A new chapter is opening for the Le Mans racing team DAMS, which is leaving the bosom of the family of its founder Jean-Paul Driot. The Formula 2 activity is taken over by former F1 driver Charles Pic. On the Formula E side, discussions are underway to get even closer to Nissan, already a shareholder. The structure remains based in Le Mans (Sarthe) with the ambition of “reconnect with performance” according to its general manager François Sicard, confirmed in his functions, who answered questions from France Bleu Maine.
France Bleu Maine: The announcement of the takeover by Charles Pic may have come as a surprise, because DAMS was not for sale. How did you receive this news?
François Sicard: This is very good news for all the teams. Being taken over by Charles Pic is a great opportunity for the Formula 2 activity. He takes over the entire F2 team, that is to say about fifteen people. Since the death of the founder of AMS, Jean-Paul Driot, it was his two sons who had taken over and who were shareholders of the company. But they hadn’t necessarily been prepared to take over such a business, it wasn’t necessarily easy for them to manage and they intended to ensure the sustainability of the activity, which they did to do with me for a little over two years now. And when the opportunity to sell presented itself, they seized it. It turns out that there is a strong bond between the Pic family and the Driot family, and so, inevitably, things happened quite naturally.
Charles Pic’s project therefore relates solely to Formula 2 with the ambition of giving drivers access to Formula 1, which is the DNA of DAMS.
I believe that there must be more than 35 drivers who were then able to access F1 [tels que Carlos Sainz, Romain Grosjean ou encore Pierre Gasly, NDLR]. Again this year, a quarter of the grid is made up of drivers who have had success with DAMS, which has allowed them to use these results as a springboard to access Formula 1. It’s really been in the genes since the departure, since the creation of the company. This is what Charles wishes to continue. His project is a sports project. Of course, he will be keen to balance the books, but above all to make sure he has good drivers. It is to continue to have the confidence of Formula 1 teams and to have the best young people to allow them to take the last step before Formula 1.
Can we talk about a renewed ambition, while the last season was not the most brilliant in the history of DAMS?
François Sicard: Clearly, the last two years, the choices were not necessarily focused enough on the sporting aspects. But it’s not easy in our job. Because when you want to make a sporting choice, it means that we have a big financial risk, and our shareholders not being in the business, they were less inclined to do so. But it is nevertheless the key to the sporting success of a company. With the arrival of Charles, precisely, the objective will be to be a little ambitious. This 2022 season is a transition season.
We have a Red Bull driver, Ayamu Iwasa, a young Japanese driver who is in his first year of Formula 2. Two years ago for his first season in motorsport, he won Formula 4 Autosport in France. Last year he was in Formula 3 and now he’s in F2, so he’s had a pretty meteoric rise. If he confirms the potential we see in him, the idea is to keep him and go for the title next year, as we did in 2019.
The Formula E activity is not affected by Charles Pic’s project, what can you tell us?
We are in a structure that is proven today and at the same time, we have Nissan shareholders. There are discussions to see how we can develop our organization. It’s a championship which, more and more, is a constructors’ championship and it’s more and more difficult to be independent. Nissan is there and is getting more and more involved with us. We are discussing, to find out how to go further with them. We are in season 8 of Formula E. Season 9 is going to be an important season as we will see the introduction of a new car. We, like Nissan, want to organize ourselves so that we can once again find the way to performance. So we are already working on this new car with the ambition to position ourselves to fight for the title next year.
Anyway, DAMS stays at Le Mans?
Absolutely. It is very important what you say. Once again, whether for Charles Pic with F2 or for Formula E, the wish is to stay at Le Mans because what makes the quality of the company are its people. What interests them in both cases is the quality of the men who make up the company. The idea is to stay well at Le Mans and not change the organization chart. So I will remain general manager of these two entities and the idea is to continue to perform in these two categories.