Formula E’s defending champion knew going in the sports second season that it would be extremely unlikely his NEXTEV TCR car will be in a position for the Brazilian to defend his crown.

Nelson Piquet Jr has only picked up four points throughout the first seven races of the season and admitted that the team did not have much time to develop their season two car, as the privateer team was just focused on finding money to complete the first season.

“You have to remember that our team was a privateer team who were underdogs. We had no manufacturers, and we were looking for pay drivers. We are like the Manor team in Formula One, no offence to them but we are in a similar situation as we are a small team compared to the likes of Renault, Audi and Mahindra, who are manufacturers who will be here for at least three to five years.

“They have money to be here for a long time. In our case, we didn’t even know if we had money to finish the season. So trying to develop a car for season two was out of the question, we were trying to pay bills for flights and parts. So there was a big difference between what the big teams had last year to what we had. So what’s happening to us is not really a surprise. I didn’t imagine how bad it would be, but I knew it was a good chance of not having a competitive car.

The 30-year old also believes that the dual motor system can work for the team if they can work how to utilise its benefits, which they haven’t done this season.

Ds Virgin Racing are the only other team that is running a dual motor system for their season two package, but the Chinese team package is completely different to the British team.

“The dual motor system is the same concept as the Virgin car but its completely different. It’s like saying a Fiat 500 and Aston Martin has the same concept of driving on the road, but both are completely different cars.

“I don’t think the problem is the concept, the problem is our systems, as everything was a bit last minute in our case, as we didn’t have enough time from season one finishing to season two starting to get everything sorted,” said the former Formula One driver.

Development for the season three car has also been a challenge for the Chinese team as they are currently changing team personnel in conjunction with developing ideas for the season three car which has made things slightly more difficult.

“It not an easy task, as we don’t have any testing days, but at the moment ownerships within the team are changing in our team, so there is a lot of other stuff going on. We are trying our best to work on season three cars in parallel with these changes.

“We are working hard on structuring the team as team personnel are being moved around. In the first season, a lot of teams hired teams like Campos and Carlin. Now NEXTEV is ready to run their team independently, which means a lot of things are changing, but at the same time, we need to try to develop a car.

“So there is a lot of things happening which are good for the future, but it’s not things that help the present. So instead of focusing 100% on the car for season three, instead we are focusing on building the team, getting people in and finding a workshop, but the team is working really hard, investing a lot of time and money on the development of the car,” said Piquet.

Piquet Jr is determined to help the team turnaround next season, as the Brazilain is keen on seeing out his multi-year contract with the team and bring them back to the front of the field.