner, with him describing it as "so different" to other forms of motorsport.

The Cupra Kiro driver, given it was his first visit to the German capital, performed valiantly, finishing seventh in the first race and 12th in the second, the latter featuring the more extreme pack-racing style.

Asked what his first true experience of a Berlin pack race was like, Martí told RacingNews365: "Honestly, it's just so different to any other motorsport. It's unbelievable. There are things that you can't control. Strategy-wise, first and second [Evans and Rowland] had ours.

"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."

A race of chaos

Pack races are often the hardest thing for Formula E rookies to understand and adapt to, given just how unique the style of racing is.

What made the experience even tougher for Martí was losing his right mirror early in the race, leaving him "completely blind".

This resulted in some sketchy moments for the 20-year-old, who acknowledged that it is something he will have to better understand for future extreme energy-saving races.

"I mean, I lost my right mirror like 10 laps into the race, so I was completely blind on the right side," added Martí.

"And 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.

"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.

"So yeah, 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."