Formula E is set to race on the full version of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for next year’s Mexico City EPrix after recent simulations by the FIA.
Those findings are believed to have been shared with some paddock insiders, who have been in close liaison with the FIA and Formula E Operations on selecting specific configurations of circuits for the much quicker Gen4 era that will beginracing in Jeddah this December.
Careful simulation and analytical understanding of the Gen4 car in relation to the tracks that are to be used has been a key criteria of how Formula E should look next season with the vastly quicker new car.
The FIA and drivers within the group that sits on the track specific topics would not comment directly on specific circuits at the London EPrix last weekend, but The Race has learned that the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is pinpointed to use the full track but probably with a. temporary chicane added on the long start and finish straight for regenerative purposes.
“I cannot tell you what is the version that we are using at Mexico but it will be different to what we have seen in Formula E up to now,” Formula E’s head of championship for Formula E, Pablo Martino told Formula E Notebook.
“We will use different circuit layouts and it will be new circuit layouts for everybody in most racetracks.
“The difference between Season 12 (2026) and Season 13 (2027) layouts, is it will be bigger than in the other, but that’s all I can say because Formula E is still working on a couple of elements that we have required to investigate.”
Newly crowned champion Pascal Wehrlein sits on the track group collective along with Oliver Rowland and Lucas di Grassi. He believes that Formula E needs to be racing on the full 2.674-mile Mexican track.
“We had a very positive meeting a couple of weeks ago and we all share our experiences and have expectations of where we could improve things, so I’m well aware of how the tracks could be next season,” said Wehrlein.
“We have another meeting coming up shortly, and let’s say that if it’s the same venue but a different track layout I think in Mexico’s case the car needs it (full track).
“The old Mexico track is it’s too small for the Gen4 car so surely we will see different layouts in the future, which improve and showcase the Gen4 car and its speed and acceleration for the better,” concluded the double Formula E world champion.
How FIA manage circuit choice
There is a dedicated team inside the FIA that covers specific track topics for championships, and the Formula E cell has been highly active in recent months as the first ever Gen4 calendar has been delivered.
The two core aspects to which the FIA follows on circuits is safety and suitability. While the first is non-flexible, as in if a track does not meet the stringent safety criteria it will not even be considered for purpose, the suitability pillar can be more malleable.
“There are different parameters that can be managed and they can be done through modifications to the existing racetrack,” the FIA’s Martino said.
“We determine how it (modifications) has to be done through a simulation process. On that simulation, we understand that certain levels or parameters, especially on lift-off (lift and coast), duration of the race, race lap distance, etc. need to be complied with.
“And if they are not in that range, we try to propose solutions to Formula E on the track construction in order to bring these parameters back to an acceptable frame.”
That frame will change for Gen4 and there are key case studies from the Gen3 era that will influence this. Namely the pack-racing phenomena and how drivers use the lift and coast techniques around it.
“It makes everything exponentially more complicated in an operations point of view,” added Martino.
“We have had to manage some really complex separate races in Gen3. And moving into Gen4, we will see some changes, especially on the car, which is much more performing on aero configurations, meaning there is less interest on going into a slipstream that has created this so-called ‘peloton effect’ on Gen3. “
There is an expectation that in Gen4 overt pack-racing seen at some events in Gen3 will not occur as starkly and sometimes dangerously as seen in recent seasons. That is because aerodynamically the Gen4 is grippier and less draggy.
“We are also working on lift-off range that doesn’t put the championship in a situation that it goes beyond what it could be acceptable from a spectacle point of view,” confirmed Martino.
“And that’s a job that has nothing to do with safety, it’s purely on raceability of the circuits.”
