Pininfarina Battista is “quicker than any F1 car”

As Microsoft Teams opens up, we go through the formal introductions. Nick, well-experienced as he is, is the picture of professionalism. There is however the crack of a smile, like he’s excited for us to hear what he has to say about the car. He’s been involved with Pininfarina for two years, having accompanied the car on its debut at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting in 2019. A few weeks ago, however, was the first time he had the opportunity to drive the car for real, after an extensive program of simulator testing. The first thing that real-life drive proved to Heidfeld was just how good the sim has become as a developmental tool.

“For me it was a huge moment to drive it for the first time”

“I was surprised that the feeling I got in the sim related very well to the feeling of the car on the circuit,” he says.

“I was surprised because I’m not a huge fan of simulator work in motorsport and the relation to real senses and feelings in a racing car. But development of these sims has leapt so much over the last ten years or more, it’s such a help nowadays. Some of the major things that would take forever, you can now do in the sim in a day.

For me it was a huge moment to drive it for the first time,” he continues, with hints of relief and excitement in his voice, detectable in equal measure.

“With the immense power, I thought it would just spin the wheels”

“The time we’ve spent so far is based on balance and track behaviour. I was positively surprised, because it achieved more than I assumed it would at this point in time. What I found especially impressive was how we put the power down. Here we are at 80 per cent, still 1,700 horsepower but even after the first few metres, I feel anyone can drive it easily.

“I thought at first the use of power would just spin the wheels but it is very controlled, so forgiving and has a lot of grip. We don’t have traction control and surprisingly, not for a moment was that a problem. I barely realised we didn’t have it. This for me was as impressive as it was unexpected.

“The immense amount of performance, both cornering and in acceleration, does require that you adjust your perspective. It really blows you away. With the torque vectoring, we’ve only scratched the surface of what can be done but we’ve got the basics down which is most important. Handy too is the low centre of gravity, with a lot of the weight in the batteries down low.

“Tyre technology has also really moved forward in the last couple of years. We tested both the standard tyre and the more track focused [Michelin] ‘Cup 2 R’ tyre, which is incredible. It feels like a road-legal cut slick. Even on the rough surface, I didn’t expect just how good it would be. We tested the more conventional road tyre in all conditions, even when it was wet. Even with those tyres the performance you can get around a lap is amazing."

“To see customer’s reactions is such a reward”

“For me, honestly the best part of it, was the reactions of the few customers we had in the car. We’ve had two years of assumptions and numbers telling us what will happen. To really feel it and see their reaction is such a reward. To see how they were blown away and share that with the team. Unfortunately some tried to hide their emotions, play it super cool. Others you could definitely tell.”

At this point we asked whether any of these prospective customers drew comparisons with the cars they already own, whether the Battista was able to give Chiron owners a shock...

“They said certain things… but I don’t think I should comment on that. I don’t want to be the ambassador for Pininfarina putting that statement out,” he said, ever the professional. We can infer given that some of these people have quite the palette of experience with performance cars, their reaction to its pace puts the Battista way up there. Those who are used to fast cars will still be shocked.

While we can’t quite report Nick Heidfeld’s affirmation of the Battista rendering the Chiron a 16-cylinder door-stop, it is in the team’s sights as a key benchmark for the Battista.

“While we say this is not our number one target, what I can say is what I’ve experienced at Nardo over the last few days… you would not believe it. I hope you can drive it. It’s just mind-blowing. In terms of the response, there really is no comparison to instant EV power. There are some incredible performance powertrains out there. I love McLarens, for instance. But there really is nothing quite like this. It will blow you away. For the last two years, we’ve been telling people what it will be like and you know, there’s always some doubt. Now, I’m so convinced, once people get in the car, they will understand.”

“It will be as quick or quicker than the F1 cars I’ve driven”

We obviously know Nick Heidfeld best at Goodwood for his record-setting exploits in a McLaren Formula 1 car at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, now coming up for 23 years ago. We simply had to ask him how the Battista feels in comparison. Are the all-electric hypercars of 2021 a patch on modern classic F1? Grounded as he is, he affirms that a luxurious hyper GT delivers a more cosseting sensation of speed than a championship-contending single-seater, even if it’s faster...

“I think the numbers are more reliable than my feelings and impressions of it. The cars, the surroundings and mindset, is so different. But we are targeting less than two seconds to 62, so it will be as quick or quicker than any F1 car I’ve driven. What is interesting is when you ask if I can compare, I think back to first tests of cars in Formula 1. You always got a feeling of what to expect, for better or worse. The first experience of the Battista was immediately positive in the way those good first F1 drives were. I was surprised how good it was. The instant performance is as you might expect more similar to Formula E. It’s much more controllable and reacts much quicker than internal combustion.”

The elephant in the room is of course, how you cultivate emotion and feeling in what is a pioneer in a new era of digital performance cars. Heidfeld is confident the Battista will deliver, even though there’s work still to be done.

“It is digital performance but with a traditional look and a traditional feel. The car drives as it looks and it looks as if it could house a V12. It’s beautiful. Digital doesn’t mean no emotion.

“We haven’t begun work on calibrating the feel of the steering yet but already, the feel and feedback you get through your body, through the carbon chassis, it’s very communicative. You feel how the car moves around on the track, over bumps and apexes. We have a good base for the steering and I have in mind what a good feeling is, but it is what we will be working on further over the next couple of months.”

Finally, we couldn’t let him go without popping the question. Are they planning to come to the Festival and will they go for a record?

“Well, we’re definitely thinking about coming to Goodwood and bringing it there,” Heidfeld says with a smirk. “We have something special in mind. Let’s hope we can make it happen.”

Encouragingly ambiguous… Don’t worry, Nick, we’re not holding our breath for a 41.6...