Venturi

**Venturi Racing,** running for sponsorship reasons as **ROKiT Venturi**, is a Monegasque racing team. Founded by Venturi Cars owner Gildo Pallanca Pastor and Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, the team was one of the original Formula E teams and established itself as a great midfield team. Following the restructuring of the motorsport ladder, the team fell briefly to the backmarker group, but soonly started establishing themselves as an emerging force within Formula International. By 2026, the team had already managed to reacth the top teams in the series and in 2027 had their first ever title battle, winning the teams championship and their first ever title in the sport. After this, they fell behind in the midfield for a while, but from 2032 they resurged and finally won their first ever driver title with Eugene Stanley in 2034. Ever since, the Monegasque team has been an omnipresent force in Formula International, being always in contendership for any of the two titles. In the end of 2039, Venturi attempted to buy out the assets of Alpha Tauri and enter Formula Earth, but due to financial irregularities they were disqualified from the upcoming bidding war with HSBC Nero and as of now they are still in FI.

## Origins and Formula E History

Venturi Automobiles is a Monegasque car manufacturer founded in 1984 and focused on producing luxury cars and sportcars, mostly on the grand tourer style. The company had faces some struggles due to them being relatively unknown but managed to stay afloat in the market. In 2000, Gildo Pallanca Pastor, a local businessman, bought the company and established it as a manufacturer of quality electric sports cars following the hit of the Venturi Fetish, the first ever electric sportscar of the company.

Venturi's first motorsport attempt was in 1992 in Formula 1, making a chassis for Larrouse dubbed the Venturi LC92, but left the French team after their only F1 chassis scored only a single point. Ever since, the team remained absent from motorsports until 2013, where Pallanca and Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio formed Venturi Racing in 2013 with the intention of making it to Formula E in 2015. The team debuted indeed in 2015 and became a works team, building their own powertrains, establslishing themselves as a solid midfield team and scoring their first win in 2019.

## 2020-2022: Decent start and difficult years

For the first year of the new regulations, Venturi signed Rory Douglas and Andrei Aimansha. The team finished well again in the midfield, with the talented Douglas scoring 3 podiums and Aimansha helping the team finish in a solid 7th place. However, the team had overspent during that year and were forced to conserve money for the next season. As a result, 2021 was a tough season and were forced to sign two underwhelming drivers, Dieter Dimond-Meij and Emilla LeBlanc. With this lineup, Venturi finshed in last place. LeBlanc was ousted and Dimond-Meij stayed. Sake Okasas was signed for 2022. Okasas was the best driver of the struggling team as Dimond-Meij struggled for another year. Test driver Giovanni de Ziel filled in for the injured South African in the closing stages and impressed scoring 8 points.

## 2023-2025: A gradual rise up the grid

After losing de Ziel to Nissan and Okasas to BMW Andretti, the team kept Dimond-Meij for one more year and also signed Roman Massey from Virgin. With a quicker car and more budget after conserving money, the team moved up the pecking order. Massey finished 7th and score 2 podiums and 85 points. However, Dimond-Meij struggled again, mostly being with the backmarkers and left the team at the end of the year. 2024 saw another new lineup as Massey left for Mercedes. The two new drivers were Francesco Virgolini and Doug Tosser-Schmidt. The team was comfortably in the midfield, with Virgolini competely outclassing Tosser-Schmidt. Tosser-Schmidt missed the last three races due to injury and Xabier Sanchez filled in, with no points.

2025 however was a far better year. Virgolini stayed for one more year and Prema reject Saulius Sudzius was signed to replace Tosser-Schmidt. Virgolini finished 6th and scored the team's first win since 2019, while Sudzius also scored a podium and 88 points as Venturi reached a best 4th place in the standings.

## 2026-2027: Winning the teams title

In 2026, the team had another lineup overhaul, signing former F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi, who had a controversial last year with Prema, and Mario Leduc. Giovinazzi impressed by scoring the opening race and adding one more win later. Leduc also scored 2 wins as the team finished in an even better third place in teams. 2027 would be an even bigger success. Leduc left and was replaced by Antoine Robespierre, who was signed from Red Bull. The team had a very quick car and showed impressive pace aided by their lineup's experience. Robespierre finished 2nd and scored 3 wins, while Giovinazzi finished 3rd and plenty of podiums, albeit without a single win. Venturi failed to win the driver title, but due to poor performances from Nissan driver Felix Neurether, they won the teams title, finally winning their first ever FI title.

## 2028-2031: Ups and downs

The team suffered a major blow in the transfer window, losing both drivers. After this, the team signed Okasas for a second time and McLaren draftee Josephin Yashin. Venturi experienced a downturn in 2028, scoring only 2 podiums and rounding up the top 10 with Okasas 9th and Yashin 10th. Okasas left again while Yashin was retained on loan for a second succesive year. Robespierre returned for a final time in the team and scored the team's only win for 2029. Yashin, despite having a quicker car now, failed to score a single podium. Also, the team saw a historical debut, as 15-year old FC prospect Abelone Ulf filled for the injured Yashin in the last race and became the youngest FI driver in history. Also, she nearly became the youngest points scored, narrowly missing 10th place.

