Formula 1 may hold its pre-season testing just before the new racing calendar begins, but Formula E holds its testing months before the first E-Prix. Official action begins in Mexico City in January, but last week the all-electric series took the laps of valencia for their annual preseason test. Season 10 in 2024 will be the second for the ultra-efficient Gen3 car, following a debut that provided plenty of wheel-to-wheel racing and a hard-fought drivers’ championship that was decided in the final two races. While there isn’t a new car this year, there’s still a lot to know before the lights go out in Mexico.
A fire in the battery interrupted the tests
The teams lost a considerable amount of track time after a battery fire following Tuesday morning’s session. The race reports that the incident occurred in a pit stall occupied by WAE, the battery supplier for the all-electric series. The fire reportedly started with a battery that had been removed from the DS Penske driven by rookie Robert Shwartzman during three separate periods. Shwartzman had to stop on the track due to an issue and once the car was back in pit lane, the battery was removed and taken to WAE for his inspection. Motorsport.com reports that the automatic battery safety system was activated, causing the driver to stop. According The race, Witnesses say there was a small audible explosion about 90 minutes after the car stopped on the circuit.
Formula E canceled the Tuesday afternoon and two Wednesday afternoon sessions while it investigated the cause of the fire. One person was taken to the hospital as a precaution, but was released without any treatment. The series’ governing body, the FIA, deemed conditions safe to resume testing on Thursday afternoon following “investigations and findings provided by technical suppliers,” Formula E explained.
As The race As he points out, there has never been a traction battery fire at an E-Prix in almost 10 years of events. There were incidents in 2015 and 2017, but they affected the smaller 12-volt battery. This was also unrelated to the new attack payload, as Shwartzman had yet to demonstrate that infrastructure. Formula E only had eight units for 11 teams and DS Penske did not have any at the time. The race reports.
The first female driver of a Gen3 car
During preseason testing in Valencia, teams had to put rookie drivers in their cars for three of the 18 hours of scheduled racing. The line-up included former F2 driver Robert Shwartzman (DS Penske) and current F2 drivers Victor Martins (Nissan) and Zane Maloney (Andretti), among others. The rookie test also saw the first female driver in a Gen3 Formula E car. LMP3 and GT4 driver Gabriela Jilkova got behind the wheel of the Porsche team’s electric vehicles and completed a 46-lap race. Formula E previously held rookie testing ahead of the Berlin E-Prix and during an additional practice session in Rome, both earlier this year.
The first test of Attack Charge.
During a 10-hour session last Friday, Formula E held a simulated race, giving teams a 27-lap test to test setups, go through safety car periods and demonstrate upcoming Attack Charge pit stops. . The series had planned to introduce the stops last season, but supply chain issues meant the technology would only be ready for the final races. By then, Formula E felt it would be too late and decided to postpone the debut of Attack Charge to this season.
A first look at fast charging pic.twitter.com/OLrvwLVO50
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) October 24, 2023
Much is still unknown about how the stops will work, but what we do know is that they will take place during a specific window that Formula E officials will announce just before the race. The series has also said that teams will not be able to double-stack their two cars, a practice of pitting both vehicles back-to-back, which could lead to some interesting decisions about which driver gets priority. An attack charge stop is also expected to be quite long, at 30 to 35 seconds. A mechanic connects a charging cable to the back of the car while the battery is recharged.
Jaguar and Porsche are fast… again
After strong performances at the start of the Gen3 era last season, it looks like Jaguar TCS Racing and TAG Heuer Porsche will be contenders again. Jaguar and Porsche vehicles achieved four of the top five times in each of the three test sessions, including fastest laps by the Jaguar-powered Envision team.
Jaguar’s Mitch Evans recorded the fastest time of the week, clocking 1m24.474s, more than half a second faster than the fastest lap of last year’s test. Evans, who finished third in the drivers’ championship in season nine, also led the times in the second session. His new teammate Nick Cassidy, who finished second in the championship last season while driving for Envision, prevented Evans from sweeping all three sessions with a 1m24.617s in the final race of the week.
Mahindra looks set to bounce back
The ninth season was unforgettable for Mahindra. The team that has been in Formula E since the series began finished tenth out of 11. Significant changes in the off-season include a completely new driver pairing of Edoardo Mortara and season seven champion Nyck De Vries. Mortara was fifth fastest in the first session of the week, while De Vries posted the third fastest time in the second session. Mahindra was hurt by the battery fire, suffering damage to his equipment and both cars, but both drivers showed great pace at different times of the week.
The drivers’ championship should be close again
19 of the 21 drivers set lap times within 0.7 seconds of each other during the final session of the week. Sure, that’s one-lap pace rather than managing all the nuances of a Formula E race (like power consumption and regeneration), but it’s clear that drivers are learning how to unlock the potential of the Gen3 cars. Last year, for example, teams were dealing with new cars and new tires, having to find the optimal performance for a harder Hankook compound.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/formula-e-preseason-testing-2023-five-key-takeaways-from-valencia-133234132.html?src=rss
