The Christmas decorations might be going up and the wider motorsport world is preparing for its winter hiatus, but Formula E is set to start its new season in Sao Paolo this weekend.
After the rejigged pre-season test at Jarama, following the devastating floods in Valencia which caused a relocation and a logistical contortion, the all-electric series has completed its preparations for the new campaign and a brief breather to digest the data before heading to Brazil for its opener. Here is what to expect from the new campaign.
Jaguar the biggest threat despite issues
After coming within a whisker of the drivers’ title with both Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy last season, Jaguar enters the new Gen3 Evo era as the reigning teams’ champion and appear to be Porsche’s biggest rival once again. Evans finished pre-season testing at Jarama fastest on the final day, with Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa suggesting that the Big Cats had been sandbagging during the earlier part of the running.
But the test wasn’t without its issues. Jaguar, as well as Nissan, were forced to miss the opening three-hour session in Spain after both teams were found in breach of the cost cap limit for the 2022-23 season. Cassidy also came to a halt on track with a technical problem during one session, and hints that the team had been on the back foot during the off-season having not “rolled out of the box as we wanted to with a new car”.
Evans adds: “Everyone has improved their powertrain. Hopefully the pecking order is the same, but I think the next two years are going to be even tighter than what we’ve seen in the past.”
The decision not to implement team orders and favour early championship leader Cassidy over Evans last term arguably cost Jaguar the drivers’ title, with team principal James Barclay admitting that things will be handled differently this season if in the same position. “Going forward, we probably won't quite approach it in the same way,” he says. “That doesn't mean it was wrong last year. We gave everyone an equal opportunity, it didn't work out and now as a group we say, ‘OK, next year let's not put ourselves in that position.’”
The midfield runners looking to break from the pack
Oliver Rowland and Nissan were the dark horses last season, taking two wins and mounting a challenge for the drivers’ title before an illness ruled the Briton out of the Portland double-header late in the season and scuppered his chances. With Rowland alongside the returning Norman Nato, who replaces Sacha Fenestraz, the Japanese manufacturer has one of the most experienced pairings on the grid and looked strong during pre-season testing.
“I think naturally you always have to aim to improve what you’ve previously done,” reckons Rowland. “But also, I think what was good for us last year was there was almost no pressure and it was kind of a learning year, it allows you to be a bit more relaxed in your approach. I think it’s important we keep that relaxed approach.”
Looking to rebound this season will be 2023 champion Jake Dennis, who with Andretti has the title-winning Porsche powertrain to launch an assault on another crown. Nato’s spot in the team has been taken by Nico Muller, who impressed last term with Abt and has also been made a Porsche works driver with his move. “The lack of testing we had throughout the year was obviously hindering us compared to some of the manufacturers – we lost against four manufacturers basically,” says Dennis. “We were the best customer team, but it wasn’t good enough, so hopefully we can do better this year.”
After scoring points in all 16 races last season, FE’s only two-time champion Jean-Eric Vergne will likely feature in the mix again, with the DS Penske team pushed forward by team principal Phil Charles as well as new recruit and multiple race winner Maximilian Guenther, who switches from Maserati.
New generation ready to make their mark
Three new full-time drivers will take to the grid this season: Taylor Barnard at McLaren, David Beckmann at Kiro and Zane Maloney at Lola-Yamaha Abt.
After an impressive three races last season, which included a last-minute debut in Monaco and a double points finish next time out in Berlin, ex-Formula 2 driver Barnard will partner fellow Briton Sam Bird, who he replaced during his part-time outings.
“Formula E is not the traditional route that a young driver would perhaps take, but I feel like it's definitely a good opportunity for me to be able to keep progressing in my career and also still compete at a very high level in a world championship against good drivers,” says the 20-year-old Barnard, who became the youngest driver to start and score points in Formula E.
Beckmann joins the renamed Kiro team, formerly ERT, which will use Porsche powertrains this season. Team principal Alex Hui insists that “there's zero pressure from Porsche, it's completely our decision” to put the 24-year-old Porsche reserve in the team. It was in this capacity that ex-F2 driver Beckmann was loaned out to customer team Andretti during 2023, when he competed in the Jakarta double-header. More recently, he topped one session during pre-season testing for his new team.
Maloney joins Lola’s and Yamaha’s new venture into FE with Abt, and in the process forfeited a chance of going for this year’s F2 title to make the jump. “It’s not really about performance for us right now – it’s about understanding where we need to improve and where are the biggest jumps that we can make from the very beginning,” says the 21-year-old Barbadian who, although he has never raced in FE, was Andretti’s test and reserve driver. “It’s a new manufacturer coming in, so it’s difficult to say how good or how bad it’s going.”
Tyres a major talking point
The new Gen3 Evo car sparked much attention during the off-season, in particular the all-wheel-drive (AWD) aspect that will be activated in 350kW mode, which includes qualifying duels, race starts and Attack Mode. While the peloton style of pack racing is likely to remain, despite minor bodywork modifications to the newer model of car, the AWD is set to drastically change the strategic element of races due to the performance advantage it will offer.
“Overtaking will take place out of the corner – this will make a difference for the drivers how to position the car, how to defend, which line you take for overtaking,” predicts Porsche team principal Florian Modlinger. “This means the racing will look completely different.”
But while most of the focus was on the new technology prior to pre-season testing, another area that came under the spotlight last month in Spain was the new, softer compound of tyre from Hankook. The South Korean manufacturer’s previous model of rubber had come in for stark criticism from drivers due to its hard nature, which offered little performance.
While the less durable tyre initially offers a substantial performance advantage over its predecessor, it loses grip progressively during a stint, and this will impact race strategy and weekend running.
“The tyres are sort of becoming a big factor now, which hasn't been a thing in the past,” observes Kiro’s Dan Ticktum. “It's sort of behaving like a slick tyre – there's a big peak when it's new and then it drops off quite a lot and then kind of stabilises for a bit. It's hard to really gauge where everyone is in terms of pace because we only got six sets for the whole three days [of testing], and people were putting them on at different times.”
‘Pit Boost’ finally gets green light
After more than two years of testing and development, the ‘Pit Boost’ concept is due to be introduced during the 2024-25 season. The initiative was originally intended for the start of the Gen3 era in 2023, but problems with reliability meant the technology has only now been sufficiently developed to be used in a race situation.
Pit Boost will require all drivers to make a mandatory pitstop during a race where their cars will receive a recharge of power, equating to approximately 10% of the battery’s capacity at a rate of 600kW, with the whole procedure lasting approximately 30 seconds.
The concept was trialled during the 24-lap simulation race in pre-season testing, and the data analysed by both the FIA and Formula E. It will feature during only one of the races across double-header weekends, in order to vary strategies between each race at the same location, with its first appearance set to come in Jeddah in February on a truncated version of the layout used by Formula 1.
Further rounds to feature Pit Boost include Monaco, Tokyo, Shanghai, Berlin and London, but some drivers are wary of how the concept will impact races, with a single specific lap likely to be the ideal time to take it, while any safety car or full course yellow will impact half the field in a negative manner.
“We are not allowed to box everyone at the same time – it's always one car per team,” warns reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein. “Half of the field, so 11 cars, are boxing on lap 15 and the other half is maybe boxing on lap 18, but between those laps there's a safety car. It's a huge advantage for the second group.
“It's not like there's maybe one guy who would benefit or two guys, it could well be that you could end up from being in P1 completely out of the points, just because there was an unfair situation with a safety car.”
