A new start for Formula E as it goes into its 9th season overall, 3rd as a FIA World Championship, and torques in a new gen at a very fast powerful pace. There’s been difficulties with the car, the batteries, the tyres, the supply chain, the team dynamics, the scheduling and more but the series is all ready for its 9th season having already completed 101 races. 4 New Teams, 4 Brand New Race locations, a season opener in high – altitude super Mexico City Autodromo. 11 Teams, 22 Drivers all for two championships and building the base for one of the closest racing series around. This is Formula E in season 9, troubled a bit, questions a lot, keeping hopes big.
350kW – That’s the new power limit when in Attack Mode and it is 300kW in the normal mode, which in itself 50kW more than the Attack Mode limit in Gen2. The cars are lighter in weight meaning the weight to power ratio gets better and with the new front – brake regen system, there is even more energy that can be regenerated from braking and that means that drivers and teams who are able to manage their regen to the fullest will gain even more advantage. All of this is before the proposed recharging pitstops to be tried out at certain races as well which will allow for more Attack Mode activations later. In short, there is much more power available to attack and defend. And that with smaller cars means more possible overtaking.
There’s 11 teams on the grid, a couple with new members but that hasn’t meant that there is a big difference in teams. All the teams have been in the mix during the pre – season testing at different power modes. Ofcourse there have been standouts but all the teams have been in the mix. As always, testing data isn’t the truest form of representation of actual strengths with just the timings but over the 7 test sessions in which all sorts of simulation was done, while teams reported that not all issues with the car’s that they faced had been completely solved, the runs that took place gave the confidence to run a full race and saw all teams have their chance to reach the top speeds and spots. The Valencia circuit also boasts a mix of features to give the feel of all elements of a general track, and that bodes well for all drivers, but it isn’t a street track and the drivers might have slight adjustments to make and getting used to to do in their new cars.
SPORTING REGULATIONS
The new sporting regulations will also play a crucial role in how the new technologies and the new gen succeeds, and one aspect that will have an impact of teams can further maximise their understanding of energy usage and requirement is the return to the system of having a definite set of laps instead of the timed races. Teams do not have to calculate and guess the number of laps there will be or face another Porsche Mexico 2022 repeat where the race got extended by one line as they crossed the line one second before. While this was an interesting part of the series that could be used to an advantage at time and added a great dimension, there were complaints about clarity and it caused confusion for many. The added time concept isn’t completely gone with the new rules specifying an addition of laps in case of FCYs or Safety Car periods, so teams still have to keep possible major incidents in mind for management.
When fast charging is finally tested in an actual race, the exact rules will be published by the FIA, but until then the information is that there will be 30 second pitstops for charging which will enable further two Attack Mode activations, which would mean that there would be a lot more use of the full power mode going forward. There have been some trial changes to Attack Mode activations yet again as well with drivers being allowed to decide how they want to divide their total Attack Mode activation time between the two permitted activations. For example, in Mexico City, only 4 minutes of total 350kW use is allowed but there are options published to use it in either two equal activations of 2 minutes each or split it in one 3-minute activation and one 1 minute one. This plays into further strategy with teams now having more under and overcut kind of options for their energy usage. Drivers like Vandoorne might prefer a 1 – 3 as compared to someone in the front who could go for a 3 – 1 to first extend the lead, whereas drivers stuck around could go for the simpler 2 – 2 strategy.
The FanBoost has also been removed meaning that all drivers now have access to the same amount of extra power use in a race and this takes away the slightly unfair, as observed by many, advantage that certain drivers were able to get race over race.
CONTENDERS
11 Teams, 22 Drivers, 4 former Formula E championship winners, but also the fact that it is a new gen with more power and more possibilities with the new sporting regulations. So, before jumping into the rules and tracks in details, the question that is answered by the points – who all?
The defending champion – Stoffel Vandoorne is in a team that combines both Formula E experience and motorsport knowledge with DS and Penske coming together for the new season. DS have had brilliance in Formula E and while Penske haven’t enjoyed much success in the past with their partnership with Dragon they do have the knowledge. Vandoorne has executed some of the most different strategies in the past. During Pre – Season testing, the team was consistent with both its drivers punching in top times by the end of the sessions and in race pace simulations also featured towards the top, looking strong in both the power modes. Other teams also feature in the top but DS Penske have been consistent with both its drivers who form a very experienced pair. Vandoorne will have a tougher teammate in the name of Vergne who has been all out against his teammate in the past as well.
Jaguar TCS Racing continue with the exact same driver line – up and Team Principal which makes them stable and well knit in that aspect, something which the Team Principal himself refers to as keeping “variables” the same. This gives them the advantage in terms of settling down but without quality of strategies, where they have lacked in the past, and software understanding, an issue of concern for them in Gen 3, there will be no much benefits of the rest against teams like DS Penske and McLaren who are taking up the Mercedes team so do have an advantage at the start. They also have a rookie in the form of Jake Hughes who has settled in well in his car and has been one with the smoothness.
THE TYRES
Finally, the tyres are here to trip some a bit as well. They are softer than before and while some have reported, including Formula E themselves saying that they will have a better working window, certain teams aren’t quite on it yet as the new HanKook tyres, a shift from Michelin tyres, are very different in their construction to those in the previous season so over a single lap and a race distance they behave differently.
With more focus on regenerative braking from the front, balance of the tyres and balance management between the front and back is also an aspect on the software side that need to be worked out to not just have balance and speed but also maintain the tyres over a race weekend.
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