Preview: FIA FE – Sensational Action to come in Santiago

January 17, 2020 January 18, 2020

There has been very little racing so far in 2020, but season six of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship will restart again after a long eight week gap since the opening rounds in Saudi Arabia.

Britain’s Alexander Sims leads the way ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne and Sam Bird after winning his maiden ePrix in Riyadh. Sims has taken the last three pole positions and has found a happy home with BMW Andretti.

With the competition so close, as it has been for years in Formula E, the drivers’ relationship with the car and the ability to be comfortable with how the car is going to react to the ever-changing conditions it vital.

With practice, qualifying and the race all done in one day, 24 all-electric single seaters pumping in laps all day means the track will speed up dramatically. This is exaggerated with the street circuit affect which is always very dirty and slippery at the start of the day.

Incredibly, it’s the new Mercedes team that lead the way in the constructors’ championship after they showed flashes of great speed in Saudi Arabia. No team dominated the opening double-header weekend.

Even though this weekend’s ePrix is only round three, it already appears that the title will go down to the wire yet again so consistency is the name of the game. As ever in sport you simply have to take your opportunities and maximise your chances.

The chicane halfway round the oval will be removed, creating one of the fastest FE circuits on the calendar (Credit: LAT Images)

Faster Speeds Expected

Santiago has altered its layout this year with no more chicanes which will make the track very fast. The cars will be entering turn one at a rate of knots before going into what could be the quickest Formula E sector, in terms of speed, we have ever seen.

The drivers will have to be pin point accurate and find the ideal set up to not lift too much so they can keep the momentum going and carry it all the way through the very long curving straight between turns seven and eight.

After the cars hit maximum speed, it’s a tricky braking zone into turn eight and a chance to make an overtake. Two hairpins finish off the 2.4KM track, where the cars will concertina with the drivers pushing each other to stamp on the loud pedal out of the slow turns.

Last year, Sebastian Buemi, Sam Bird and then debutant, Pascal Wehrlein had a hard-fought three-way scrap for the win which saw Bird hang on to victory. This came after Buemi crashed out from the lead, with the track breaking up due to the very high temperatures.

Temperatures are not expected to be as high this year, but with the faster pace of the cars, the batteries and the cars will still be pushed to the limit so watch out for any reliability niggles.

Defending champions Jean-Eric Vergne and his DS Techeetah team had a poor start to the season, not getting to grips with the car although Antonio Felix Da Costa did show glimpses of speed.

Two years ago in Santiago, the Techeetah dramatically collided but still held on to a 1-2. With just eight points scored in the opening round, Techeetah would love a double podium to kickstart their season because at the moment, BMW and Envision Virgin Racing look to have the ultimate pace.

Just like last season, BMW are the team to beat, but can the American team keep it up in Chile (Credit: FIA Formula E)

Sims No Longer the #2

But, two races in Saudi Arabia is nowhere near a big enough of a sample size to get a good idea of the pecking order. Two months on, all the teams will have learnt a lot and been developing and tuning their packages to improve their cars coming into this weekend’s race in Chile.

The Riyadh street circuit is a unique one too compared to the typical Formula E circuits. If BMW and Virgin are strong in Chile, then they will both be set up for the championship fight because Chile and Saudi Arabia are different tracks.

Even though Mercedes lead the way in the teams’ standings, it is expected that they will not be able to hold that form throughout the year given that this is their debut season in Formula E. Nevertheless, Mercedes could not ask for a better start.

Formula E’s unique qualifying format (which helps the slower cars because they get the best of the track conditions) did help Mercedes and with their drivers, Vandoorne and Nyck De Vries having to go out in the first two groups of qualifying, they may be given a reality check.

Should both Mercedes drivers still qualify strongly, even with the slower track conditions, then that will be a huge statement put down to the rest of the field to show that Mercedes have done their preparation before coming into the sport and are ready to fight for big things in their maiden season.

It’s three Brits in the top four of the championship with Sims at the top of the tree, Bird in third and Oliver Rowland in fourth. Rowland was very impressive last year and has continued to show that he is a match for season two champion Buemi.

The heat meant that tyre temperatures became critical in 2019, with the track also very dusty off-line (Credit: Sam Bagnall / LAT Images)

Qualifying is Rowland’s speciality and if he can just manage his race better, he can be one of the top drivers. Rowland’s career went a little quiet prior to Formula E after he became Formula Renault 3.5 champion in 2015 and finished third in Formula 2 in 2017.

2018 was a tough year for Rowland but Formula E is a happy home for the man from Barnsley and he has adapted very well to the tricky cars. I expect Nissan to be up there this weekend with a resurgent Buemi who will push Rowland hard.

It’s going to be on in Santiago and there should be more clarification as to how the season will pan out and which drivers will be the ones to watch in season of Formula E. Don’t miss the Saturday evening racing action.