WHAT ARE THEY WHAT IMPACTS CAN THEY HAVE?
FIA Formula E completed 7 seasons in 2021, and before it moves onto the Gen3 cars, it has introduced a host of changes to the format and the racing in the series for its 8th season, which is with the Gen2 cars and these sporting updates range from updating how the drivers will qualify for the Starting Grid to how much power will be at their disposal to race with and even the much talked about and all important race duration. All in all, what it does seem to aim to is to make every second very crucial and electric racing more electric (in its thrilling definition).
These changes will impact every aspect of racing, especially with the new calendar of Formula E and all cars being of the same generation throughout with the teams having received enough time to properly develop their powertrains and softwares according to what they have learned in the 7th season. But there will be challenges up for them as well, as the new race durations and the increased maximum power output limits would require new developments by the engineers and some brand new strategies which have to take into consideration much more than before. ALL ANALYSED!
THE NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT
The most radical change! The brand new Qualifying format different from anything seen before in top tier open – wheel racing – KNOCKOUTS WITH GROUPS AND DUELS! Sounds interesting and it will be but will it be a good format in terms of racing and in terms of setting up the grid that will be provide the deserving and actually fast teams and drivers the right grid positions and still create a grid that is not the same throughout the season? Let’s take an in-depth look.
The format for qualifying still keeps every lap of high importance just like in the older format as everyone still will be required to give that one all-they-have-got lap to get to the front. The new format grants Pole to the driver who is the most consistent since the driver needs to be one of the Fastest 8 after the first round and then win three separate duels against three different drivers to get Pole Position. This not only makes it a challenge for the driver but also the engineers and the car as often some drivers have been seen to not be as fast in the SuperPole lap in the older format because their tyre temperature isn’t in the right spot. The powertrains will need to be able to provide 3 250kW laps (after atleast one 220kW power lap in the Group Stage) without any issues for the driver to get pole position.
The fate of those who are not the fastest in the group stage falls into the hands of those who are the fastest. The drivers in the pole sitters group, i.e. those drivers in that group who finished 5th and below in that group, will fill in the odd positions on the grid from 9th downwards. The top 8 spots belong to those 4 drivers each from each of the groups who finish the fastest in their respective groups. This means that which group a driver falls in, which will be according to their championship positions, can decide if the driver gets the cleaner and favored side of the grid or the not so favoured side of the grid, if they do not qualify in the Top 4 in their group which also will depend a lot on which group they fall in since if their group contains more of the better qualifiers than the other group, they have a lower chance of qualifying for the duels than probably their teammate who is in the other group, even though he is a spot lower in the championship.
There is one update that will favour teams whose tyre management requires more preparation laps, which is based upon the amount of energy they put through it as per their car’s construction and aerodynamics, alongwith those drivers who are unable to get enough practice laps in the practice sessions to understand where to push. The one update is the extended time period for the group qualifying session. It will be a 10 minute session, which will give the teams a lot more time and would mean two things – everyone should be able to get a lap in now, and that teams can go for two laps with the second lap being based on what they see being done by the other drivers to get more performance. Track Evolution might also be more.
What the duels also set the stage for is huge jumps in the starting position. As a driver whose group stage lap time makes him set 4th in his group, which overall is 8th atleast as per the new format and in terms of lap time may be even 9th or 10th, can grab atleast the 4th spot if the opponent driver in the duel, who will be the fastest from the other group, suffers some issues and posts a slower lap time somehow due to a technical failure of tyre temperature issues. The duels are drawn as such that the faster ones get the benefits as they go against the slower ones but technical issues could give the driver, who generally is slower, not just the benefit of one place but 4 whole places as the driver will move into the semis and hence, finish atleast 4th even if is beaten in the Semi – Finals, and posts a slower lap time than the driver who gets beaten in the Semi Finals.
This does give what may be called as an unfair advantage to some drivers who even though may not be faster than the rest, get a better grid position in three ways. One is that the group they are in is not as fast as the other group and hence they qualify in the Top 4 in their group, even though their overall lap time is not as fast when compared with all 24 drivers. Second is that even though their lap time is slower than one other driver from the other group, they are still one position ahead as because the pole position driver was from the group in which the slower driver belonged to. And then third is that a driver may get to start atleast 4th even though there lap time posted in the quarterfinal was slower than 6 others but they won the duel due to some issues for their opponent. Rest, all places such as off those who lose in the Quarterfinal are based on their lap times at that stage of the Qualifying and is still a bit fair.
