Formula E Notebook can reveal that the Madrid EPrix later this month will become the first single header Formula E race to feature the mandatory energy boosting pit stops.
The Pit Boost format has always previously been used within double headers with the six previous races all taking place on the first day of a two-race weekend. The FIA has taken the decision to introduce a surprise Pit Boost race at Madrid, in part due to the length of the circuit which at 2.4-miles long is the longest Formula E will race on this season.
Initially the FIA contacted teams last week stating that the race would feature just a two phased attack mode structure but to six minutes as per a Pit Boost race. But now The Race understands that confirmation that it will also be a pit stop race has also reached the teams as they start to prepare for the sixth round of the all-electric world championship in their simulators.
The race was scheduled to be 21 laps in length at Jarama but FEN understands it will now be 23 laps due to the decision for the Pit Boost status being implemented.
Formula E’s relationship with Jarama came unexpectedly in November 2024 when it was a last minute substitute for the flood-hot Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. On that occasion a mock-up race was run on the second day of the test which saw Pit Boost stops completed ‘competetively’ in anger for the first time in public.
Then, drivers were given 42.35kWh over 24 laps, while plans for the Madrid EPrix on Saturday, March 21 will see the same useable energy. This is opposed to the 38.5kWh usually granted at EPrixs and is a consequence of the circuit length and design, which features predominantly fast flowing corners.
The mock-up race featured little actual overtaking and has been studied extensively by the FIA, presumably triggering this decision to implement a Pit Boost race at a single header for the first time.
Speaking to FEN last month about the Jarama race, DS Penske’s Phil Charles said that the tyre development from November 2024 to present day would see the running at Jarama look very different for the race meeting than was seen at the test.
“Everybody’s made massive inroads and I think we’ve all built understanding of the tyre and how it behaves a little bit differently in different conditions, different temperatures,” said Charles.
“It’s still not going to be super, super hot, but it will be into the warmer conditions, that’s the first thing. In terms of how you apply what you learn to a test to a race, it’s a different thing. When you go into a race weekend, you’re very specific setting a car up for that event. When we did the test back then, we were really looking at global understanding. So, we were trying to investigate some parameters that maybe at that particular track work or don’t work, but they’re good at understanding going forward.
“Of course, when you go to a race, you want to go quick on that weekend. It’s a different parameter set and focus for us.
“We’ll really focus on the track instead of thinking, right, we’re going to a test track. What do we want to learn? We think, right, how do we go faster in Jarama?
Charles added that he thought that the racing would be “very interesting there” because of the “characteristics of the track.”
“We set some focus on where we think performance could be, and we’ll investigate those areas,” he said.
“We’ll do a lot of offline simulation to understand that. And then the next step, going into the simulator with the race drivers and really going from offline where you can scan lots and lots of parameters, but really focusing on what the driver’s happy around.”
Mitch Evans and Pepe Marti also spoke to FEN recently about prospects for the Madrid EPrix and can be read HERE and HERE
