If ever a racing team’s livery could define its performance, Dragon Racing would be a prime example. In season one, the team’s

cars ran in a matt-black colour scheme, with sparing silver accents. Driver Jerome D’Ambrosio favoured a dark helmet with minimal coloured flashes. It was all very understated. Stealthy, almost.

The team went about its business in a similarly low-key fashion, attracting very little attention throughout the season but managing to finish second only to the dominant e.dams-Renault squad in the teams’ championship, securing a win along the way. Even for those in the paddock, it was all a bit baffling.

“We were never really flashy,” D’Ambrosio agrees. He has piercing blue eyes, favours a stubbly chin and seems to be almost permanently smiling. “We just worked hard. It might be a kind of standard answer but, in this case, it’s what worked. Small improvements.”

“We didn’t lose ourselves,” D’Ambrosio explains. “We never made huge changes on the car. We tried to make one step forwards at a time. It took maybe a little more time but at least the advancements we made were advancements. It was not like shooting

from the hip, where you could get it right or wrong. That was the key for us.”

Dragon Racing has now thrown out the matt black and, with it, any effort to slip into the second season unnoticed. The new cars are resplendent in gleaming red chrome far more fitting for a team named after a fire-breathing beast. It is, in fact, rather flashy but D’Ambrosio is ready to step into the electric racing spotlight.

“Formula E is my main programme,” he says. “People jumped into this and thought it’s a side project. There are more race weekends in Formula E than in DTM and DTM is not a side programme. Formula E is a full time series. This is my priority.”

This is an excerpt from the October 2015 edition of the Current E magazine.