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Two incidents and several near misses of cars re-joining the track via the separate attack mode loop lane at the Puebla E-Prix yesterday has contributed to an overnight debate in the Formula E paddock regarding the new ‘joker’ attack zone section innovation.
Both Jean-Eric Vergne and Sam Bird saw their races end after incidents with Mahindra pair Alexander Sims and Alex Lynn respectively in yesterday’s first Puebla E-Prix.
Each incident saw the affected cars coming back onto the track from the Turn 8 lane which is separated by grass and effectively constitutes an attack zone ‘joker’ loop. It is the first time that such a feature has been used in Formula E.
Each incident was investigated by the race stewards but no action was taken over the clashes.
In the first accident third-placed Jean-Eric Vergne blended back on to the racing line after taking his attack mode but was then caught a swiping glance by Sims’ Mahindra M7Electro as he re-joined.
This pushed Vergne into the wall damaging his suspension which caused him to pit terminally and rule him out of a possible victory charge.
Three laps later Sam Bird suffered a similar fate when Sims’ team-mate Alex Lynn came in to contact with his Jaguar and nudged him into the wall as he re-joined. Bird’s race was over immediately with a broken steering arm and suspension.
When asked whether the FIA should look at that area of track Jaguar Racing team principal, James Barclay said that “(Race director) Scott Elkins will have a look at that now and see if there’s anything you can do for tomorrow.”
“But I think with these incidents it does deserve looking at because the drivers, they’re not going to do this knowingly,” continued Barclay.
“It’s quite cool to have the extra loop but you have to join where both drivers involved can actually see what’s happening.
“Unfortunately where the driver re-joins they are completely blind with their heads (turned) around and Alex (Sims) cannot see because he’s in a blind spot.”
The Race understands that the FIA is unlikely to change the area in question. This is because the attack zone was discussed at length in the drivers briefing and outlined in the briefing notes to make clear to drivers that exiting from the attack mode is considered as re-entering the race track and that the car on track has priority.
Although the configuration is different to previous layouts that have exclusively used transponder loops off-line from corners, the extended loop at Puebla is treated as no different to any other track that has been used in Formula E so far.
Bird and Vergne rued their ends to yesterday’s race with Vergne saying that “someone hit me at the exit of the attack zone and squeezed me to the wall. A suspension got broken and that was the end of my race”.
Bird, who had carved his way through into eighth position from a lowly 18th place grid position also inadvertently compromised team-mate Mitch Evans race when he caused the second safety car period.
This was because most of those in the top 10, Evans had not taken his second attack boost and lost several positions dropping from sixth to 11th when he did eventually take it. He fought back in the final laps to place an eventual eighth after Wehrlein’s disqualification and when Maximilian Guenther tumbled down the order after outbraking himself on the final tour.
While Bird’s monocoque was undamaged in the contact with Lynn, Nick Cassidy’s was cracked after his opening lap accident meaning that the Envision Virgin driver has to take a new tub for today’s action.
