- All of the race car batteries will be taken back to WAE’s base in Grove, UK next week to be inspected after the fiery incident on Tuesday. The units were always planned to go back there prior to the incident but FEN understands that they will go through some intensive checks before being air freighted to Mexico City at a later date.
- The Abt Cupra team had a little late night drama on Thursday when smoke began emitting from Lucas di Grassi’s Mahindra: “When the team did a spin check after rear end change on #11 a little smoke was produced in the rear end of the car. As a precautionary measure the team started the safety procedure and the garage was evacuated. After checks, also with WAE and FIA, it turned out that the smoke was not at all related to the battery, the car was always green. We changed the rear end back and will analyse in detail what exactly happened.” detailed a team statement supplied to FEN.
- Mahindra will get a special dispensation test privately after missing a chunk of running after withdrawing Nyck de Vries car from the Valencia test due to residual damage caused by extinguishant and smoke from Tuesday’s fire.
- Team boss Frederic Bertrand told FEN that the exact time lost will be given at a circuit of their choice and that both of the Mahindra M9Electro cars will be freighted to Mexico City separately from the rest of the grid.
- Bertrand did say however that a supplementary test would not quite be the same as running at Valencia saying that “It has been agreed by everyone to be honest I think all the teams were supportive, they saw the struggle we were in and they all understood that but for instance we will not have the attack mode loops, etc.”
- Bertrand was touched by the level of support from “so many drivers and teams but re-emphasised that they would not be able to learn as much as if running at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, adding that “it’s true that we will never be the same because being here is a very good source of information, we have so many references on that track.”
- Hankook will bring different specs of tyres to test at the manufacturer test in Mallorca next month. Jaguar TCS Racing team principal, James Barclay told FEN that “there’s been some work already on tyre options for Gen 3.5 and this is the next step of that. For sure I think we know there will be a step in mechanical grip with the new tyre.
- “It’s as good a time to do it now than any because we don’t want to leave it late, it’s really critical we understand the new tyre so we can make sure we’re getting that right foot and the final design of powertrains right in the thick of finalising the powertrain,” added Barclay.
- Formula E and the FIA issued a new timetable for Thursday afternoon and Friday. The running time on the final day on Friday will take place from 08.30 to 18.30 and with no interruption for a lunch break. Teams will pack the cars and equipment in order for freighting to Mexico City next week direct from the Valencia circuit.
- A mock ‘race’ using the eight attack charge booster charges is expected to be used 08:30-09:30 on Friday. Some teams are yet to try the devices at all while others used Tuesday’s morning session to try the WAE supplied device which uses the same SAFT supplied cells that the RESS uses.
- The attack charger cannot be plugged in to the car until the driver goes into a neutral setting. NEOM McLaren’s team manager Gary Paffett told FEN that “once plugged in to the car effectively a timer starts, so there’s an allocated amount of energy you have to put in the car but actually the limitation is the time.
- So, this Is set for every event and for here it’s 33 seconds’ stationary time. The charge will release once the charge is in the car and the car dash has a countdown for the driver to see for when their time is up effectively.”
- Pascal Wehrlein told FEN of his opinion on the new attack charge plans for season 10 saying that he understood “why it was it introduced” because “it’s really relevant with what’s happening with the road cars.
- “The counter side for me is probably how the racing will adapt,” added Wehrlein. “It’s like we will see two different groups, there is a certain pit stop window and especially if there is an incident with safety car or full course yellow.
- “A huge group of drivers could be compromised massively and the outcome of the race could be affected. Let’s see how that will turn out but I’m a bit worried how it could end up in certain races with safety cars and full course yellows.”
- Several rookie drivers had wasted trips to Valencia with no seat time in the car due to the timetable changes that happened after Tuesday’s pit fire. Among them were Jack Aitken, Sheldon van der Linde, Jordan King and Yann Ehrlacher, while Porsche elected to give Gabriela Jilkova seat time in the Thursday afternoon session.
- Jilkova told that FEN that she “really enjoyed the experience” which saw her complete 46 laps of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
- “I hope that everything will go forward, the relationship is great and I can’t be more thankful to be here today and to work in such a professional and great team,” she added. “If you look in general in motorsports Porsche is one of the grand names you really want to be in, and here I am really happy so I hope that everything continues on.”
- Taylor Barnard, who drove Sam Bird’s NEOM McLaren run Nissan on Tuesday morning, is in line to become a possible reserve driver for the team this season. “We got in contact and had a chat about him coming and doing some testing with us with a view of maybe being reserve driver,” Paffett told FEN. “I think that’s what we’re looking for and yesterday was effectively just a further evaluation. He’s been in the simulator and been around the team, so we’ll see what we’ll do going forwards, but that was the purpose of the test.”
- The Nissan Formula E Team confirmed a partnership with Coral for the upcoming 2023/24 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. The UAE-based software company specialises in offsetting carbon emissions by using blockchain technology, ‘bringing transparency and verification to carbon credit markets.’
- Heineken, Boss and TAG-Heuer have departed the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship as official partners. The Hackett clothing company has recently signed a deal as an apparel partner of the series.
- Mitch Evans’ fastest time in Tuesday’s mornings session of 1m24.474s was 0.653s seconds faster than last year’s overall test time set by Max Guenther. Evans again topped the Thursday afternoon running with a best of 1m24.791 in his Jaguar I-Type 6.
- The Thursday afternoon session was halted just prior to the end of the 4hr 45min track time when Pascal Wehrlein stopped his Porsche 99X Electric at Turn 6 with an unspecified technical issue.
Berlin Formula E Notebook – Post Race
Jaguar’s Gen3Evo test, a potential race at Homestead, and why Envision’s nightmare 2024 continues. Read all about how the Berlin EPrix double header and rookie test unfolded with the latest FE Notebook.
