Category: Open Wheel Racing

Six weeks ago in Mexico City the Formula E Championship was treated to one of the most enthralling races in its brief history. NextEV’s Oliver Turvey led the field away after the stewards sent original polesitter Daniel Abt to the back of the grid, only to break down early on and surrender the lead to José María López; but when the pit stops came around it was Lucas di Grassi in front, having leapfrogged the field with a remarkably brave early strategy call, and the Brazilian eventually came home to take his first win of the season.

Now the 2016–17 championship begins its European leg, a four-race stretch beginning this weekend on the streets of Monte Carlo.

This will be the second running of the Monaco ePrix—the event not featuring last season after forming part of the sport’s inaugural calendar in 2015. Of the twenty drivers who contested that first race around the principality, twelve are returning in 2017, including ten of the eleven previous points scorers.

One such driver who will be hoping to repeat his previous Monaco ePrix result is Sébastien Buemi. Up until the chequered flag fell in Mexico City, Buemi had been known as “runaway championship leader”, but an off-colour fourteenth-place finish for the Swiss driver saw his title lead slashed to just five points by di Grassi’s win.

It will be a boon, then, for Buemi to reset and return to an event he not only won last time around, but dominated from pole position. Another such win on Saturday would be the perfect way for the defending champion to put his difficult Mexico weekend behind him and reassert his authority over the title race.

Also on the lookout for a strong finish in Monaco will be Nico Prost and Daniel Abt. With their respective teammates contesting the Formula E title, both drivers have been left somewhat in the shadow this season, but with consistent results in the four races so far neither should be discounted from the sharp end of the grid this weekend.

So too will Jaguar be hoping for another visit to top ten on Saturday after securing its first points in Formula E last time out. Admittedly the competition from NextEV, Andretti and Dragon will be tough to overcome a second time running, but the British marque can take some hope from the success its two drivers have had around the principality—one win and three podiums between them—throughout their respective junior formula careers.

At the other end of the spectrum are Mahindra and DS Virgin. Although both teams have taken two podiums each from the opening four races, their overall results have been variable at best; a double points haul on Saturday—and another podium if possible—will be crucial for either outfit if they are to close the gap to the front and avoid being overhauled for third by Techeetah.

However, DS Virgin may already be on the back foot this weekend—after sustaining vertebrae damage in a heavy crash during the 6 Hours of Silverstone, López may be forced to sit out the Monaco ePrix on medical grounds. The team does have reserve driver Alex Lynn on standby, but any late substitution is far from ideal at a circuit such as Monte Carlo.

Similarly, there could well be another fresh face in the Andretti garage as well, as a knee injury for Robin Frijns has brought the possibility that the Dutchman’s car could instead be piloted by BMW GT and Andretti development driver Alexander Sims. However, Frijns has insisted that his plan is still to race on Saturday, providing his injury does not hamper him changing into his second car.

And finally, if any team is hungrier than the rest for a solid performance in Monaco this weekend, it has to be Venturi. Coming into their home event, the team currently sits well adrift at the bottom of the standings on just three points, thirteen behind ninth-placed Jaguar.

Various mechanical and electrical problems have so far blighted Venturi’s running in season three—contributing to retirements for Maro Engel in each of the last three races in succession—but with a little luck on home soil both he and Stéphane Sarrazin are more than capable of bringing home a top ten finish for the Monegasque team.

James Matthews, Deputy Editor

All images courtesy of FIA Formula E

Venturi has confirmed that Tom Dillmann will make his Formula E race debut standing in for Maro Engel at the Paris ePrix, as their regular driver contests a clashing DTM round at the Lausitzring.

This follows Dillmann, the reigning Formula V8 3.5 champion, getting his first taste of Formula E machinery during the Mexico City ePrix weekend, when he deputised in shakedown for Stephane Sarrazin whilst the latter attended the WEC Prologue.

Furthermore, Venturi will continue Dillmann’s acclimatisation to Formula E ahead of his race debut by running him in one of the team’s in-season filming days.

