Subtle revisions to the layout of the Mexico City E-Prix circuit, combined with critical tyre management strategies, could play crucial roles in the third round of this year’s Formula E World Championship on Saturday.
The Race has learned that the series’ Track Review Committee, which comprises of Formula E and FIA officials in addition to driver delegates Lucas di Grassi, Oliver Rowland and Jean-Eric Vergne, requested the addition of an entry kerb at the tight-but-opening Turn 1 right-hander after the long pit-straight.
This, in addition to a reconfiguring of the Techpro barriers, may see a slightly different approach to the crucial turn, which in itself leads on a long drag down to the Turn 3/4/5 series of ‘dog-leg’ corners, which were devised for the last E-Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 2020.
Turn 1 has seen various dramas in recent seasons, including Nyck de Vries colliding with Robin Frijns and a large shunt for Nico Mueller’s Dragon entry in the last race at the circuit two years ago.
While the inside walls remain the same from a make-up point of view to the trajectory of the turn, a curve on the barrier itself slightly changes the visual for drivers approaching the corner.
“It was a surprise as when I saw it I thought it was a different corner and it looked tighter to me, but then I was told it is the same,” said di Grassi.
“From our measurement, they are very similar to the last time we were here.”
Further changes have been made to the infrastructure of the temporary circuit within the grounds of the Mexican Grand Prix venue, with the Turn 3 Tarmac having been replaced with concrete. The Turn 9 Tech-Pro barriers have been reconfigured after Daniel Abt’s accident in 2020 and the entire stadium section has been repaved with concrete in many areas.
Turn 3 was the site of late-race accidents for Stoffel Vandoorne and Sam Bird in the last Mexico City E-Prix when the track began to break up on parts of the circuit, while Abt’s hospital-inducing shunt was caused by a braking failure.
Tyre management is set to be one of the key talking points of the race as Michelin has imposed a 1.20 bar minimum pressure limit for the meeting.
This is down from the 1.40 bar set for the last Mexico E-Prix in February 2020 but with the increased power level of 250kW in qualifying and in the race when on attack mode, it is believed the left rear tyre degradation management will be substantial for an entire race.
The teams do model a range of pressures but the 1.20 bar directive is expected to be one of the crucial features of the race even though it is much reduced from the last race in 2020.
“Even with the reduced pressure, which will help, the rear left will still suffer,” Porsche’s new director of factory motorsport Florian Modlinger told The Race.
“Clearly you will need to manage your tyres in the race and have maximum grip on the rear left and also for qualifying.
“I think if you approach quali two too aggressively and you slide too much in sector one or two, you could also have an issue with the rear left in sector three.
“But on the other hand, the front right is not used a lot here and then you arrive in the stadium, you need the front right in the tricky left-hand tight corners.
“If it’s not there, and it’s too cold and you have no grip, you will lose time.”
