The FIA Formula E pre-season test at Jarama was a week of pride, emotion, potential surprises and a chunk of history. Motorsport Week gives you the lowdown on what we’ve learned in Madrid.
Formula E was forced to rearrange its pre-season test, moving from the place it calls home – Valencia, where the region was devastated by mass flooding.
Once FE had made the decision to move to Jarama – once a Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix venue – a huge logistical effort took place, moving vital amenities in several rounds of the 400-mile round trip between the two locations.
FE also quickly responded in a humanitarian context, swiftly setting-up a GoFundMe page to raise money to aid the flood-hit areas in Valencia. At the time of writing, the money raised has reached €51,720.
Amid the devastation, FE should be congratulated for how it has been able to relocate the test, with the original schedule moved by only one day. Whilst those affected on the ground in Valencia were never far away from everyone’s thoughts, there was reason to smile and to breathe a huge sigh of relief that the event was able to take place.
FE’s attitude rarely seems to waver – its key personnel rarely have a smile or friendly word far from their mouths, and all ought to feel proud for playing a part in a mission that was successfully accomplished. It might possibly be the biggest achievement the sport has ever had, indirectly without a wheel of a racing car even being turned.
Abbi’s pulling away from the rest in historic Formula E women’s test
Abbi Pulling vindicated the commonly-held opinion that she is the most exciting young female prospect in motor racing by going fastest in the historic all-female test on Friday.
The Alpine-backed 21-year-old took one hand off the F1 Academy title for the afternoon and placed both around the wheel of the Nissan e-4ORCE 05, setting a time of 1:30.889s, with undisputed W Series champion Jamie Chadwick second for Jaguar TCS Racing, and Bianca Bustamente third for NEOM McLaren.
DS Penske’s Jess Edgar was fastest on 300kW, just over two seconds adrift of Pulling’s best lap-time.
Despite the fact that Pulling had never driven a Formula E car before, and with limited simulator time due to the venue change, the time was within five seconds of the quickest lap time of the week. Pulling not only raised the bar, but raised several eyebrows across the paddock, and with very good reason.
Motorsport Week understands that if she does indeed finish-up as F1A champion and takes the Rodin-backed GB3 drive as a consequence, FE teams will send one or two of its scouts to the championship in order to keep tabs, but Nissan will want to keep her close to Viry as it looks to have its options open as it prepares for the GEN4 era.
Old school circuit gives drivers Jarama-rama
As the saying goes – the old ones are the best, and that was certainly the case this week, with all of the FE drivers Motorsport Week spoke to unable to contain their enthusiasm for the Jarama circuit.
The circuit was designed by John Hugenholtz, a Dutchman whose pen also helped to create gems such as Suzuka and Zandvoort. In fact, the Dutch GP venue’s influence is seen in Jarama, with gradient changes and banked corners all along the 2.392 mile track. It feels like a crime that the last racing it hosted prior to the test was the FIA European Truck Racing Championship in October.
Sam Bird, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nico Müller were just three drivers who told us how much they enjoyed the track, with Bird even telling us he would be happy if Formula E were to come here again.
However, the track and kerb surfaces, plus the questionably-easy access from a security point of view and the observation of fungi growing at some of the run-off areas, might make this possibility unlikely, but be in no doubt that the circuit was enjoyed by everyone who was in attendance, and the exposure it was given – the most it has had in a long time – will hopefully give it a leg-up in getting one or two of its more primitive and dated areas up to speed in order to host high-level racing again.
Time running out for Pit Boost with season looming large
The Attack Charge, or Pit Boost, idea was tried-out again in Madrid with varying degrees of success. Motorsport Week understands there are teams who have managed to execute it better than others, leaving the others less inclined to see it signed-off.
If approved, Pit Boost will be used in double-headers and will be a devilishly disruptive addition to the regulations, keeping the excitement fresh and, as many drivers have opined, will make the Attack Mode concept on-track far more worthwhile.
It is believed the final decision has not yet been made but a deadline will be fast approaching as teams gear-up for the season.
Kiro keeps its powder dry despite grabbing the attention
It’s fair to say that Kiro Racing Co has not been doing things traditionally. Its change of ownership was only announced a month ago, and it announced its driver for the female test before it announced its driver line-up for S11, which it still hasn’t done.
As predicted, David Beckmann took the reins alongside Dan Ticktum and both are set to be the pairing to contest the whole season. Beckmann, Porsche’s reserve driver, was top of Kiro’s list, with Sergio Sette Camara, Sacha Fenestraz and veteran Andre Lotterer all seemingly mere back-ups on the now-American squad’s list.
Ticktum and Beckmann were consistently in the top-10 during most of the sessions across the week, the year-old Porsche powertrain elevating it to being amongst the big boys.
Motorsport Week noted that both drivers and team boss Alex Hui – one appearance in a press conference excepted – were quiet throughout the week, keeping away from the media and both men seen meandering across the paddock less than the other drivers.
The fluorescent car has yet to be adorned by any sponsors with no announcement forthcoming, but hopes it will manage to find some backing prior to São Paulo.
Formula E’s CEO teases ‘compelling’ mid-gap event
FE’s CEO Jeff Dodds sat down with Motorsport Week for an interview that will be published later in the week, in which he teased the prospect of a “compelling” event that will be wedged in the gap created by the cancellation of the Thailand E-Prix.
The change of leader in Thailand caused the event to be scrapped, along with plans for a future Grand Prix in the country, and Dodds was, for the second season running, handed the problem of another long break so soon after the beginning of the campaign.
“The challenge falls to me where I’ve got two choices,” he said. “Do I just fill the gap with anything, and that could be booking a fixed circuit, which is not particularly strategic, costs us a load of money, the teams aren’t particularly excited by it, the fans aren’t particularly excited by it, it doesn’t really drive audience or fan engagement, but I can say there’s no gap?
“Or do I take the opportunity to pivot and test something really compelling in the middle of it, and we’ve chosen the latter. We’ve chosen not to fill the space with the sake of it but to do something really compelling.”
“I hope when you see it, you’ll think that’s a fun, exciting and disruptive way of growing the fanbase.”
Dodds also hinted that there will be a change in format of UK TV broadcasting, after admitting he came under “a lot of criticism” for putting FE behind a paywall for Season 10.
“We’ve not quite announced it yet, but it is reasonably imminent and I think when we announce it, it will be good news for the UK fanbase.”
