At the recent London E-Prix, an important chapter in the history of Formula E came to a close with DS Automobiles’ final appearance. From DS Virgin Racing to DS Penske, via the triumphant years with DS Techeetah, the French manufacturer has left its mark on the championship’s evolution, going out on a high note with Taylor Barnard’s victory in the final race.
It is difficult to separate the history of DS Automobiles from that of Formula E, and vice versa. When the French manufacturer joined the championship in 2015, the series was still only in its second season. DS itself was a very young brand – it was launched in June 2014 – and the trajectories of both the brand and the championship would evolve in parallel. For DS, the aim was to turn electric racing into a technological testing ground and use Formula E to accelerate the development of the brand’s future electrified cars. For the championship, the aim was to grow by attracting as many manufacturers as possible, and this is how the whole venture experienced significant growth.
DS Virgin Racing: the first successes
For DS Automobiles, the adventure began with Sir Richard Branson’s British team, Virgin Racing, which had already been competing the previous season. Sam Bird quickly became one of the faces of the programme, securing DS’s first victory in just his fourth race, in Buenos Aires, after taking pole position and leading the race from start to finish. The English driver competed for three seasons alongside Jean-Eric Vergne, Jose Maria Lopez and Alex Lynn. Bird went on to become the driving force behind the Virgin years. Some of his victories even took on historic significance. In July 2017, he won the first-ever motor race held in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of New York, before repeating the feat the following day. A few months later, in April 2018, he also triumphed at the inaugural Rome E-Prix. By the end of his first three seasons, the first generation of single-seaters powered by DS Performance had secured five victories and 16 podium finishes.
DS Techeetah: two years at the pinnacle of electric racing
The arrival of the Gen2 for the 2018–2019 season marked a turning point, as this more technologically advanced car was designed entirely by DS Performance. At the same time, DS Automobiles parted ways with Virgin and joined forces with the Chinese company Techeetah. The new DS Techeetah partnership went on to set the standard in the championship. Vergne, already a champion with Techeetah (then a customer team powered by a Renault powertrain) the previous season, was paired with Andre Lotterer. The DS E-Tense FE19 proved immediately competitive, securing seven podium finishes. On 14 July 2019, in New York, Vergne became the first driver in Formula E history to secure a second title, having claimed three victories that same season. DS Techeetah also won the constructors’ championship, bringing DS Automobiles its first world title.
A year later, DS doubled their success!
For the 2019–2020 season, Lotterer was replaced by Antonio Felix da Costa. The Portuguese driver went on to dominate the 2019–2020 season, which was disrupted by the pandemic. The championship concluded with six races held over nine days on various configurations of the Berlin-Tempelhof circuit, with Da Costa clinching the drivers’ title whilst DS Techeetah retained its team crown. This was yet another historic achievement for the series, achieved against a particularly challenging backdrop. This period undoubtedly represents DS’s golden age in Formula E. Their dominance in 2019–2020 remains particularly impressive: four wins and nine podium finishes in eleven races, with a 77-point lead in the teams’ championship. At the time, no team had ever finished a season with such a margin. Over the four Gen2 seasons, DS Techeetah racked up 10 wins, 15 pole positions and 28 podium finishes in 55 races, whilst finishing every championship in the top three teams. No one has ever done better since. By this stage, DS Automobiles was no longer just a major player in Formula E: it had become the benchmark.
Vergne: Key driver and brand ambassador
If one were to associate a driver with this journey, it would obviously be Vergne. The Frenchman has a special relationship with DS, having already driven for DS Virgin Racing during the brand’s debut season in 2015–2016, before rejoining the manufacturer with DS Techeetah and then continuing the journey with DS Penske. Champion in 2018 before joining DS, then crowned champion again in 2019 at the wheel of a DS, Vergne was, until last Sunday, the only double Formula E champion (he has now been equalled by Pascal Wehrlein). He also played a major part in DS’s second constructors’ title in 2020. He has been joined by a succession of big names: Bird, Lopez, Lynn, Lotterer, Da Costa, Stoffel Vandoorne, Maximilian Guenther and, finally, Barnard.
DS Penske: A new chapter with the Gen3
In 2022, another cycle change: Formula E moves to Gen3 and DS Automobiles teams up this time with Penske Autosport. DS Penske is launched with a particularly prestigious driver line-up: Vergne and Vandoorne, the reigning world champion arriving from Mercedes.
The dominance of the Techeetah years would not be repeated, but DS became a thorn in the side of big-budget teams such as Porsche and Jaguar. Nevertheless, whenever the circuit was new or race strategy proved more important than raw performance, the DS Penske team rose to the occasion and dominated proceedings. Vergne thus secured the DS E-Tense FE23’s first victory in Hyderabad in February 2023. The Frenchman then went on to rack up a string of impressive performances and records. In April 2024, he notably became the driver to have scored the most points in the championship’s history, surpassing the 1,000-point mark.
Vandoorne was not to be outdone: with pole position in Sao Paulo and a podium finish in Monaco, the Belgian driver enjoyed some fine moments in motorsport. Guenther (formerly of Maserati) then joined Vergne and helped DS return to winning ways, before a new duo comprising Guenther and Barnard took to the track for DS Penske. One of the highlights was the famous 1-2 finish achieved by the pair in 2025 in Shanghai, which was to be the Franco-American team’s final major triumph.
During DS Penske’s final appearance in the Formula E world championship, last weekend in London, Barnard’s fifth place in the first of the two races initially enabled DS to pass the 2,000-point mark in Formula E. Then, the following day, they made history by winning the final race of the Gen3 era thanks to a magnificent victory by Barnard, who, at 22, became the youngest ever winner of the Formula E world championship.
Having won on every continent over the course of 11 seasons, with 19 victories, 56 podium finishes and 26 pole positions (in 154 races), DS Automobiles will remain one of the most successful manufacturers in Formula E for a long time to come.
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