Tributes for Cyril
The devastating news last week of Cyril Blais’ passing rocked the Formula E paddock as it arrived in Tokyo. The 43 year-old team principal of the Citroen Racing team is being mourned and remembered by the Formula E community this weekend with a number of tributes including a minute’s remembrance on Friday in the pit lane.
A book of remembrance in the paddock was also made available for messages and memories on Friday morning where Blais’ colleagues from MSG, Fabien Geffroy (team manager) and Thibault Arnal spoke eloquently about Blais.
Speaking to Formula E Notebook in Tokyo, Lucas di Grassi, who was with Blais at Venturi in 2021/22, said that Blais was “a really strong engineer” who was “a very solid guy, very down to earth, and very passionate about his job. He had a great technical knowledge and was a good race engineer. I actually rated him highly. It’s a horrible loss.”
Meanwhile Alex Lynn, who Blais engineered at the Mahindra team in 2020 and 2021, remembered his London EPrix victory in July 2021 fondly, calling Blais “a legend of an engineer.”
“London (in 2021) was by far the most enjoyable one in a sense and until recently it was still Mahindra’s last win,” recalled Lynn. “What a brilliant day! But in the background I already knew I was out of the team at that point. I’d known it for some time. And we’d promised each other we’d just have one last perfect day and we did it. It was his first win in Formula E too. It was really cool.”
Stellantis and Porsche hit Guadix
Both the Stellantis and Porsche Gen4 development cars were in action at the Guadix Circuit in Spain last week with several days of running completed. Stellantis had Jean-Eric Vergne, Nick Cassidy, Theo Pourchaire and Sophia Floersch at the test although only the first three saw seat time. Porsche meanwhile had Nico Mueller and Pascal Wehrlein on hand as it continued performance testing of the car it has dubbed the Porsche 975 RSE.
At that test FEN spoke with Stellantis simulation and modelling development engineer, Teena Gade, who reckoned that the Gen4 car could help change perceptions of electric vehicles and electric racing.
“What I would like to convey is just how exciting a car this is,” said Gade. “I mean, this is like no other track car. There is no other series like Formula E – not this level of performance, this level of power, all-wheel drive, fully active diffs, total software. There’s nothing else like this, and so I hope that we can get people in with the hook of the racing and keep them there by just how crazy these car are, just how good they are.”
Mahindra Gen4 Shakedown Completed
While Mahindra prepared Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara’s cars for the Tokyo ePrix double header, some of the engineers, among them stayed back in the UK to conduct the first shakedown of the Mahindra Gen4 car.
The test, held at Abingdon airfield in Oxfordshire, was delayed a month due to a supplier issue and is believed to have been conducted by test driver Jake Hughes. Further testing is planned throughout August before the car is homologated and readied for the pre-season test at Jarama in 14 weeks’ time.
Speaking to Formula E Notebook in Tokyo, Mahindra team principal Frederic Bertrand said that the fact Mahindra is running behind its rivals does not necessarily mean it will be massively on the backfoot after the homologation of its challenger in early October.
“I think it’s easier to say (if there will be a competitive hierarchy) when you have the track time, but on our side we don’t feel we would suffer so much on that side,” said Bertrand.
“Right now, simulation tools are helping a lot. What we are doing on Gen3Evo is also helping a lot, because at the end what we do on the four-wheel-drive and is very close to what will be needed in the Gen4, in some areas like software, etc.
“Maybe we are hopeful that we will have a gap which is, if not fully compensated, very much closer than what we have today in the efficiency, in the way we deal with the car globally in terms of performance,” added Bertrand.
No Gen4 Customer for Mahindra
Bertrand confirmed that Mahindra will not have a customer in the first two seasons of the Gen4 period, a status it has been in since the ABT CUPRA team became the Lola Yamaha ABT entity in 2024.
“For the first period of Gen4, for sure not but maybe in the second one (Gen4 Evo period from 2028),” Bertrand told FEN. ‘Let’s be honest, it could have been an additional thing that I’m not sure we would have been able to deliver. We know it’s not ideal, because it’s definitely an advantage, a plus for data, for improving, for having more brains working on the same type of car and concept. But on the other side, if I do the parallel to what happened when I arrived and we had the agreement with ABT, we were not ready at all.
“Then you spend your time trying to make your customers feel happy with something where you are already not happy,” added Bertrand. “And then you try to compensate things that you can’t and the relationship is becoming more difficult. That was not positive. So, I prefer that we are alone, focussing our resources on ourselves.”
Lola Testing Progresses
Lola Yamaha was also in action last week with Zane Maloney conducting the running at the little known Castelloli circuit in Spain. The team’s deputy team principal, Frederic Espinos, told FEN that the present period and the next two months would see the team flat-out up to the homologation period in late September.
Speaking to FEN in Tokyo, Lola Yamaha ABT deputy team principal, Fred Espinos, said that “there will be no break clearly for nobody between the two seasons. So straight after London, we’ll be doing all of August testing. Homologations will be in eight weeks. You need to have kind of double team, to have a test team. But we have people doing both, and they are flat out for a few months now already. It’s really tough but we are committed.”
Jaguar Penske Rumours Quashed?
Paddock rumours associating possible plans to join Porsche having six cars on the grid next season with a deal to supply the Penske team have been largely discounted by Jaguar TCS Racing TP, Ian James, at Tokyo. Although James appeared to leave the faintest of caveats by saying ‘let’s wait and see but no planned changes on our side quite yet.”
When asked by FEN if his comments at the Paul Ricard test in April, to the effect of the Big Cat not looking at having two customer teams had changed, James said that “nothing’s changed and I’ve got no inkling as to where others are at the moment, other than those that have already been publicised (Envision and Andretti). Let’s wait and see but no planned changes on our side quite yet.”
Penske is yet to play its hand in making its programme public knowledge but it is believed now to be close to a deal with a registered manufacturer for Gen4, after initial scoping out for the possibility of building its own powertrains were not continued earlier this year.
The Champ on Gen4
Reigning champion Oliver Rowland has told FEN that he believes the Gen4 era of Formula E will see more F2 drivers striking out on a race programme but less likely that former F1 drivers will follow suit.
“First of all, the car looks good, it’s fast, it’s a big step. I don’t think it will entice F1 drivers,” Rowland said. “But for anyone outside F1, I think they would come anyway even for Gen3. I think it’s more about finding a spot on this grid because the level is incredibly high. For sure the car puts the championship more on the map, but we already have 20 of the best drivers in the world so they should already want to come here. The teams might decide that with the change in regulation, experience of the way the races are now is a bit more equalled out and it’s a good time to try new drivers.
“But I don’t think it’s accurate to say it’s because they will start wanting to come, it’s already one of the best places to be a professional driver outside F1, and not many are able to come here.”
Nissan Big Dogs in Town
Nissan will welcome its CEO Ivan Espinosa, Chief Performance Officer (CPO) Guillaume Cartier and Eiichi Akashi (CTO) and several other key Nissan and NISMO figures to the paddock of their home EPrix this weekend. The Japanese marque will run with a special livery this weekend marking the Nissan NISMO pit initiative.
The unmistakable spirit of Japan’s iconic 90s car scene will have a renaissance during the Tokyo EPrix, as Nissan Formula E Team will launch The NISMO Pit – a one night pop-up event for fans on Saturday 25th July.
Inspired by the nation’s golden era of street car culture, where passionate enthusiasts gathered to champion community, identity and craftsmanship, The NISMO Pit looks to revive this ritual for a new generation of fans with an immersive experience celebrating Nissan’s motorsport heritage.
