Sam Bird and Jaguar TCS Racing sign a new contract extension ahead of the first race of Season 8.
Season 8 may not have begun, but Sam Bird has already secured his future with Jaguar TCS racing by signing a multi-year contract extension.
The team and driver pairing enjoyed a successful season 7, their first year together, with Bird taking two race wins in Diriyah and New York. He also enjoyed a further podium finish in Rome. These results, alongside the efforts of his teammate Mitch Evans, helped the team to secure 2nd in the championship.
It was undoubtedly a successful first season together and this contract extension shows that Jaguar is confident Bird is the right man to continue this success. It will provide a huge boost to all parties so close to the first race of Season 8.
Image Credit: Formula E
The exact length of the contract has not been confirmed, however it means that Sam Bird will enter the new Gen3 era, in Season 9, as a Jaguar driver.
Bird stated “My first season with Jaguar TCS Racing told me everything I needed to know – I wanted to continue to be a part of the Jaguar TCS Racing family.”
He added that “The whole team is determined, focussed and ready to get results and that’s exactly who I want to be working with. Now it’s time to get season eight underway and ensure we put all our off-season practice and learnings into action to score as many points as possible.”
This sentiment was echoed by the Team Principle of Jaguar TCS Racing, James Barclay. “It is a really positive start to Season 8 as we confirm Sam Bird will continue his electric racing career with Jaguar TCS Racing after a great first season with the team. Sam’s results from last year demonstrate he fits in extremely well here at Jaguar TCS Racing, shares our goals and is very much part of the family.”
The all-electric Porsche Taycan will be the new Formula E safety car, launching at the first race of Season 8.
Shortly ahead of the first race of Season 8, Formula E has launched their new safety car. The Porsche Taycan is the first fully electric sports car made by Porsche.
Under the striking and colourful paint job, designed to represent all current Formula E teams, is 560kW of power, allowing the machine to reach top speeds of up to 260kh/h.
The aim is for this vehicle to highlight the “social values such as diversity and community” of all teams, as well as paying homage to the commitment of all 22 drivers.
Image Credit: Formula E
Vice President of Porsche Motorsport, Thomas Laudenbach, commented that “The distinctive design illustrates our commitment to the successful future of this innovative racing series. Although we’re rivals out on the track, we’re spreading this message to the world together. What’s more, we hope that this also enables us to appeal to a younger target audience who are not yet motorsport fans.”
Jamie Reigle, Formula E’s CEO added that “In designing the Formula E Safety Car, Porsche reimagined the critical on-track safety function to be a powerful symbol of the championship’s commitment to an electrified future and the unity of the competitors in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.”
Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer, Maserati, have announced they will be joining Formula E in Season 9.
When the new Gen 3 Formula E cars launch, a new team will be lining up on the grid. It has been announced that Maserati will be joining the all-electric series from Season 9.
Maserati, and their Folgore electric brand, are “proud” to be returning to single-seater motorsport after a long 60-year absence.
“We are very proud to be back where we belong as protagonists in the world of racing. We are powered by passion and innovative by nature” stated their CEO, Davide Grasso. He continued by saying “We have a long history of world-class excellence in competition and we are ready to drive performance in the future.”
Maserati’s successful motorsport history includes an F1 World Championship, won by Jan Manuel Fangio in 1957, and two Indy500 wins, in 1939 and 1940. Arguable, Maserati’s greatest successes came in Sportcar and GT racing, with 4 Targa Florio wins and, more recently, 14 FIA GT titles since 2004.
Image Credit: Formula E
The news comes after the announcement that three giant teams – Mercedes, Audi and BMW – will be leaving the sport at the end of Season 8. This much-needed boost will help to quash some of the discussions around the future of Formula E and the potential success of the Gen3 era.
CEO Jamie Reigle commented that “Formula E races in the heart of the most iconic cities in the world and is followed passionately by a progressive global audience. Our millions of fans will be thrilled to see Maserati line up on the grid as one of the world’s elite electric car brands.”
Alejandro Aga, Founder and Chairman, continued this by stating that “The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is the pinnacle of electric racing. It provides the perfect environment for the most dynamic and innovative high-performance car brands to showcase their technological capabilities alongside their sporting ambitions.”
Ahead of the 2022/2023 season, Formula E has provided us with a glimpse at their new net-zero carbon Gen3 cars, as well as announcing a new cost cap for manufacturers.
With the car due to officially launch in spring 2022, Formula E has provided some insight into the changes we can expect to see in their Gen3 cars. This new generation of all-electric racing machines will be used from season 9 onwards and, overall, will be more efficient and faster.
