Had the 2021 ABB FIA Formula E world championship been kicking off in Santiago this weekend as planned, Nissan e.dams would’ve been one of two top teams still using a 2019/20 spec car.
Nissan has followed champion DS Techeetah in electing to start the season with the same homologated technical package as it finished last year’s campaign.
It took a victory in Berlin with Oliver Rowland last August, finishing strongly after being forced to adapt its powertrain from a twin-MGU to single motor system in the summer of 2019.
It took the decision to delay the phasing in of its new car, which will be designated the Nissan IM03, after the FIA introduced optional homologation structures for the final two seasons of the Gen2 era as part of its pandemic.
Teams have a choice of three slots, with the first allowing two full seasons of competition, while the second and third give possibilities to introduce new powertrains from April and June of 2021 onwards.
Sebastien Buemi – who has driven for the team in both its Renault and Nissan guises since Formula E’s inception in 2014 – wholeheartedly backs the strategy of holding back for now.
“I’m confident because we’re going to homologate that car for two years and I don’t want to be rushing to homologate it and then find out that something was not right,” Buemi told The Race.
“Don’t forget, it’s very difficult right now to bring lots of performance.
“The regulations have been stable and we’ve been doing those electric motors for a while.
“You’re not going to bring pure hardware, other than maybe the suspension [set-ups] and in terms of pure time it is going to be very difficult to bring a big performance gain.
“As we have seen, two tenths makes a big difference, but two tenths of efficiency is very hard to find.
“So I prefer to be fully ready once we bring it and I am sure we will be fine, like DS too.”
Nissan edams has scored the most points of any team in Formula E apart from double champion DS Techeetah over the last two seasons. It finished second in the 2018/19 campaign and fourth last season.
The Race understands that the Le Mans-based team is expecting to announce at least one new senior engineering staff member this month.
