Former Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa believes that Formula E's all-new Gen2 car marks a "good change" when compared to the championship's current Spark SRT 01E machinery as the Brazilian racer gears up to join the grid of the electric single seater series for the start of Season Five this December.
Massa, 37, who raced in F1 from 2002-2017 for Sauber, Ferrari and Williams, will join the FIA's ever-growing ABB Formula E Championship in Season Five which is set to commence this December where he will compete for Venturi.
Having completed a test for British marque Jaguar Racing in the outfit's Season Three machine in 2017 and completing his maiden voyage in Venturi's VFE 05 car recently in an outing at the Ales-Cevennes circuit in France, Massa is one of a number of drivers who can compare the direction that Formula E is heading in before the start of Season Five which marks a revolution in the championship.
"We had a lot of laps, some issues also – the technical side was pretty new for a new car but not really big issues I would say," Massa told Motorsport Week at the Zurich E-Prix.
"I managed to do good laps in a lot of different modes, you know, racing modes, qualifying modes, so practice in modes, trying all of the different things on the car… Trying to understand the battery, trying to understand the way of driving the car, braking…"
Comparing the series' current vehicles to the future Gen2 machines that will roll out onto the track later this year, Massa described the development as a "good change":
"I would say definitely I did one test, Jaguar, which was in the car which was two years ago in the championship, maybe one year but I think maybe the car was not 100% ready for last year’s championship you know?
"It was a good change in terms of the feeling that I had the first time and now, for sure, on the power, but also the car is a little bit different, you know, the style.
"I think it’s quite interesting for the show with the ‘Bat Man’ car. It was quite interesting but also the way of driving the lines you need to take.
"For sure I didn’t drive on a city track, this is definitely a big difference that I will feel for the season because the tracks are completely different than a normal race track, changing a little bit in the corners, trying to simulate a little bit of the city track in some corners but not a lot."
For Season Five, Formula E will see the arrival of brake-by-wire – a technology that allows brakes to be controlled through means of electricity which has been in use in F1 since 2014 with the arrival of hybrid technology.
"I would say a big big difference that I felt was in the brakes," continued Massa.
"The brakes was a lot more balanced with the brake-by-wire, with the balance you see that it’s so easy to lock the tyres, especially with the temperature of the battery.
"You need to keep changing the balance of the brakes all of the time and I think the system is a lot more intelligent so it understands a lot more the balance front and rear of the brakes, so that, for me, was a big step and also the tyres so it was a big change, the feeling, by driving, the tyres which is like a road car’s tyres.
"In a way, it’s quite a new challenge. [It’s] different to understand the tyres, to understand the feeling and everything.
"It was maybe the first time that the team drove on that track so I didn’t have any reference from other drivers to say this is something that was not so easy to understand in a proper way but I was quite happy with all of the feelings and everything,” he concluded.
