Breaking news
Formula E
Rowland: F1 "not my aim anymore" after joining Formula E
Oliver Rowland says he is no longer aiming for a Formula 1 race drive after sealing his ABB FIA Formula E deal with the Nissan e.dams squad.
Alex Kalinauckas
Edited: Dec 12, 2018, 5:07 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Rowland, the 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 champion, finished third in the 2017 Formula 2 championship before working as Williams’s ’18 official young driver, which included a run at the Hungaroring test.
He will make his full-time FE debut with the Nissan team at this weekend’s Ad Diriyah E-Prix alongside Sebastien Buemi.
“I don’t think it’s my aim anymore at all,” Rowland told Motorsport.com when asked if racing F1 remained his ultimate ambition.
“Formula E is going in a really good direction – it’s getting bigger and bigger. It’s exciting – I think the level of drivers is probably, on average of the 22, the best in the world.
“In F1, you’ve got exceptional people, but maybe not the whole grid is the same. But in Formula E, if you look at what they’ve achieved, a lot of them deserve to be in F1 at some point or another.
“So, I’m not focussing on that so much anymore. I’ve got a big opportunity with Nissan and that can be long-term, so not so much on Formula 1 anymore.”
Rowland has completed just one day in Nissan’s 2018/19 FE challenger – the final day of the Valencia pre-season test where he was a late call-up following Alexander Albon emerging as a 2019 Toro Rosso F1 candidate.
Albon subsequently negotiated a friendly release from his three-year deal with Nissan, and Rowland, who was in consideration for a 2018/19 reserve FE role with the team, was signed as his replacement.
As a result of his lack of running, Rowland explained that there was “zero” pressure from Nissan for him to succeed straight away.
“There’s pressure from myself a little bit – I want to do well,” he said.
“That’s normal, I’m a racing driver – I don’t want to go there and finish 10th or 11th, I want to go there and fight with the good guys.
“[But] they’ve made it quite clear that there’s absolutely zero pressure on me.”
When asked what his plans for 2019 had been looking like before he signed with Nissan, Rowland replied: “To be honest, I’m not really sure.
“I had some options still to do more of the reserve stuff in Formula 1 and I’d have probably found something.
“My [2018] year was a bit messed up with the whole [Manor/Ginetta] LMP1 project, to be honest.
“I signed a deal to do that and it was a proper professional contract and stuff like that and it was a good step for me, although the car wasn’t quite ready and things went the way they did.
“It kind of stopped me from doing anything else.
“Now with the [WEC] superseason, it was difficult to try and find something.”
Oliver Rowland, Nissan e.dams, Nissan IMO1
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article BMW: FE "favourite" tag is an Audi smokescreen
Next article Rosenqvist explains decision to leave "booming" Formula E
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Alex Kalinauckas
Who is Kimi Antonelli, F1 sprint polesitter at just 18?
Formula 1
Formula 1 May 3, 2025
Who is Kimi Antonelli, F1 sprint polesitter at just 18?
Why Bottas has the edge over Perez in 2026 F1 return race
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Apr 2, 2025
Why Bottas has the edge over Perez in 2026 F1 return race
What if Red Bull solved its second-car problem with a paint job?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Apr 1, 2025
What if Red Bull solved its second-car problem with a paint job?
More from
Oliver Rowland
The key mindset that led Oliver Rowland and Nissan to the Formula E title
Formula E
Formula E
Berlin ePrix II
Jul 17, 2025
The key mindset that led Oliver Rowland and Nissan to the Formula E title
Oliver Rowland clinches Formula E title as Nick Cassidy wins second Berlin E-Prix
Formula E
Formula E
Berlin ePrix II
Jul 13, 2025
Oliver Rowland clinches Formula E title as Nick Cassidy wins second Berlin E-Prix
Five things we learned from the Mexico City E-Prix
Formula E
Formula E
Mexico City ePrix
Jan 13, 2025
Five things we learned from the Mexico City E-Prix
More from
DAMS
Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
28 d
Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role
Correa: F2 podium return “surreal” on Hubert anniversary
FIA F2
FIA F2
Barcelona
Jun 24, 2024
Correa: F2 podium return “surreal” on Hubert anniversary
Crawford joins DAMS for 2024 F2 season after Red Bull split
FIA F2
FIA F2
Abu Dhabi
Nov 27, 2023
Crawford joins DAMS for 2024 F2 season after Red Bull split
Latest news
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
16 min
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 4 h
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 4 h
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe