rlex Posted April 26, 2021 Posted April 26, 2021 Last weekend, Formula E organized two E-Prix in Spain for the first time, at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia. Unfortunately, the show was not great. Driven by the health situation on permanent circuits, Formula E released a new configuration . Of course, we can say that the championship had already borrowed existing circuits, such as Mexico or Marrakech. But each time, the route had been adapted, and the DNA of the series, which is to run errands in the city, had been more or less reproduced. In Valence, even if walls were added in places, the configuration of the place, its abrasive ground, constituted a real challenge for these electric single-seaters. This is not the first time that the championship has visited the scene. Since 2017, the teams have been meeting there every fall for the pre-season tests . A moment when everyone agreed that the track was suitable for testing, but not at all for an E-Prix! Despite everything, the health context pushed the organizers to find alternatives, and Valence was chosen to replace Paris. The magic did not work It has nothing to do with the level of the teams or the drivers. It's just that the place doesn't match the discipline . And there, despite the creation of a chicane difficult to tackle, the large curves, the numerous clearances, the gravel traps and the long straight line highlighted the lack of performance of the cars, which "floated" a little on this. circuit in the open area. But the worst happened during the first of the two races, when the rain generated many excursions off the track, and as many interventions by the safety car. Five in total, for 19 minutes of interruption of the race, over a 45-minute E-Prix plus a lap… Which also means 19 kWh of theoretical energy cut off from the batteries , according to the regulations. An ubiquitous end of the race While the last safety car is about to return to the pits, the teams are informed that their single-seaters will see their energy capital cut by 5 kWh of energy. Some do not believe it, because it would put more than half of the board to zero . The raise is expected at 44'45 '', and that's when it all comes down to it. Da Costa, then in the lead, has two options: either he slows down the peloton to cross the line after the regulation 45 minutes and only do one lap, he accelerates again and must do two laps. He has less energy than his pursuer (De Vries), but his team believe that the FIA will not apply the energy reduction rule concerning the last 5 kWh. Yet that is what will happen. The race ended in a catastrophic way, with more than half of the cars idling while they still had 14 or 15 laps left in their batteries. The situation is damaging for the championship, but what would those who had enough energy have said if the regulations had not been applied? The only solution which could have avoided this carnage, had been to reconsider the rule "1 min = 1 kWh" before the races of Valence, on the basis of simulation of energy consumption on a permeable circuit. It is obviously not this choice which was made. Michelin got it right Always considerate, Michelin had for its part requested an adjustment of the regulations in order to take a set of tires in addition , and those for several reasons. “As you know, tire regulations changed at the end of last season, and the number of tires was halved on the double headers(8 tires instead of 16 per car, Editor's note) ”, indicates Jérôme Mondain, Michelin manager in Formula E. In the history of the discipline, Michelin tires have always been developed for racing on urban circuits. The Michelin Pilot Sport EVs, unveiled at the start of season 5, have been developed with this in mind and taking into account the regulations in force concerning the quantities allocated. The FIA has asked us, as part of lowering costs, to keep the same tires this season. Valencia being a permanent circuit, with characteristics different from those of the streets in the city center, we therefore asked the FIA to provide four additional tires per car. Which, let us remember, still corresponds to a reduction of 25% compared to last year! And that stays in line with what is applied for single races. " The rest of the season will take place in Monaco, on May 8, for an unprecedented E-Prix, on the same circuit - or almost that of Formula 1. It will be a question of making forget the black weekend of Valence Results E-Prix number 1 - Saturday April 24 Qualifications (super pole for the first 6): AF Da Costa (DS Techeetah) 1'26''522 N. de Vries (Mercedes EQ) 1'26''730 M. Günther (BMW i Andretti) 1'26''943 A. Lynn (Mahindra Racing) 1'27''022 S. Buemi (Nissan e.dams) 1'27''053 A. Lotterer (Tag Heuer Porsche Motorsport) 1'26''933 Race: N. de Vries in 48'20''547 N. Müller at 13''128 S. Vandoorne at 34''886 N. Cassidy at 36''903 R. Rast at 51''650 R. Frijns at 52''985 L. Di Grassi at 2'41''946 J. Dennis at 3'07''061 JE Vergne at 4'19''582 E-Prix number 2 - Sunday April 25 Qualifications (super pole for the first 6): J. Dennis (BMW I Andretti) 1'31''855 A. Lotterer (Tag Heuer Porsche Motorsport) 1'31''958 A. Lynn (Mahindra Racing) 1'32''585 T. Blomqvist (NIO 333) 1'32''727 O. Turvey (NIO 333 Racing) 1'32''950 N. Nato (Rokit Venturi Racing) 1'33''155 Race: J. Dennis in 46'32''002 A. Lotterer at 1''483 A. Lynn at 2''428 O. Rowland at 2''870 N. Nato at 5''811 R. Rast at 8''122 I Vergne at 7 '' O. Turvey at 11''292 E. Mortara at 12''014 L. Di Grassi at 12''405 Championship Pilots: 1. N. De Vries 57, 2. S. Vandoorne 48, 3. S. Bird 43, 4. R. Frijns 43, 5. M. Evans 39, 6. R. Rast 39, 7. JE Vergne 33 , 8. J. Dennis 33, 9. E. Mortara 32, 10. P. Wehrlein 32, 11. N. Müller 30, 12. O. Rowland 27, 13. A. Sims 24, 14. AF Da costa 24, 15. A. Lynn 21, 16. A. Lotterer 18, 17. N. Cassidy 15,18. O. Turvey 13, 19. L. Di Grassi 13, 20. S. Sette Câmara 12, 21. M. Günther 12, 22. S. Buemi 11, 23. N. Nato 11, 24. T. Blomqvist 5 Teams: 1. Mercedes-Benz EQ 105 Pts, 2. Jaguar Racing 82, 3. Envision Virgin Racing 58, 4. DS Techeetah 57, 5. Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler 52, 6. Tag Heuer Porsche Motorsport 50, 7. BMW i Andretti Motorsport 45, 8. Mahindra Racing 45, 9. Rokit Venturi Racing 43, 10. Dragon / Penske Autosport 42, 11. Nissan e.dams 38, 12. NIO 333 Racing 18.
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