The teaser images shared at the end of November don’t give away too much about the car’s design but they do start to show the angular shape of the chassis and wings. This look has been inspired by an “aero-efficient delta wing of a fighter jet”.
The design also boasts a wider rear and a lack of wheel covers. The latter feature should allow for closer wheel-to-wheel battles as the cars will be able to cope with more considerable contact.
Image Credit: Formula E
When it comes to the technical specs, the most notable development is the increase in regenerative energy, harnessed from the braking system. Up to 40% of a Formula E Gen3 car’s power will now be produced in this way.
Additionally, all racing cars will also have a front and rear powertrain, with 250kW of energy coming from the front of the car and 350kW coming from the back. This development means that the Gen3 car will have more than double the amount of energy when compared to the Gen2 model. Thanks to this added front powertrain, the Gen3 car will also be the first formula car to not feature a rear hydraulic brake system.
With the overall cars being lighter and smaller than their Gen2 predecessor, the Gen3 machine will have a more efficient power-to-weight ratio and will be capable of top speeds of up to 200mph.
In addition to the changes to the cars, for the 9th season of Formula E teams and manufacturers will face a new cost cap. This means that powertrain manufacturers will be limited to spending €25 million across two consecutive seasons. However, with most teams already working on their Gen3 machines, this cost cap is unlikely to have an immediate effect on the teams.
Image Credit: Formula E
When discussing the developments we will see in the 9th series, Formula E’s CEO Jamie Reigle stated that: “In designing the Gen3 car, we set out to demonstrate that high performance, efficiency and sustainability can co-exist without compromise. Together with the FIA, we have built the world’s most efficient and sustainable high performance race car.”
“The Gen3 is our fastest, lightest, most powerful and efficient racing car yet. It is a creature designed for its habitat: racing on city streets in wheel-to-wheel combat. We look forward to witnessing it inspire and excite the next generation of motorsport fans in cities around the world from Season 9 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.”
Newly-crowned Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri signed off his time in the series by winning his final feature race from pole position, while the battles for second place in the drivers’ and teams’ standings were settled behind him.
Piastri got away well off the line to hold the lead from MP Motorsport’s Jack Doohan in second. Doohan started the race on the slower medium tyres and so had to immediately go defensive as the supersoft runners Guanyu Zhou and Robert Shwartzman swarmed him from the second row of the grid.
That difference in tyre strategy set up a frantic opening lap as Zhou tried to find a way past Doohan at every opportunity, while their battle helped Liam Lawson join the fray by attacking Shwartzman for fourth. As they headed into Turn 9 both pairs went side by side for position which saw Doohan and Lawson run wide on the outside.
Jack Doohan, MP Motorsport (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)
As they rejoined the track, both drivers then spun on dirty tyres. Lawson managed to keep his car on track albeit down in seventh, but Doohan ended up in the wall and out of the race to bring out a safety car.
When the safety car period ended on lap 5, the race resumed with Piastri leading Zhou and Shwartzman, who were battling over second place in the final standings. Further back Theo Pourchaire was fighting to hold on to fifth position on the medium tyres, with Dan Ticktum on the supersofts behind him.
As the highest driver on the mediums, Pourchaire took the lead of the race on lap 10 when Piastri, Zhou, Shwartzman and Ralph Boschung pitted to swap from the supersofts to fresh mediums. Once the frontrunners who started on supersofts had all stopped, Pourchaire led from Felipe Drugovich and Jehan Daruvala, while net leader Piastri was in P12.
The race then entered a lull as those at front on their starting tyres waited for their own stops to switch to the supersofts. By lap 26 Piastri was leading Zhou and Shwartzman from fifth as those ahead of them had stopped, but Pourchaire and Drugovich had extended their stint and had enough time over Zhou and Shwartzman to emerge in the podium fight once they made their own stops.
Guanyu Zhou, UNI-Virtuosi (Clive Rose, Getty Images / FIA F2)
Pourchaire came in first at the end of lap 27 but a slow stop meant he ended up behind Shwartzman once he rejoined the track. Drugovich came in on the following lap and emerged ahead of Pourchaire, although Pourchaire’s extra lap getting the supersoft tyres up to temperature allowed him to pass the Brazilian on track and retake fourth.
At the end of that lap Pourchaire set the fastest lap time as he continued to close on Shwartzman. But despite his pace he was unable to drop Drugovich, and Drugovich passed Pourchaire again for fourth place on lap 31 with Shwartzman just ahead.
Shwartzman was given a momentary relief at the end of lap 31 when Lawson pulled off the track with a mechanical problem and brought out the virtual safety car. But when that was withdrawn shortly after, Drugovich began lap 32 on Shwartzman’s gearbox and passed him under DRS down to Turn 6. Pourchaire then demoted Shwartzman to fifth on the run to Turn 9.
Theo Pourchaire, ART (Lars Baron, Getty Images / FIA F2)
With one lap to go Drugovich and Pourchaire didn’t have enough time to challenge the remaining positions, and so Piastri took the chequered flag from Zhou with Drugovich taking third over Pourchaire and Shwartzman. Ticktum finished sixth ahead of Marcus Armstrong, Juri Vips, Boschung and Richard Verschoor.
With Zhou and Drugovich on the podium UNI-Virtuosi sealed second place in the teams’ championship over Carlin. But despite Zhou finishing three places higher than Shwartzman in the race, Shwartzman held on to the runner-up spot in the drivers’ standings by nine points.
Jehan Daruvala took his second win of the year in the first Yas Marina sprint race after a race-long battle with Felipe Drugovich, while Oscar Piastri sealed the Formula 2 Championship by beating out his teammate Robert Shwartzman on track.
Daruvala started the race from reverse grid pole ahead of his Carlin teammate Dan Ticktum. The polesitter had a clear run down to the first corner as Ticktum was slow off the line and passed by both Drugovich and Liam Lawson. Behind them the two Premas of Shwartzman and Piastri jumped from seventh and tenth to fifth and sixth respectively behind Ticktum.
Ticktum tried to retake third from Lawson on the opening lap but struggled for pace with an apparent car issue. Within two laps he was under pressure from Shwartzman and Piastri, who both passed the Carlin for fourth and fifth on lap 3.
By this point in the weekend Shwartzman was Piastri’s only remaining rival for the title and had to finish in third at the least to keep his title hopes alive. On the following lap after clearing Ticktum he set the fastest lap and started hunting down Lawson for that crucial third.
Shwartzman took the final podium place from Lawson on lap 6, but his rival Piastri was only half a second behind Lawson himself. After taking the fastest lap, Piastri then overtook Lawson for fourth on lap 7.
Robert Shwartzman, Prema (Bryn Lennon, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)
At the front of the field, Drugovich was told by his UNI-Virtuosi team to clear Daruvala as fast as possible, as the two Premas were closing rapidly on the leading pair. Drugovich closed the gap to within a few tenths, but each time he got close enough to press for first place Daruvala responded with enough pace in the first sector to protect himself throughout the rest of the lap.
On lap 12 Drugovich pressured Daruvala into a mistake as his tyres began to fade, and momentarily got ahead as he dived up the inside of Turn 9. But Daruvala managed to stay side by side with Daruvala as they went down to Turn 12, and by the end of the corner Daruvala was back out in front.
As Daruvala and Drugovich battled for the lead, Shwartzman and Piastri closed up to within half a second behind them. But instead of pressuring the leaders, the Premas started battling each other as Piastri put the attack on Shwartzman for third.
With three laps to go Shwartzman locked up going into Turn 6 and opened the door for Piastri to take third. Shwartzman tried to fight back around the outside of Turn 9, but Piastri held the inside line and kept ahead.
Daruvala, Drugovich and Piastri took the three podium positions with Shwartzman in fourth. Lawson and Ticktum came home in fifth and sixth, with Theo Pourchaire and Guanyu Zhou taking the final points.
Marcus Armstrong took advantage of a front row start in the first Jeddah sprint race to take his first win in the series, seeing off polesitter Liam Lawson.
Armstrong had wheelspin off the line and looked to drop behind Lawson, but found better acceleration in the second phase of the start. The two cars went into the first corner chicane side by side, but Armstrong muscled Lawson to the edge of the track and came out ahead.
Behind them, Ralph Boschung improved from fourth to third by passing Juri Vips. Further back there was contact between Guilherme Samaia and Marino Sato into the Turn 4 chicane, which left both cars stranded and brought out the safety car.
Ralph Boschung, Campos (Dan Mullan, Getty Images / FIA F2)
When the race restarted again on lap 4 it only lasted a few corners, as title contender Guanyu Zhou was tipped into a spin trying to pass Christian Lundgaard for sixth. Zhou managed to keep the car going albeit at the back of the field and with a broken front wing, and a brief virtual safety car was deployed to clear away the debris.