Speaking about the announcement to Motorsport.com, Dillmann called his ePrix debut a “great opportunity…to race on the streets of my capital city.

“After I was in contact with Venturi the first step was getting some running at Mexico although it was very short. But really in Mexico I learnt more from seeing how things operate in the race and how a race is run, this was really useful to experience.”

Dillmann also acknowledged that it will be difficult making his debut against “drivers [with] two full seasons’ racing” in the series, but added “for me the aim is to do a good job for the team” and “look towards season four because I want to race full-time in the championship then”.

James Matthews, Formula E editor

Lucas di Grassi has put an end to Sébastien Buemi’s run of consecutive Formula E victories, by taking the chequered flag in a Mexico City ePrix that saw drama at every turn.

When the race began, it didn’t look as though di Grassi would have much of a part to play. After qualifying in a lowly eighteenth position, the Brazilian made contact with his teammate Daniel Abt and Venturi’s Maro Engel on the first lap and had to pit to replace his rear wing.

Meanwhile, all eyes were on the front of the field, where the lead of the race was being contested by polesitter Oliver Turvey and a chasing José María López. The two were able to make their battle a private affair as the likes of Vergne, Bird and Buemi bunched up behind Nick Heidfeld in third, but despite piling on consistent pressure López was unable to find a way past Turvey.

But at quarter-distance, the Mexico City ePrix took its first twist as Turvey broke down on the start-finish straight, allowing López to assume the race lead by two seconds from Heidfeld and Vergne.

However, just as with Turvey, López’s lead was not to last. Whilst the safety car was out for Turvey’s stricken NextEV, the Abt team gambled on an ambitious strategy for di Grassi, calling him in from the back of the field on just lap seventeen.

This gave di Grassi the tall order of driving another 28 laps in his second car, but it also gave him invaluable track position: when the rest of the field pitted at the conventional halfway mark, di Grassi assumed the lead from Jérôme d’Ambrosio—who had also stopped under the earlier safety car—with half a lap back to López, now in third.

And despite having considerably less energy than the former leading pack behind him, di Grassi was able to maintain his advantage until the end as d’Ambrosio’s defence of second place acted as a roadblock for López and Vergne.

The battle for second was ultimately resolved in Vergne’s favour, after López spun off under pressure at turn one and d’Ambrosio ran out of energy on the final lap, and Vergne’s former Virgin teammate Sam Bird finished third for his second podium of the season.

Mahindra had looked set for a solid double points finish just off the podium, until Heidfeld was hit in the closing stages by Nico Prost and sent spinning into the path of his teammate Felix Rosenqvist. This allowed Mitch Evans through to take a remarkable fourth place for Jaguar, collecting his and the team’s first Formula E points.

Prost then came through in fifth despite his collision with Heidfeld, ahead of López in sixth and Daniel Abt in seventh. Adam Carroll compounded a strong finish for Jaguar with a further four points for eighth, and the final points positions were rounded out by NextEV’s Nelson Piquet, and series debutant Esteban Gutiérrez.

Championship leader Sébastien Buemi suffered a dismal race by his own recent standards, qualifying down in ninth and losing places in the pitlane to come home just fourteenth, albeit with one point for setting the fastest lap.

The results from Mexico City now see Buemi’s title lead cut down to just five points from di Grassi, with a further 25 points back to Prost and Vergne’s tussle for third. In the teams’ standings, Renault e.Dams remains ahead of Abt Schaeffler Audi, whilst Jaguar gets on the board with sixteen points, and Mahindra slumps to fifth behind DS Virgin and Techeetah.

James Matthews, Formula E editor

So far in the 2016–17 Formula E championship, events have been following a fairly simple pattern: first, the weekend will start with one team emerging as definite favourites in practice; then, said favourites will be trumped in qualifying by an unexpected maiden polesitter; and finally, the race itself will turn all that form on its head as Sébastien Buemi cruises to yet another victory.

