INTERVIEW: Jean-Eric Vergne had to learn to drive all over again at Revival

“The only cars I've driven in my life are very high downforce cars with a lot of grip where you don't really want to slide,” he told us when we sat down with him in the Drivers’ Club at Revival.

In his world, sliding is the enemy, a detriment to speed and a sap on lap time. When he comes to Goodwood, he has no choice but to slap on the opposite lock, but that’s not the only obstacle he has to overcome when he jumps into a historic racing car.

“It's completely different. First of all, I have a manual gearbox in these cars, and I've never driven in my entire life with a manual gearbox. All my career has been with a Tiptronic gearbox.

“I've been left-foot braking, I never [braked] with the right foot, doing heel and toe. I never learned how to do it. I'm not used to driving this kind of car so I wouldn't say I'm really good at it. It's not like you got a lot of practice during the year, so I jump straight in and have to learn how to drive the car.”

Now that is a comforting revelation, and perhaps the only thing we have in common with the former F1 star.

He has of course acclimatised during his handful of visits to the Revival, but for him there’s more to historic racing than being the fastest.

“I’m nowhere near as good as the top guys who are driving these cars. They've been driving for many years and it's not an easy car to get a handle on, especially in so little time. I'm sure if I would put in more driving time I would be able to do very well.”

In 2024, Vergne raced in the St. Mary’s Trophy presented by Motul and the RAC TT Celebration in incredibly tricky conditions, which only added to the challenge of the weekend. He jumped into a Sunbeam-Lister Tiger Le Mans Coupé, but a red flag in Official Practice limited his running somewhat.

“I only did three laps, and it's not really the kind of car that you want to go out and crash. I’m mindful of this.”

It’s a very different pressure to what he’s used to, but he prefers to concentrate on the enjoyment, rather than the competition, which is much easier to do when you’re wrestling an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA in the St. Mary’s Trophy.

“That was a lot of fun. I have no idea where I ended up. Drifting is not something I usually do. But I was getting a lot of confidence, lap time was coming my way, so I was coming back through the field.”

He finished up 18^th in a field of very experienced historic racers, but it’s refreshing, he said, to be able to focus on the enjoyment of racing in its purest form.       

“It's very nice, it's a different way of driving that I'm not used to, and I love it. The Revival’s honestly becoming one of the highlights of the season for me. I mean, although it's not racing as I know it, it's just a beautiful event.

“It’s important, it's the roots of what we do today. It all started with these cars and it's important for people to understand where we come from.”

It’s clear he appreciates the spirit of the Revival, and what Goodwood is trying to accomplish, and that’s not just in the name of entertainment. As a Formula E driver, Vergne is only too aware of the push towards future sustainability, and this is perhaps the only crossover between his professional career and the Revival, which now runs its races exclusively on sustainable fuel.

“It's the future. It will allow us to keep driving with combustion engines and it's good that we’re all pushing towards the decarbonisation of global emissions through motorsport. At the end of the day, motorsport has always been the laboratory of new technologies, and that historic racing can also be a laboratory of new technology, I find it amazing.”

The introduction of sustainable fuel to Goodwood’s motorsport events secures a future for the remarkable racing we see at the Revival, and we’ll look forward to seeing more of Jean-Eric Vergne in the years to come.

Tickets for the Goodwood Revival are limited! Saturday tickets have sold out, so secure your Friday and Sunday tickets to avoid missing out on the world's best historic motorsport event.

Photography by Pete Summers, Drew Gibson, Tom Baigent and Nick Dungan.