Preview: FIA FE – Who will master Marrakesh?

February 28, 2020 February 28, 2020

Round five of the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E Championship takes place on the streets of Marrakesh, a place that has seen action as fierce and as hot as the desert that surrounds the Moroccan city.

Mitch Evans leads the way after winning two weeks ago in Mexico City by just one point over Alexander Sims as some of the season’s contenders being to emerge.

The Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan is a semi-permanent track and although the likes of the World Touring Car Cup have failed to produce great races at the venue over the years, Formula E has had some excellent action in Morocco since the series first went there in 2016.

It is a technical track which requires a car that is able to develop a lot of mechanical grip due to the lack of high speed corners.

Many of the turns have a relatively high speed approach so the drivers will be looking for a good feel of the brake pedal so that they can stand hard on the brake with the confidence that they will not lock up and can comfortably make the corner by maximising the apex speed.

Mahindra have won the last two races in Morocco with Felix Rosenqvist two years ago and Jerome d’Ambrosio last year. Season six has been poor by Mahindra’s standards with the team unable to put things together and have a strong weekend.

D’Ambrosio has been almost invisible on the TV cameras, just showing that the Belgian racer has been lurking in the midfield for most of the season so far.

If there is a track where Mahindra can bounce back, it has to be Marrakesh. The 1.846 miles circuit is the smoothest of the season and that plays into the strengths of Mahindra who have a car which has always been stronger on tracks which are closer to the normal race surface.

Pascal Wehrlein is the best of the Mahindra drivers so far and after so much hype when he first joined Formula E at the end of 2018, the former DTM champion has been unable to show his best.

Just one podium to his name in Santiago 2019 does not justify how good Wehrlein is and it has been disappointing that Wehrlein and Mahindra have not been capable of scoring top results in the last 12 months.

This weekend’s race is an important one for Mahindra because a lack of pace or a poor result might set the tone for the rest of the year for a team that has punched above their weight on numerous occasions in Formula E.

Techeetah and BMW have to be favourites going into this weekend’s race. Last year, BMW should have had an easy 1-2 if it was not for some silly driving, mainly on the behalf of Antonio Felix Da Costa against teammate Alexander Sims.

BMW have had a great start to this season and should be in the mix once again. Maximilian Gunther had troubles in Mexico City whilst Sims clawed some valuable championship points when his rivals made costly errors.

Meanwhile Techeetah have shown scary and at times stonking race pace even though Jean-Eric Vergne and Da Costa have been qualifying in the midfield. The team wall has let the drivers down at times and Vergne and Da Costa themselves do not help the matter with their constant hunger to beat the other which has already created some fireworks.

Envision Virgin Racing will be happy that another Formula E event is happening just two weeks on from the nightmare in Mexico when they could have scored some big points, instead the team came away with nothing.

Sam Bird can win the title this year and Robin Frijns is quick enough to keep Bird pushing. Both drivers work well and the Envision team is without doubt ahead of the manufacturer Audi team, despite Envision being a customer.

With the margins being so tight in Formula E, communication is very important and the feedback the drivers give is vital due to the limited amount of running the teams can do in a day. They have a shakedown, a 45 minute practice sessions and another 30 minute practice session before they are thrown straight into qualifying which can make or break their day.

Envision Virgin Racing are arguably the best team in this department. There’s a clear bond in the team and the drivers and the team have grown a lot in the last few years which is one of the reasons why the car is so good and why Envision have managed to topple the Audi Sport Schaeffler team.

Mexico was an eventful race and Marrakesh promises to be the same. The temperatures will be hot, as will the action on the track. Who can master Marrakesh?