But this Saturday, all that could be about to change, as Buemi heads to Mexico City somewhat on the back foot—well, at least as much on the back foot as a defending champion in a class-of-the-field car can be.

In case you’ve not been following the saga of 2017’s Formula E–WEC schedule clashes, Buemi will be starting his Mexico City ePrix weekend some six thousand miles away from the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, as he attends the WEC Prologue in Monza as part of Toyota’s LMP1 lineup.

And although Buemi will not have to forego the Mexico race altogether, he will be a late arrival to the event after hotfooting across the Atlantic on an overnight flight.

Such serendipity—and not to mention the resulting jet lag—could provide Buemi’s rivals with an opportunity to finally get one over on the runaway championship leader. It goes without saying that foremost in that list of potential winners is Lucas di Grassi, who finished first on the road in last year’s Mexico City ePrix before being disqualified for a technical infringement, and desperately needs a win this season if he is to truly challenge Buemi for the title again.

Also in the mix will be Jean-Éric Vergne and Sam Bird, both of whom will be perhaps even hungrier for the win than di Grassi given the as-yet-untapped promise of their respective cars. Nor should Felix Rosenqvist be discounted—despite enduring a forgettable race in Buenos Aires—or indeed Buemi’s Renault teammate and three-time ePrix winner Nico Prost.

Beneath the podium, it will again be a close fight between the likes of Andretti, NextEV, Venturi and Dragon for the lesser points positions. So far, NextEV has been the only member of that particular group to score in every race, owing to some consistently gutsy qualifying performances from Piquet and Turvey.

Nevertheless, a solid double points haul for Duval and d’Ambrosio at the last event could prove the springboard Dragon needs for further success in Mexico—although a repeat of d’Ambrosio’s eventual 2016 victory here would be a shock even by Formula E’s standards.

But a new factor in that top ten scrap this Saturday could well be Esteban Gutiérrez. The Mexican will be making his series debut replacing Ma Qinghua at Techeetah, and although he was shown up by Romain Grosjean in his recent F1 tenure, Gutiérrez remains a driver with clear innate speed, which paired with Techeetah-Renault machinery ought to be enough to put on a good show for his home fans.

The 2017 Mexico City ePrix begins at 23:00 UK time, with full text coverage available via our Twitter account and updates on our Facebook and Instagram feeds.

James Matthews, Formula E editor

Former F1 driver Esteban Gutiérrez will make his Formula E debut with Techeetah, taking over Ma Qinghua’s seat for both next month’s Mexico City ePrix and the remaining rounds of season three.

Ma, who joined Techeetah’s forerunner Team Aguri last year, is yet to score any points in his Formula E career, and it is understood his disappointing results relative to Jean-Éric Vergne are the reason he is being stood down before the season’s end.

Although Techeetah has yet to officially confirm its revised lineup, it is expected that the team will announce Gutiérrez as Vergne’s new teammate shortly, as well as Ma’s retention in a reserve driver role.

Gutiérrez had previously looked set to replace Loïc Duval at Dragon but his management was unable to finalise a deal, and so settled instead on Techeetah following a visit to the team’s simulator.

The Mexican is also reported to have held talks with Renault e.Dams and DS Virgin after losing his F1 drive at the end of 2016, specifically to deputise should any of their respective drivers have to miss the Mexico City race for the WEC Prologue in Monza—an opportunity now unavailable, with Sébastien Buemi and José María López flying overnight from the Prologue to Mexico, and Sam Bird granted leave by Ferrari to skip the WEC launch event altogether.

But with Gutiérrez now off the Formula E market, Renault and DS Virgin are still searching for a stand-in apiece when July’s New York ePrix clashes with the 6 Hours of the Nürburgring. It is believed Renault would prefer to draft in a member of its driver development academy, although the top drivers from that pool have schedule clashes of their own in junior formulae; whilst DS Virgin has so far given no updates on who is in the frame to join its current reserve driver Alex Lynn to cover Bird and Lopez in Brooklyn.

James Matthews, Formula E editor

Header photo credit: Haas F1 Team