Circuito del Jarama’s Testing Features
FIA Race Director Scot Elkins has briefed the teams and drivers to respect the kerbs at the track, especially at the T4/T5 section. The apex kerbs at Jarama are the same everywhere, but the exit kerbs vary in most positions on the circuit. Some are showing signs of deterioration which is likely from the four FIA European Truck Racing Championship races held here a month ago.
There were no track limits imposed for the Tuesday afternoon session, but Elkins has left it open for some to be implemented if cars use some of the dirt areas on entries and exits.
The temporary chicane after the final corner at Turn 11 has been erected for the purposes of energy management and regen for the Formula E cars. It was initially planned to be a right-to-left configuration but was changed earlier this morning to ensure safety close to the entry to the pits; on the right after T11. Drivers have been told that they must not cross the solid white pit entry line from right to left.
Jarama will see the most extreme energy target per lap, probably the highest ever in Formula E cars running at any circuit. This is likely to see teams limiting their running to look after aspects of their cars, particularly the duty cycles of the RESS’ ahead of being freighted to Sao Paulo next week.
“You have to think about that in terms of the preparation run plans and how you’re going to do that,” Jaguar TCS Racing team principal James Barclay told FEN.
Several drivers expressed to FEN their surprise at the surface of the track, which has a very high macro content and course make up at Jarama. There is expected to be significant degradation with the new Hankook rubber which is softer than the original product from the original Gen3 design and includes less construction materials in the sidewall in particular.
Jaguar TCS Racing and Nissan sat out the first test session at Jarama today as part of its sanction for going over the Season 9 cost cap. Mitch Evans expressed to FEN that it was “hard to say how much it is going to affect us, but I think if it was a track that we’ve been to before then Nick and I would get up and running pretty quickly.
“We’re going to use the first few runs to get on top of the track, while everyone else will be hitting the ground running tomorrow morning. So, it’s not ideal,” said the Kiwi.
It is believed that none of the 22 Formula E race drivers at the test this week have any racing experience at Circuito Jarama. The circuit has hosted FIA Touring Car and Truck events in recent years but last held a major single-seater race here in 1987 with a round of the International F3000 Championship. Porsche Formula E boss Florian Modlinger, the FIA’s Marek Nawarecki, Jaguar engineer Josep Roca, DTM champion Gary Paffett and FEN’s own Sam Smith are among the very few on-site this week to have visited the former Spanish Grand Prix venue before.
Attack Charge Progress
The first Attack Charge ‘race’ will be at Jarama on Thursday afternoon as a special 24 lap race, using a 42.35 kWh usable energy allowance. It will also include eight minutes of Attack Mode, to be taken in two hits, and will feature a regular standing start.
Formula E teams were granted an extra day of testing to add more evidencing of the Attack Charge units supplied by Fortescue ZERO. Competitors had to perform the test before November 4 with both of its race cars. It was mandatory to perform one a 600kW Attack Charge per car (2 charges per unit) during a morning run and another in the afternoon.
DS and Maserati completed their shakedowns and Attack Charge tests at the La Ferte Gauche track in France last Wednesday and Thursday before heading to Madrid. Maximilian Guenther and Jake Hughes conducted the running.
Nissan did its shakedown at the Circuit Ecuyers track near Reims last week with Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato conducting the runs and extra Attack Charge evidencing ahead of travelling to Jarama.
FETAMA Personnel Changes
FEN can reveal that Andretti Team Principal Roger Griffiths will begin his second term as chair of the Formula E Teams and Manufacturers Association this month. Griffiths previously held the position between 2017 and 2019 and was voted in by fellow teams and manufacturers last month when NEOM McLaren’s Ian James stood down after his two year stipulated stint.
There will also be a new FETAMA secretariat that works with Griffiths after long-time incumbent of that role, Jim Wright, relinquished the role after almost a decade in the post. Lola ABT Yamaha sporting manager Frederic Espinos will take over from Jarama onwards.
Attack Charge Pit Stops
The introduction of the long awaited Attack Charge pit stops will work to a possible semi introduction this season before being a permanent addition to the sporting structure in the 2025-26 season if it is evidenced to be completely reliable, according to Formula E COO, Alberto Longo (speaking to FEN pre-Valencia-Jarama switch).
