Tokyo Formula E Notebook – Post Race

Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds told Formula E Notebook (FEN) in Tokyo last Friday that the execution of the first Tokyo EPrix evidences that other high-ambition events in more cities could be achievable in the near future. That includes Shangahi, which Dodds visited to promote May’s race just before he got to Tokyo last week.
“If we can put on a race here in the city, we can put a race on in The Bund (the Shanghai financial centre),” said Dodds.
“Now, there’s a lot of things that have to happen. One, they need to want to do it because that’s an effort. But also commercially, it’s got to make sense, because the commercials is between building a street circuit in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world, versus going racing at a fixed circuit are fundamentally different.”
Tokyo EPrix winner Max Guenther’s only mistake during the Tokyo EPrix was a major shunt on the podium when he slipped on champagne and fell over! The Maserati MSG driver joked to FEN that he had ‘lost traction’ in the amusing incident which was missed by the TV feed.
Nissan’s Tommaso Volpe told FEN, after the team’s best result since last year’s Rome EPrix that “it’s a positive thing to say that the team was disappointed to be P2.
“We are in the right mindset now; something is switching on mentally in the team. We are P3 in the championship, we started this season knowing that it was realistic to fight for the championship, and I still think this is realistic because of some gaps in the package.
“It’s not perfect, it’s improved anyway a lot. Step by step we will go to the top,” concluded Volpe.
Oliver Rowland’s radio transcript from the end of the race included some frustration and questioning of the strategy employed. – (Engineer: Jules Chambon)

JC: OK, Ollie. It’s P2. Good show in the last lap.

OR: Ahhhh…. I tried my best. It wasn’t easy leading the whole race.

JC: We know, he stayed behind and under consumed. You did a good show in the last lap. Third podium in the row.

OR: Good job guys.

OR: Ahhh…. F*** sake….

JC: It has been a really good resurgence.

OR: Yeah, I guess… But the target of… I don’t understand, pre event.

JC: Yeah we removed a lap at the end and that dropped it.

OR: Well then don’t say it in the pre event if that’s the case.

Former BMW Andretti and Mahindra driver Alexander Sims returned to the Formula E paddock as the driver advisor to the stewards in Tokyo. Sims, who is racing for Corvette in IMSA this season, is the first driver to have recent Formula E racing experience to hold the position.
Sims was at the forefront of the Norman Nato and Robin Frijns incident that saw a petition to appeal by Andretti be given admissible status before being ‘upheld and founded’ after on-board footage was analysed.
Addressing the incident and decision to FEN, Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths said that “Robin was on the outside, we were on the racing line, and we were like ‘how can we be at fault’?”
“Robin was trying to go around the outside, we had nowhere to go because we were up against the wall on one side and sandwiched between two cars, one behind and one ahead. We were astounded that we were given the penalty.
“So, we went down to see the stewards. They were looking at it and started to have an internal debate that maybe they made the wrong decision, and they granted us a right of review, we were invited back to present the case again.”
Robin Frijns claimed two points for Envision but was upset by being hit twice in the race, first by Mitch Evans and then by Norman Nato.
“I was trying to keep out of trouble the whole race and my car was pretty much untouched,” Frijns told The Race.
“Then he (Nato) came out of attack mode and we went front wheel against front wheel. He cannot say he didn’t see me, otherwise he’s blind.
“Just before the corner he started to turn left more and more and I was there, I couldn’t go anywhere, so I clipped his wheel against my wheel, it flew in the air, steering wheel was going crazy, lost my front wing, lost three places.”
Jake Dennis reckoned that the safety car that scrambled to retrieve debris from Mitch Evans’ Jaguar cost him dearly.
“That safety car timing was horrendous for us,” Dennis told FEN.
“I had just taken attack mode, I had six minutes left to take, and I just caught the back of the leaders and it was a safety car. That was a disaster, and it was just a shame that we couldn’t move forward.”
The Andretti driver also described contact with Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix da Costa, saying that “there was a lot of contact to be honest, a lot of contact into me… but from my side I came out on top, so not really that bothered.
“Antonio (Felix da Costa) did a good move on me at T15, but the one with Pascal (Wehrlein) on me… it was quite aggressive he just drove into the side of me. That was probably unnecessary and it cost us both positions.”
Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz was brutally honest with himself after what he described as a qualifying performance that “from my side was just unacceptable.”
“Of course, we are pushing the limits, we are always trying to find more lap time and the mistake I did is something that can happen,” Fenestraz told FEN.
“But it pushed us off [course] for the whole weekend. When you lose two or three laps in FP1, and then FP2 there was a bit of traffic, it makes qualifying very difficult and then you try and change many things in just one lap.
“Bit of a mistake on my side, but in the race, to finish P10* from P20 on the grid is not so bad on a track where it is very difficult to overtake. The race side of things is positive but I need to focus on my qualifying performance for the rest of this year.”
*Fenestraz ultimately lost out on a point after Norman Nato’s re-instatement to sixth position.
ERT’s Dan Ticktum sang the praises of the current crop of sportscars on the international scene, telling FEN that he found “Hypercar amazing – very cool.
“I think there are some people umm-ing and err-ing about electric at the moment, thinking maybe towards hydrogen, but I still think electric is predominantly the future, he told FEN.
“The reason that the big manufacturers have poured a lot into WEC is very current. That’s going to have a great five years in that championship. I think, by the end of my career here, I think that’s when [electric racing] could start to get really big.
“It’s growing now, but I think in ten years’ time, when I’m towards the end of my career, I think that’s when Formula E will start to see much bigger numbers. That’s my prediction.”
Lola Yamaha took delivery of its Gen3 monocoque and other significant parts last Friday the day after its unveiling as Formula E’s newest registered manufacturer. Lola has a new base at Silverstone and is expecting to shakedown the car at a nearby airfield in June.
ERT announced a new partner with leading Swiss watchmaker, Chronoswiss, which is renowned for its “Modern Mechanical” philosophy. Chronoswiss branding is to be displayed on key touchpoints throughout the ERT Formula E team environment, including prominent placement on the car mirrors, nose cone, and drivers’ gloves, ensuring maximum visibility during races. The deal was managed by ERT’s Swiss based commercial guru, Jon Wilde.
The Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party, Fumio Kishida, visited the Tokyo EPrix yesterday, getting a tour of the pitlane and being the guest of honour on the grid.
An array of racing industry personalities were in the Tokyo paddock on Saturday, including Pascal Vasselon from Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe (TGR-E) formerly Toyota Motorsport GmbH, ex Super Formula, Super GT winner Joao Paulo de Oliveira, FIA deputy president Robert Reid, former Formula E CMO Ali Russell and one of Japan’s foremost racing heroes and ex-Formula E team owner Aguri Suzuki.
Suzuki actually acted a national steward for the race alongside international steward Achim Loth and Chairman of the Panel Gerd Ennser.