Preview: FIA FE – More Magical Mexican Moments on the Horizon

February 14, 2020

The ABB FIA Formula E championship and Mexico City. A combination that has created so much mayhem since the series first went there in 2016.

Audi’s Lucas Di Grassi has won two of Formula E’s craziest races in Mexico in 2017 and 2019.

The former saw him win from being last after the first third of the ePrix before driving himself to the win with the perfect balance of being economical and keeping the pace up to fend off the rest of the field with the help of a robust defence from Jerome d’Ambrosio. A magical drive.

There was more magic two years later as Di Grassi managed to beat Pascal Wehrlein to the finish line by overtaking the German just metres from the line as he slid his way to the finish. This came after an intense three way scrap for the lead throughout the race.

This year, there has been three different winners from the first three races and remarkably its Stoffel Vandoorne in the Mercedes who leads the way by three points over Alexander Sims.

Without doubt the championship will be going down to the wire but the Santiago ePrix last month showed who had the pace and which teams will be in contention for the title in a few months time.

BMW are the team to beat and even though Formula E does not really have favourites, the BMW i Andretti Motorsport squad are setting the benchmark in terms of the all-round aspects you need to win a Formula E championship.

They have excellent one lap pace, setting themselves up for a good race. The race pace is strong too so their drivers Maximilian Gunther and Alexander Sims often go forwards rather than backwards in the race.

Efficiency is one of the strongest points for BMW, only Techeetah looked to match them in this department in Santiago. Having good efficiency opens up your strategic options in an ePrix.

You can hold back early on and attack in the race later when others start to drop away. Alternatively, you can make moves early on, hang on in the middle of the race before pushing again. It can make overtaking easier as you force your rivals into a pace which they don’t want to be, knowing you have better efficiency.

In the driving department Sims and Gunther have settled into the season six BMW very well and it looks like an easy car to drive with the front end of the car going exactly where the drivers want it. The strong front end enables the drivers to position the car accurately and easily react to any movement in the rear, knowing the front end of the car will not jump out at them.

This Saturday will be an important day for the two-time and defending ABB FIA Formula E champion, Jean-Eric Vergne. The Frenchman lies 16th in the standings with just four points to his name.

DS Techeetah have had the speed but Vergne has not been able to maximise his races and silly errors have cost him and it leaves the former F1 driver with a lot of catching up to do.

With the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez traditionally a track that is very dusty and ‘green’ at the start of the weekend so Formula E’s qualifying format will allow Vergne to qualify strongly as the track rapidly ramps up. This will give Vergne the opportunity to use the pace of his car to at least get onto the podium and mount a championship challenge.

Anything other than a top three will be a bad day but Vergne will be the one to watch this Saturday.

The Mexico City circuit has changed its layout significantly this year which will only create even more excitement as the circuit will be faster as well as longer with the removal of the chicanes which many people are not a fan of.

Turn one remains the same as the cars hit top speed before touching the brakes and carrying as much speed as they dare through the corner and onto turn two which leads towards the new sector.

The track widens which will be a great opportunity for overtaking into the double apex turn five. This will be one of the action zones throughout the day. Then, the cars will accelerate and gather speed as they head towards the stadium section.

As the cars turn right and enter the stadium, this will now offer another overtaking opportunity after a long flat out section. The stadium section itself will remain the same with a slightly awkward attack mode position which will almost certainly see the cars concertina and go nose to tail through the series of left handers.

Then, the bit everyone has been waiting for. The Peraltada is back. Turn 15 is a medium speed corner and will be pivotal for the cars to carry momentum out of as they go through the famous corner which saw so many classic moments when Formula One utilised the bend.

The drivers will be on the limit with such low grip from the aerodynamics and the tyres. It is a brilliant addition to a track that has become one of Formula E’s iconic venues.

As always, it is going to be another action-packed ePrix. Will we get another Mexican classic?