Formula E preview: clouds gather?
It’ll be the off-track movements that define the seventh Formula E season, even though everything is set for the closest fight to date
The story of this Formula E season won’t be anything like as clear cut as the years that have gone before. An inaugural term answered whether this fledging and disruptive series could make waves. The second campaign centred on the opening up of the technology to manufacturers. The year after, the main plot was what Techeetah could do with its customer Renault powertrain. Then, if Audi was the new dominant force. After, it was the arrival of the Gen2 cars. Last season, all eyes were on newcomers Mercedes and Porsche.
As for the 2020-21 season lying in wait, the only‘2020’part stands as testing in Valencia. All races will take place this year, between now and late September, as the pandemic ensures that arranging a calendar remains the most persistent of headaches for championship organisers.
Rather than the usual clashes with the DTM and major sportscar events, COVID instead means 87 days will have elapsed between
Rene Rast completing the final lap at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo and the opening race starting under the lights in Saudi Arabia on 26 February. Unsurprisingly in the circumstances, that’s almost a month longer than any gap between testing and the first race in the six previous seasons.
Credit must go to the FIA and FE for their light-footedness that has allowed a first batch of eight races to make up the improvised schedule. The pair were also white-hot in their response to the logistical issues presented by the global health crisis. Aware of the increased financial pressure and accounting for manufacturing delays, they altered the homologation windows. Now, powertrains will be retained for two years to lower costs and teams could either bring in new designs for
the start of the season or delay until 5 April, the second window, to account for interruptions to parts supply.
When these measures were first introduced, five races were scheduled to take place before that April date. Successive teams’ champion DS Techeetah, 2019-20 runner-up Nissan e.dams and the Dragon Penske Autosport squad – all opting to carry over their
“IT’S NOT LIKE WE ARE HAVING A NEW POWERTRAIN AND ARE GOING TO GAIN THREE, FOUR OR FIVE TENTHS”
existing powertrains – would have had to wade into those battles with slightly damp powder. The remaining nine teams would have enjoyed a five-race window to get a head start with their box-fresh machinery.
But the rapidly spreading strain of the virus detected in the UK threw a spanner in the works. On top of the Mexico City and Sanya races being postponed, the Santiago E-prix was put on ice as Chile shut its borders to British travellers. To the surprise of few, the double-header event in Saudi has remained largely unaffected. Although fan attendance will be capped, travel exemptions have ensured it’s never properly been at risk. As a result, those three teams now must only survive two races with their old car before they can welcome fresh kit for the Rome E-prix on 10 April.
Despite the muted chagrin of rival competitors, the FIA and FE haven’t altered homologation timelines. Should DS Techeetah and Nissan e.dams limit the damage effectively in Diriyah, they’re in prime position to continue their form of late last season as they usher in new cars for the bulk of the calendar. Not only will they have three fewer races with the old equipment but, with FE chief championship officer Alberto Longo targeting a record 15 races this term, they’ll have more rounds after the April cut-off date to put their new cars to good use.
That’s not to say DS Techeetah cannot be dethroned or Nissan e.dams will again be best of the rest. As double champion Jean-eric Vergne makes clear:“the [new powertrain] improvement we’re talking about is barely seeable in lap times [sic]. It’s more about efficiency in the race. Everything has been improved a little bit. But it’s not like we are having a new powertrain in Rome and are going to gain three, four or five tenths.”
That’s because the arms race in FE isn’t with hardware but software. While Nissan e.dams revived the art of twin-motor powertrains in 201819, which could offer massive performance potential but often upsets the handling due to added weight over the rear, all teams agreed to a ban of the set-up chiefly to contain costs. Combined with a convergence around longitudinal configurations, a growing emphasis has been placed on data. Engineers can increase efficiency and optimise the calibration of the regenerative braking. Put simply, drivers have more energy to use for longer and can cut back on lifting and coasting.
Although Xavier Mestelan Pinon, the performance director at DS, has promised“exciting new technology”for the new black-and-gold cars, evolution rather than revolution is the order of the day throughout the grid for the penultimate season of the Gen2 regulations.
