Formula E will highlight several social and environmental topics in a special pre-grid ceremony before the start of the first race in Berlin this evening.
The Race can reveal that multiple messages will be taken into account on the grid and that these will include paying tribute to those that have lost their lives to the coronavirus pandemic, plus environmental issues and racial discrimination.
Just ahead of the lights going out for the resumption of the 2019/20 season, all teams and drivers will observe 30 seconds of silence in relation to those topics.
A maximum of 13 representatives per team will be permitted to ensure that adequate social distancing is maintained during the tributes.
Team personnel and drivers will be free to observe and reflect on the ceremony as they individually wish.
The majority of global football championships and Formula 1 have majored on highlighting racial injustice and diversity issues in recent months.
The majority of them have elected to ‘take the knee’ in reference to the action that was first used by American football player Colin Kaepernick in 2016.
Formula E will also pay tribute to the staff member from the Portuguese owned and based RS track build company who was killed in an on-site accident while building the track last week.
He has been named as Helder Moreira and he is believed to have died after an incident with a forklift truck during the circuit construction phase.
Formula E recently launched its #PositivelyCharged messaging initiative to highlight several causes.
Some teams are running with their own specific messaging on its cars this weekend. These range from Envision Virgin Racing paying tribute to the NHS for its work in the UK during the pandemic to the NIO333 team highlighting global warming via a special image.
“The image we have added to the car depicts the mean temperature each year of earth,” said NIO333 team principal Christian Silk.
“We wanted to put the stickers on the car to keep us all focused on the problem, as we need strong action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly.”
We are #PositivelyCharged
Proud to be part of @FIA’s #PurposeDriven initiative. pic.twitter.com/sS0hWv7Dbe
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) August 4, 2020
Last night at Tempelhof selected members of the paddock congregated around a large illuminated graphic of the #PositivelyCharged campaign.
FIA President Jean Todt read out a statement at the event in support of the initiative, saying: “I congratulate Formula E for its Positively Charged initiative, which joins the FIA Purpose Driven movement to accelerate motorsport’s positive contribution to society.”
‘A better future through racing’ is the objective of Formula E’s plan, which is set to be expanded with a ‘Positive Futures’ programme to be launched in 2021.
Big penalty for Rowland
Oliver Rowland has been hit with a 20-place grid penalty due to an inverter change ahead of Formula E’s return to racing.
The Nissan e.dams team damaged the key component that makes up part of the powertrain cluster of the #22 Nissan IM02 challenger while charging it ahead of track action beginning.
The error damaged a TVS diode due to ‘an external overvolt’ according to the official stewards’ decision that was issued on Wednesday afternoon.
As it was the second time that Rowland has had an inverter change this season, he takes the 20-place penalty in accordance with Article 28.5 of the FIA Formula E sporting regulations.
A Nissan spokesperson confirmed to The Race that the team was aware that it had to change the component ahead of arriving in Berlin.
Track quirks could shake-up qualifying
The discrepancy between qualifying sessions that has proved to be contentious with Formula E drivers will not be as pronounced at the Berlin Tempelhof venue, according to some in the paddock.
The qualifying system is based on five groups going out in championship points order, with the leaders hitting the track first and often getting less advantageous conditions.
But the track evolution situation has previously been less pronounced at Tempelhof.
Last season, Lucas di Grassi made it through to the superpole session from the first group, while Antonio Felix da Costa and Jean-Eric Vergne both made it in to the top eight on the overall grid from the same group.
The Tempelhof track surface is significantly different from other Formula E tracks in that it is made up of cast concrete squares designed to slow planes down, and as a result has exceptionally high grip.
For the initial double-header on Wednesday and Thursday the circuit is run in reverse, which is also expected to provide an element of uncertainty.
“Last year, you had some people that managed to get into super pole from group one,” Sebastien Buemi told The Race.
“This is not the kind of circuit that grip increases massively, we don’t see much of an improvement.
“But the main thing is going to be that we’re going to be having qualifying most of the days at 2pm in the afternoon when it’s really, really hot.
“So that could be something different as well because in the past we used to have qualifying a bit earlier, and here we’re going to have the races very late in the evening.
“I think if there is one track where the groups are not doing much it is definitely here, and that could be potentially be good I would say for the fairness of qualifying.”