So, it may be able to mix up the grid and does make the whole qualifying process more about consistency than before but it may be a bit unfair to some, especially those who lose their actual position out because it does not remain in their hands if they do not finish in the Top 4 in the group. Probably if instead of two groups, if it was to be the Top 8 based on everyone’s first stage fastest lap, it might have been better. In the same, the older 4 group format in use till Season 7 could have still been employed or even the two group format as it gives more time, but instead of Top 4 per group it could have been made Top 8 overall.
One interesting factor is that during the group stage, the cars cannot run at 250kW of power, like they do throughout qualifying in Season 7, but only at 220kW. But, in the duels, they can run at 250kW, so drivers will have to then go at faster speeds and the drivers will have to be able to give fastest laps under both power limits, which can actually mix things up a bit more, especially as in the Quarter – Final duels, drivers will not be able to use their understanding from the previous stage of Qualifying as much as they will be going faster.
RACE LENGTH/RACE DURATION UPDATE
FIA Formula E is another championship that does not follow the format that has a set number of laps in a race but rather the series has a 45 minutes race at the end of which, the drivers need to do another lap before the chequered flag. The only issue was that the clock did not stop anytime, except during a Red Flag, it did not stop even during Full Course Yellow periods or even Safety Car periods which meant that the time period for which actual racing could take place was cut short and to compensate for that, the championship’s rules and regulations laid out a reduction in energy as calculated, based on what was thought to be the difference between the amount of energy used in the Safety Car period actually and what would have been used by the drivers if there was no Safety Car during that period, which caused some difficulties at times such as in Valencia in Round 5 of the 2021 season. Plus, more importantly, it did not provide as much racing or laps.
The sporting update has brought in an update for the same which changes how things will take place. Now, there is a provision to increase the race duration by upto 10 minute (i.e. upto 55 minutes (total race duration)) to compensate for time lost under Safety Car periods and Full Course Yellow neutralization periods. This means that upto 10 minutes of time lost under such neutralisation and non – racing conditions can be made up for and there can be racing for that much more time, till a maximum of 10 minutes extra. Not only does this mean more racing time, but also affects strategies and race plans as now cars might need to run on the track for upto 55 minutes plus one lap if such incidents do take place, which although does not actually mean more time to overtake since it will stay a total of 45 minutes of racing, but it does mean that firstly, the cars and the tyres need to be able to survive more time on the track in a race, and then also, there are more chances of overtake, after Safety Car periods brings the field closer together, which would also affect how and when teams decide to take the Attack Mode and if they decide to keep one available for later in the race. This also very importantly means that the chances of races finishing under Safety Car period is almost zero or none.
All in all, this requires teams to calculate and consider a lot more to decide on how much energy per lap is to be used, when Attack Mode is to be used, when is the best time to take the lead of the race on more open tracks similar to that in Valencia or overtake and defend, and how to react at the Full Course Yellow or Safety Car restarts, especially in wet conditions where already there is a lot more to consider.
MORE POWER, FASTER RACING
The rather interesting and exhilarating sporting update, which now allows cars to use a maximum of 220kW of Power during qualifying(in the Group Stage, 250kW allowance for the duels) and even during the race, which is 20kW more than what was the allowance in Season 7. This means much faster racing and probably much more precision would be required in the very tight corners. Also, the Attack Mode now increases from 235kW to 250kW, which means cars can go at their top speed even during the race, just like in the Qualifying, but it also means more energy will be used. The two increases although, does increase the power available, also make one change to the specialty of using Attack Mode and that is that the difference between the maximum power available during a race in Attack Mode as compared to that without Attack Mode reduced to 30kW from 35kW. Now although, it does seem a small difference of just 5 kW, it can have huge impacts on how much less effective Attack Mode might get which might not make overtaking as easy even under Attack Mode.
All in all, these updates could make racing better but may leave some wondering why! Formula E’s Attack Mode concept’s effectiveness will be under watch as the starting grid seemingly will still be mixed up and maybe even more than before!
|A SEASON WITH BRAND NEW AND EVEN MORE ELECTRIC RACING AWAITS|
spielens 