In truth, the on-track action in 2021 will be somewhat secondary amid the wider landscape. As bankruptcy loomed in March 2015, FE co-founder Alejandro Agag was briefly out of a job and had to fund the freight of the cars from his own pocket around the time of the Miami E-prix. Only then was the health of the series substantially more in question than now.
A quadrupling of team budgets per season, disquiet over the lack of mass media coverage and questions raised over the capability of
FE to transfer technology to the road – generational rule cycles mean developments in the automotive market have caught up – have left two manufacturers to vote with their feet. The 2021 season marks the last we’ll see of Audi and BMW in FE. With a cost cap“mandatory”in the eyes of Zak Brown and his prospective Mclaren Racing entry, and the deadline for signatures for the forthcoming Gen3 rules looming, it’s the off-track movements that will dominate the bigger picture.
The coming months represent a litmus test for a championship that, in the eyes of many people involved, could share race weekends with F1 or converge with it altogether.
There are still fascinating stories to unfold: whether DS Techeetah will be toppled from its status as the‘mercedes F1 team of FE’, can Antonio Felix da Costa defend his crown or will Vergne retaliate against his team-mate? These will be answered, but the main narrative for the weeks ahead won’t be wholly informed by what happens on the circuit.
Thanks to Mahindra and DS Automobiles becoming the first manufacturers to commit to the Gen3 rules – with the signatures of Nissan, Mercedes and Porsche expected imminently – the tide is beginning to turn back in FE’S favour.
When the political respite comes, fortunately FE is in line for another ultra-competitive season. Six races in Berlin last season, organised to stem the loss of rounds to the pandemic, went some way to denying a wide-open title fight. Da Costa scored two wins from two poles as the season resumed in Germany to put the drivers’crown within his grasp. As the attack from Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans stumbled and BMW Andretti went off the boil, the title was won with two races to spare. Never before had it been decided so early.
With a more normal calendar planned for 2021, and only Saudi and Chile confirmed as double-headers for now, there’s fewer opportunities for one track to suit a specific car and driver combination. Add that to the closest ever timesheet from pre-season testing – the 24-strong pack, led by Maximilian Guenther for BMW Andretti, was covered by less than 0.8 seconds – and a vintage campaign for fresh-faced FE might well await.
All but the recovering NIO 333 and Dragon Penske Autosport should expect to be in contention for a win this year. There’s every reason to expect a similar trend from the past two campaigns, which logged nine and eight different victors respectively.
Even that comes with a health warning, though. When the field reconvened at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin after the pandemic’s initial interruption, teams were buoyed by a feeling that they had closed the gap to DS Techeetah thanks to various software upgrades. What few accounted for was the improvements the in-form squad had made itself as it won three of the six concluding races.
There were only two chinks in DS Techeetah’s armour last season. One was a reluctance from the pitwall to swap da Costa and Vergne when they held each other up in the races. The second was a discomfort from both drivers in qualifying that related to a lack of confidence with the brakes. The first issue can, in part, be solved with the experience that’ll come as da Costa prepares for his second term with the team. Meanwhile, the one-lap drama has been a particular area of focus over the off-season.
As da Costa explains:“the card I’m trying to play on is continuity.
I’m way more comfortable with the team, the car, the people around me. I feel more at home.”
On the qualifying remedy, Vergne adds:“it took us a long time to try and understand what the problem was with the brakes. But we found the issue and we were able to fix it, so this year I should be in a much happier position to drive the car and feel a lot more comfortable. It doesn’t mean I’m going to be on pole every race, but I hope to be fighting for those.”
Although that’s an ominous sign from the pre-eminent FE squad, it’s not necessarily what the championship needs or wants. As the current 10 manufacturer teams show, the electric formula has proved successful. FE can absolutely survive and thrive with fewer constructors. But as the politics, particularly concerning Gen3, weigh heavy in the air, the more teams that can rival DS Techeetah, win races and break its recent monopoly, the more attractive the championship will look to the boardrooms that ultimately decide where the money is spent.
“THE CARD I’M TRYING TO PLAY ON IS CONTINUITY. I’M MORE COMFORTABLE WITH THE TEAM. I FEEL AT HOME”