When the VSC was withdrawn on lap 5, Boschung in third started putting in fastest laps to close the distance to Lawson ahead. But with overtaking so difficult around Jeddah he wasn’t able to make a move for second place, and Boschung instead burned through his tyres and came under attack from Vips.
On lap 10 Vips blasted past Boschung for third under DRS on the start/ finish straight. At the same point on the following lap Boschung lost fourth place to Felipe Drugovich, and by the end of lap 13 he’d been passed by Robert Shwartzman, Lundgaard, Theo Pourchaire and Oscar Piastri to drop out of the points.
Robert Shwartzman, Prema (Bryn Lennon, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)
The safety car made another appearance in the closing stages of the race when Pourchaire spun into the wall at Turn 22, the same place Charles Leclerc crashed during FP2.
When the race resumed it was with just three laps to go, and at the front Lawson put a renewed attack on Armstrong. The Hitech driver managed to hound the DAMS by just a few tenths of a second across the closing laps, but Armstrong’s defensive driving saw him hold off Lawson until the chequered flag and keep first place.
Lawson finished second ahead of Hitech teammate Vips, with Drugovich in fourth. Shwartzman crossed the line in fifth but dropped to sixth due to a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage earlier in the race.
Jehan Daruvala benefited from the penalty to finish fifth, after a bold move at the restart saw him pass both Lundgaard and Piastri. Lundgaard finished seventh behind Daruvala and Shwartzman, and Dan Ticktum took eighth place after passing Piastri for the final point on the last lap.
Piastri finished ninth and Bent Viscaal took reverse grid pole for the second race with tenth place. Jack Doohan was the highest of the F3 graduates making their debut this weekend with a P11 finish.
Formula 2 returns after a long absence this weekend, for the penultimate round of the 2021 championship at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Street Circuit.
When the cars take to the track in Jeddah, it will have been nearly 10 weeks since the last race of the championship in Sochi. The previous longest gap this season was eight weeks between Silverstone and Monza, and it was evident in the three races in Italy that several drivers were rusty after such a long time away from the track.
At this late stage in the season, with just two rounds and six races left to run, it’s going to be more important than ever for the drivers to renew their focus fast. And that’s especially true for the title protagonists Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou, as the championship could mathematically be decided in Saudi Arabia this weekend.
Oscar Piastri, Prema (Joe Portlock, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)
Piastri currently leads Zhou by 36 points with 130 remaining in the final two rounds. That sounds like a slim chance to wrap up the title by this Sunday, but if Piastri outscores Zhou by 29 points across the weekend — the amount for a feature race pole and win — the title will be his.
It will be tough for Piastri to make up that kind of ground this weekend without some major misfortune befalling Zhou. But with such a long time off between races, that’s exactly the kind of scenario that could play out if the rust isn’t shaken off in practice.
But Piastri will have to watch out, too. With 130 points still to be won, everyone down to Richard Verschoor in tenth is still technically able to take the title. Most of those will likely be eliminated this weekend, but not all of them can be written off completely.
Robert Shwartzman, Dan Ticktum and Theo Pourchaire sit third, fourth and fifth in the standings with multiple wins so far. Any slip-up by Piastri or Zhou will be gratefully received by this trio of drivers, who still have time to launch a late dark-horse bid for the crown.
What to expect from Jeddah
Ralph Boschung, Campos (Lars Baron, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)
With Jeddah being a brand-new circuit and coming after such a long gap, there’s not much to go on when looking ahead to the race.
Piastri would be a good bet for feature race pole this weekend, given that he’s taken the last three poles in a row. But another driver who should come to Jeddah with high hopes is Juri Vips.
What we do know about Jeddah is that it’s a high-speed street circuit, which immediately brings comparisons to the “Monza with walls” sections of Baku. And during F2’s visit to Baku this year, Vips was decisively the driver to beat as he swept up two wins in a row and launched himself up the championship table.
Speaking of street circuit specialists, Ralph Boschung could be one to watch as well. The Swiss driver has scored six points finishes this year and each one has come at previous street tracks — not only that but they’ve all been top-six results, with the highlight being fourth place at Monaco.
Boschung and Campos are unlikely to be challenging for wins or pole this weekend, but a podium appearance could well be on the cards.
Driver changes
We might be nearing the end of the year but that hasn’t stopped the F2 grid changing up once again before Jeddah, as four drivers from the 2021 Formula 3 season are stepping up this weekend.
F3 vice-champion Jack Doohan will be making his F2 debut at MP Motorsport, taking the #11 car driven by Verschoor all season. He’ll be joined by Clement Novalak, who replaces Lirim Zendelli in the #12 and will be preparing himself for next year when he joins MP Motorsport full-time.