“If the technology works, and obviously in the last three, four months, I would say the tests have been really successful for teams and for manufacturers both,” said Longo.
“The last test is obviously in Valencia (now Jarama). We’re going to do a complete race simulation on that date, and if everything works as expected, I really feel confident that we can implement that in a few races during Season 11 (2024-25), with the intention of having a full implementation in season 12 (2025-26) for all the races.”
Team Updates
Nick Cassidy has a new engineer for the season ahead, with ex ORECA and PSA employee Geoffry Lenfant getting the position. The Kiwi’s Season 10 engineer Phil Ingram has moved in to a more overarching position as Head of Performance, while Fabien Nicolas has been promoted to the role performance engineer.
Former Dragon Formula E engineer Jamie Gomeche has joined the DS Penske team to work directly with new signing Maximilian Guenther this season. Gomeche previously worked with Fortec and Arden in junior single seaters before his stint at Dragon. This came to an end in 2022 when he left to join former Dragon team manager Gary Holland set up the Vector Sport endurance racing operation.
Gen3Evo
Drivers have been expressing their opinions on the new Gen3Evo car with all having positive things to say about the new design as it hits the track publicly in Jarama this week.
“Let’s say it’s just a quite big step in performance,” were Mahindra driver Nyck de Vries’ comments on the new Gen3Evo car that will have occasional All-Wheel Drive, and a new tyre compounds and new body kit.
“I think the tyres have also played a good role in that but yeah having the four-wheel drive is just making the car more enjoyable to drive, it pushes the limits, it’s overall a more performance car and as a driver that’s obviously exciting,”
“I suspect the strategy will change a little bit because obviously the overtaking opportunity will become bigger, so I think overall it’s going to bring some good change and for us drivers we enjoy when we get a little bit more of everything, we get a little bit more power, a little bit more grip, a little bit more potential, so yeah that’s positive.” concluded the 2021 champion.
Golden Laps
New Maserati MSG driver Jake Hughes told FEN that he was never convinced by the plans that Formula E Operations initially had for rewarding leaders of the race at pre-determined laps in races, which was going to be known as ‘Golden Laps.’ The plans were dropped last month after an outcry against the idea by teams and drivers.
“From the limited knowledge I have of it at the moment my initial feeling is I’m not sure if it was completely necessary,” said Hughes. “If you consider the fact that we’re planning to use attack charge, the attack mode in general would hopefully become a bit a lot more of a strategic tool now. So, I think those two things already give a very different look to the races.”
News from Around the Paddock
Former Williams F1 driver Kazuki Nakajima is expected to be at Jarama supporting Toyota Gazoo development driver Miki Koyama before her test with Lola ABT Yamaha later this week. Nakajima last visited a Formula E race in May 2015 at the inaugural Monaco EPrix.
McLaren Racing has announced a multi-year partnership with TDK, a world leader in electric solutions, as an Official Technology Partner of the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team and the McLaren Shadow F1 Sim Racing Team. The partnership brings together two brands with technological innovation at their core, and who are passionate about driving change in the electric racing and automotive worlds.
NMFE Team Principal Ian James was a visitor to the Bahrain FIA World Endurance championship paddock last week. James had been at the Beach Games festival in NEOM and made the short trip across to the final event of the WEC season to cheer on United Autosports’ brace of McLaren LMGT3 cars.
Former Abt Cupra social media manager, Betty Schuller, has joined the TAG-Heuer Porsche team where she will undertake a similar role this season. Schuller’s story in Formula E is unique, as she frequented several early races in the series as a fan before getting a role at the well-known Speedpool agency, which has worked with the Abt organisation for many years.
Many teams ran decals with messages of support for the victims of the tragedy that has claimed over 250 lives. Formula E Notebook expresses its sympathies and support for the city of Valencia and surrounding areas that were so devastated by the severe flooding last week. A minute’s silence was also observed by the paddock just before the start of the first session this afternoon.
Formula E Notebook will be back with a post-test week edition from Jarama on Friday evening.
Image credit: Spacesuit Media