2030 saw yet another new lineup, with Kevin Buffon moving from Mercedes's FE team and Dutch prospect Harry van der Weijden moving in. The team battled with Tesla Dragon for 3rd place and eventually won it, with both Buffon and van der Wiejden impressing. The lineup was retained after this impressive year, but the team experienced a downturn in performances, being stuck in the midfield and finishing 7th with no podiums.

## 2032-2034: Resurgence and winning the double

2032 was a year of resurgence, with Buffon finishing 4th and van der Weiden's replacement Glen Smith rounding up the top 10. In 2033, Venturi signed promising Pole Pawel Matuszczyk from BMW Andretti and Felix Neurether. Matuszczyk finished 3rd and impressed heavily on his first year at the team and showing his full potential. Neurether on the other hand struggled but did show glimpses of his old ability. Matuszczyk moved to Ferrari and the team signed Eugene Stanley from newcomers Nero, who had purchased his BMW Andretti contract when they replaced the stricken team in the end of 2033 and sold it to Venturi. Stanley turned out to be a great signing as he won his first and only driver's title and Venturi's first driver title. Neurether finished 4th and helped the team score their first and only double in FI.

## 2035-2039: Established frontrunners and marquee signings

Following their succesful 2034, Stanley and Neurether were kept for one last year. The experienced duo finshed 3rd and 5th accordingly and finished second on the team standings. After this, Stanley retired from motorsport and Neurether moved to double winners BP Silverstone for his last year in FI. For 2036, the team got two draftees on loan, Michele di Aimano from Ferrari and Jos van Brakel from Aston Martin. The lack of experience compared to last year saw the team fall down somewhat. Di Aimano was very impressive, finishing 6th, but van Brakel struggled on his rookie season, finishing all the way down in 20th. Di Aimano did not complete the year due to an injury in the 14th round, with Alex Havey filling for the last two rounds.

Di Aimano's loan was extended for 2037 and the team, now with a new contract with sponsors ROKiT, signed 16-year old Korean Lee Yong-Gensoon. The team saw their fortunes becoming better for 2037, with di Aimano finishing 4th on his last loan season and the young Lee having a fantastic rookie season and finishing in a very strong 9th place. In 2038, Venturi made a very strong signing, by getting former Haas star Robbie Holzman on a free transfer. However, despite being tipped to easily win the title, Holzman finished second and was defeated by Aramco youngster Charles Lauvergne, who raced for Geely Nio. Di Aimano also had a nightmare last season at Venturi and finished in the lower midfield.

In 2039, Venturi, which had the biggest budget out of any team in the FIA pyramid, made another big signing by getting Zouzou Randrianambinina from Aramco. Again, Venturi was tipped to win the title, having the strongest car and the best lineup and budget in FI, but they only managed to win the team's title, with BP Silverstone's Stanislav Rezac winning the driver's title and Randrianambinina finishing second and Holzman third in what was another disappointing season.

## 2040-present: Failure to join Formula Earth and reorganization

In the end of the year, Alpha Tauri was shut down by Red Bull after their funds had dried up and was put on sale. Venturi had submitted a bid alongside rivals HSBC Nero and was tipped to easily win the bidding war. However, before the war started, FIA discovered several irregularities regarding Venturi's allegedly astronomical budget, with several of the team's cash being frauded in, which was led by DiCaprio himself. As a result of this, Venturi was disqualified from the bidding war and Nero automatically won and purchased the assets of Alpha Tauri.

Following the failure to join FE, team principal Aubrey Haller-Kurmaev left the team and joined Ferrari, and alongside him did Randrianambinina, who was Haller-Kurmaev's first signing at the Italian team. Holzman also left the team following the end of his contract and moved to HSBC Nero's newly established FE team. Venturi had a 2040 season of a complete reorganization, with the team signing Aidan McKay and Alex Harvey, both coming from Formula Earth. Venturi had again the strongest car of the grid, but due to the need of restructuring following 2039's fiasco, failed to win any title, with McKay finishing fifth and Harvey fourth and scoring 4 wins, 3 coming from Harvey, who surprisingly beat the more experienced and talented McKay.

## Notable Drivers

* Rory Douglas (2020)
* Andrei Aimansha (2020)
* Dieter Dimond-Meij (2021-2023)
* Emillia LeBlanc (2021)
* Sake Okasas (2022, 2028)
* Giovanni de Ziel (2022)
* Roman Massey (2023)
* Francesco Virgolini (2024-2025)
* Doug Tosser-Schmidt (2024)
* Xabier Sanchez (2024)
* Saulius Sudzius (2025)
* Antonio Giovinazzi (2026-2027)
* Mario Leduc (2026)
* Antoine Robespierre (2027, 2029)
* Josephin Yashin (2028-2029)
* Abelone Ulf (2029)
* Kevin Buffon (2030-2032)
* Harry van der Weijden (2030-2031)
* Glen Smith (2032)
* Pawel Matuszczyk (2033)
* Felix Neurether (2033-2035)
* Eugene Stanley (2034-2035)
* Michele di Aimano (2036-2038)
* Jos van Brakel (2036)
* Lee Yong-Gensoon (2037)
* Robbie Holzman (2038-2039)
* Zouzou Randrianambinina (2039)
* Aidan McKay (2040-present)
* Alex Harvey (2040)