Olli Caldwell, who raced for Prema in F3 this year, will become the latest driver in the #20 Campos, which has been piloted by Gianluca Petecof, Matteo Nannini and David Beckmann throughout the year so far. Lastly, recent Williams F1 academy signing Logan Sargeant will replace Jake Hughes in the #22 HWA.
Jack Doohan will replace Richard Verschoor for the final two rounds. At Jeddah and Yas Marina, Doohan will team up with fellow F3 graduate Clément Novalak.
Richard steps aside due to funding issues. We've had a great season together where he won his first F2 race at Silverstone pic.twitter.com/46wX55YhZO
Formula One announce that they have signed a new deal with the Chinese Grand Prix organiser Federation of Automobile and Motorcycle Sports of People’s Republic of China and the Shanghai Administration of Sports and the Chinese Grand Prix Promoter, Juss Sports Group to extend their contract to 2025.
The race has been on the calendar since 2004 and seen some dramatic moments over the years. From Lewis Hamilton’s dramatic 2007 exit in the pitlane, to Nico Rosberg taking his maiden grand prix victory in 2012. Rubens Barrichello took the first victory in 2004 when driving for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso who had already wrapped up the world championship that year took victory in 2005 from pole. The Spaniard also took victory in 2013 for Ferrari. Mercedes have taken the most victories at the track with six wins. It is also the place that Michael Schumacher took his final victory during 2006, his last year at Ferrari.
Photo credit: Ferrari Media
Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1, said:
“This is great news for all of our fans in China and we are delighted to announce this agreement that will see us racing in Shanghai until 2025. Our partnership with the promoter Juss Sports is incredibly strong and we look forward to continuing our long-term partnership. While we are all disappointed, we could not include China on the 2022 calendar due to ongoing pandemic conditions, China will be restored to the calendar as soon as conditions allow and we look forward to being back with the fans as soon as we can.”
Of course, the race has been cancelled for the last two years due to the pandemic, so the promoter will be happy that they have secured the future of the event on the calendar for the next few years.
Jamie Chadwick completed her W Series title defence by dominating the final race at Circuit of the Americas, converting pole position into victory while her title rival Alice Powell was stuck in the midfield.
Chadwick got a near-perfect launch from pole to see off any challenge from Abbi Pulling on the front row. Pulling slotted into second place, while Beitske Visser jumped Sarah Moore for third, Emma Kimilainen went from sixth to fourth, and Powell overtook Jess Hawkins to take seventh.
Visser had to take a defensive line into the first corner to see off Kimilainen, who was just too far back to make it three places gained at the start. But Kimilainen kept up the offensive through the opening lap and within a few corners had taken third place from Visser.
By the end of the first lap Chadwick had already pulled out a second in hand over Pulling, who was struggling to get clear of Kimilainen. The Finn lapped within a few tenths of Pulling in the early laps, but Pulling eventually settled into the groove and started to inch clear instead.
As Chadwick kept opening up her lead at the front, Powell was running in seventh behind Belen Garcia and unable to find any way past the Scuderia W car. To deny Chadwick the title Powell needed to outscore her by 10 points, but by lap 7 there were already 12 seconds separating the two of them on track.
After running three tenths behind Garcia, Powell saw an opportunity to take sixth place at the start of lap 9 but braked too late into Turn 1 and let Garcia back through. She tried the same inside move at the start of the following lap, but was too far back to pull alongside Garcia.
Powell eventually got the move done on lap 12 by taking an aggressive entry to Turn 1 and squeezing Garcia to the edge of the track. But by this point there were only five minutes left on the clock, and Chadwick was almost five seconds ahead of Pulling and the rest of the field up front.
Chadwick eventually crossed the line with that five second gap to take the title. Pulling claimed her first W Series podium in second, which left her with enough points to earn eighth in the standings and a guaranteed place in the 2022 championship. Kimilainen finished third, where she also ended in the standings.
Moore recovered after dropping back at the start to take fourth place ahead of Visser and Powell, and Belen Garcia finished seventh. Sabré Cook had been running in eighth place and was on course for her first points of the season, until she came together with Jess Hawkins with six minutes to go. That allowed Nerea Marti, Ayla Agren and Caitlin Wood through to take the final three points positions.
Chadwick, Powell and Kimilainen end the season as the top three in the standings. Marti was fourth in her rookie season, and Moore, Fabienne Wohlwend, Pulling and Visser have secured places on next year’s grid by completing the top eight in the championship.
