Five new faces made their Formula E debuts at Battersea Park this weekend but more are waiting the wings for their chance in the electric racing spotlight.

Young drivers forging careers in other series made a beeline for the Formula E paddock over the weekend, including Nathanael Berthon and British talent Jon Lancaster. More drivers with backgrounds in F1 turned up too: Williams F1 racer Felipe Massa visited the London event, as did Pedro de la Rosa, Felipe Nasr (as a guest of Mahindra Racing) and Giedo van der Garde (who is in talks with NextEV TCR).

Current E’s Naomi Panter spoke to Lancaster, a former GP2 racer currently competing in ELMS, about his hopes of joining the grid next season.

“It’s no secret that I want a Formula E test to see how it goes.” Lancaster told Panter. “We want to get in with one of the front running teams. Then we’ll see what we can do. I’ve spoken with a few teams to see if we can put something together. I just hope spots don’t go too quickly like in other motorsports, where who pays the most gets in the seat. A few teams are open to discussions. I’ve got one test almost confirmed but I’m hoping to have two.”

Asked how Formula E is perceived by drivers in comparison to other series, such as GP2 or Formula 1, Lancaster is optimistic the sport will be successful if allowed to grow slowly.

“I think you’ve got to look at Formula E as an alternative to Formula 1,” he said. “That’s as high as it gets. It’s a professional series in that most of the drivers are being paid by the manufacturers and there are more manufacturers coming in, so I think you’ve got to look at it at that level. Formula 1 has got its own qualities while Formula E also has its own strengths too. It’s something that I think will really take off in the next few years and, as long as the FIA continue to do it bit-by-bit and not try to run before they can walk, I think it’ll be a world famous championship within the next five years.”

Lancaster is a pretty shrewd judge from what we’ve seen. Asked on Friday who he thought would take the championship, he’d told us: “I don’t think Piquet will mess it up. I think he’ll just do what he has to do and he’s been around long enough to be sensible.”

Tom Spencer