Trade secrets of how to get the best from Formula E’s new Gen3 Evo car have started to emerge as drivers prepare for its second race at Mexico City this weekend - and the new all-wheel-drive function is altering drivers’ habits at the wheel
Formula E’s updated car uses the fully active mode for the qualifying duels, the race start and the attack mode 350kW running that’s deployed for eight minutes in two hits during the race itself.
The combination of all-wheel-drive deployment and the extra power hit now being more useable because this season’s Hankook tyres are softer and racier created a very potent set of tools for overtaking at the first round in Sao Paulo last month.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City will provide a very different challenge this Saturday as the truncated version of the Formula 1 track is notoriously difficult to pass on.
The previous two races in 2023 and 2024 featured very few genuine overtakes as the drivers struggled to get the extra power down and capitalise upon it into the relatively quick first right-hander.
The design of the original Gen3 car tested drivers compared to the Gen2 predecessor - as Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa describes.
“The power to weight ratio, the power to grip ratio was very well matched,” he said of the Gen2 car
“It was a cool car to drive, you could feel when a good lap was on, it just made sense.”
That wasn’t the case with the initial version of the Gen3 when it arrived two years ago.
“It’s a bit of a general feeling and I’m not hiding that I struggled with it a little bit more at the beginning than the others, but it’s not been a super enjoyable car to drive,” da Costa admitted.
But the Gen3Evo has allowed drivers to express themselves in a different way and it’s had a noticeable effect on styles of attack into corners particularly.
“The lines have had to change, the driving style has had to change and there is something cool about that,” da Costa told The Race.
“You’re doing these 300kW laps and then there’s one 350kW lap, and you ask, ‘what is it that I need to do?’ Then you have to go back to a 300kW lap, then in the race it is a whole different animal for you because you are dropping back a little bit to P12 say [when taking attack mode], then trying to come back to the top three.
“So, in a sense forget everything about being technical because you are just trying to go through people and it’s just a lot going on but it’s fun for us, and if it’s fun for us then I think it must be fun for the people watching.”
The way the drivers now approach the corners has mostly been a ‘squaring off’ approach.
“You have to balance the car a bit differently when in a different mode and you also have to think about the tyre,” da Costa explains.
“Now we have tyres with more grip, when we go four-wheel drive we have the full TC [traction control] as well so it's super fun because you’re in a hairpin on full steering lock, and you floor it and it’s so smart these days with all of the systems. It’s like trying to cure [traction] issues for you. It’s a lot of software.
“I’ve had to change my driving style a little bit, when you activate the all-wheel drive ideally we would even change set-up but that’s not possible because you’re always either in parc ferme, or it’s the same session where you do both [300 and 350kW laps].
“I’ve been learning a little bit about having the power coming from the front wheels as well. I think there’s still a little bit to unlock there for the systems and driving style, but in terms of pleasure it has been fun.”
Nissan’s Oliver Rowland, who dominated the majority of the Sao Paulo E-Prix but lost out on points because of a team error that led to an overspike in power deployment, concurs with da Costa on how best to get a flow from the Gen3 Evo cars.
“There are certain things you do and change but they kind of come naturally,” Rowland told The Race.
“You sometimes have to square the corners a bit more, there’s also a lot of new systems that we’re playing around with, and trying to optimise, in terms of when we get full traction control off all-wheel drive.
“So making them work in a good way together between front and rear is quite important. As well as the driving side there’s also a lot on the development side for us to do too.”
Will first corner change help passing?
Several subtle changes have been implemented to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for this weekend’s race, including a slight reconfiguration of the Turn 1 TecPro barrier. It has been realigned in a way that affects the apex positioning. Additionally, a kerb has been installed at Turn 7 exiting the hairpin.
But it is the change to the crucial first corner that will potentially have the most far-reaching consequences for the race as the corner will be the prime and potentially only true overtaking area.
”It’s a bit tighter now, which will help overtaking and save power levels so I think that will help a little bit,” da Costa said.
“We’ve got a lap longer race as well so energies are a bit more of a topic and definitely attack mode versus non attack mode, you’ll see overtakes.”
But da Costa wants another recent Mexico City change reversed to realise the event’s full potential.
“The race will definitely be a much better product than it was last year but also I think we should get rid of the chicane again, because in the last year with Gen2 here [2022] we didn’t have it anymore, and we implemented it in season nine [2023] because of the brake failure situation, to not get into turn 12 so quickly,” he said.
“I think we should get rid of it again because it would make the race harder on energy again, more peloton style and more overtaking possibilities.
“To improve the racing product we should probably revert to not having that chicane, but I didn't put a lot of energy on that either for this race.”
