A bit of balance goes a long way in motorsport, especially at the highest levels. This is not only true from a vehicle dynamic standpoint for the hardware itself but also from a sporting standpoint.
Have too much grip and, without a BoP, DRS or some other gizmo or artifice you’ll have limited action. A spectacle, yes. Overtaking, no. Think of it as having 22 Kylian Mbappé’s on a football pitch all at once, all cancelling themselves out.
Gen4 will need some sporting format balancing. This is especially highlighted by the fact that the FIA and Formula E were so unprepared for the pack-racing that brewed up from the Gen3 rules set in 2023.
This got incredibly accentuated by the fact the extra power of 50kW in partnership with the initial Hankook tyres meant the Attack Mode was essentially useless. It was mostly that which triggered the ‘Talledega for single seaters’ style racing that became a feature of Formula E for the the first two seasons, and to a lesser extent to this day.
“To be honest, it’s something we didn’t predict it very well in Gen3,” says FIA Technical Manager, Vincent Gaillardot (pictured below).
At that time, he was not responsible for the Gen3 programme and was drafted into the FIA at the end of 2023 to ensure that Gen4 didn’t fall into similar traps.
“I think everybody was surprised but at that time, I was on the team side (Nissan), and we never picked up really a consequence, so we still try to understand it,” added the racing veteran.
“Obviously, we will still have some energy limitation (in Gen4). We will still have some race with high lift (and coast). So, I think the pack style will still exist.
“What we will take care of is to make sure we have an overtaking capability with attack mode. Because now we have full time four-wheel drive.”
This will be a major part of the game-changing vibe that Gen4 will generate, as will the active differential at the front of the car, off the spec FRK which is being supplied by Marelli.
But the crux of the racing will still likely revolve around, as Gen3Evo does now , how the Attack Mode develops.
“So, we do not have the benefit on Gen3 Evo Attack Mode (as AWD is permanent) but on the other hand, we can go up to 150 kW power difference now. There is 50kW today in Gen3, so in terms of capability of overtaking, it’s even bigger than Gen3 Evo,” said Gaillardot.
“How will we play at the final race format? Do we have attack mode at 150kW or at 100kW? Could it vary from track to track? It’s such a thing we still haven’t decided on yet. But I think the peloton, whatever we call it, race profile will exist on certain tracks.
“Obviously, they will need to take care of the car more as now it’s a little bit more of an aerodynamic car.”
Kind of overarching this whole debate is the build quality of the cars. Previously in Formula E the front wings have come in for much criticism because they have been easy to damage. Contact in Formula E is much more prevalent than it is in most other top-level motorsport, therefore it needs to be robust.
“They can lose a little bit some performance if we start to have some wing off and so on,” recons Gaillardot.
“But the general construction of the car is much more robust (in Gen4). We have much more bodywork parts and the wheels are not fully covered. But as you have seen on the photography, there are big bump stops. Front, rear, front wheel, rear wheel.”
Gaillardot also confirmed to Formula E Notebook that only the low downforce configuration of bodywork was used at November’s Monteblanco test. This was because a different higher downforce kit was being produced which is believed to be ready in time for next month’s test at the Almeira test track in southern Spain.
“We have the two configurations. But we implemented a new update on the high downforce configuration. Because we wanted even more downforce.”
