Formula E made a pilgrimage to Formula One’s alter last week as one of the all-electric world championship GEN4 cars lapped the hallowed Temple of Speed that is Monza for the first ever time.
Porsche used the Monza F1 track layout over two days of testing with both dry and full wet running completed at the legendary home of the Italian Grand Prix.
Pascal Wehrlein, Nico Muller and Pepe Marti all got cockpit time last week with the latter getting full wet running on the Bridgestone ‘Typhoon’ tyre. New CUPRA Kiro signing Jake Hughes also attended the test but was never slated to drive, and is believed to have been there to learn more about the Porsche 975 RSE GEN4 car and also meet members of his new team.
Porsche selected Monza mainly for aerodynamic and braking evaluation testing prior to the pre-season Jarama test next month. It is not scheduled to attend the day of testing at Valencia in the week prior to the three days of Jarama testing.
Formula E Notebook has learned that the best lap was completed early on the first day, with the car not yet fully optimised and on used tyres.
A lap in the early 1m32s bracket has been suggested by a source close to the test. That would indicate that the GEN4 is already quicker than the F2 track record which was achieved by Kush Maini on a 1m32.717s in 2024.
An all-out run on fresh Bridgestone tyres with the car fully optimised was not believed to be on the agenda for Porsche during the test which prioritised set-up and braking work. It also believed that straight-line speeds were around the 330 km/h bracket
But the clear standout from the test was said to have been the performance of the car in the wet conditions with 4WD and the ‘typhoon’ tyres being the main contributors to what one attendee at the test described as ‘outrageous levels of grip.’
Mueller on Monza GEN4 experience
Nico Mueller has told FEN that he was pleasantly surprised by how the GEN4 Porsche handled around the wide open expanses of the Monza track after his runs last week.
“I was honestly positively surprised by how this car felt around a pretty unique track like Monza,” said Mueller.
“Obviously it is very high speed, and a long circuit with super long straights, with a lot of flow. I think the most impressive and fun combination was the Ascari corners, first of all the hard braking into it, but then immediately picking up the throttle again through the second and third part.
“You could really hustle the car around there and really get some proper exit speed very quickly. With the four-wheel-drive and the high power, the car was sort of moving around, but still creating quite some proper downforce, so the exit did really feel quick and flowy.”
Main image credit: panningprojectstudio & yzi_photos
