until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
A mini sub-driver market is emerging for teams that will take reserve drivers to the first two confirmed double-header E-Prix events that open the 2021 Formula E season.
But some squads are taking risks by electing not to arrange substitute drivers.
Both the Santiago and Diriyah rounds in January and February will be double-header events, making any depleted line-ups costly.
The subject of third drivers has come under the spotlight in recent months as Formula E has seen teams in series such as Formula 1, the IMSA SportsCar Championship and World Endurance Championship having to make last-minute changes when coronavirus forced drivers out of events.
The jeopardy of a driver becoming ill and having to be replaced was most recently seen earlier this month as Formula E racer Alex Lynn was forced to skip the final round of the WEC in Bahrain due to a positive COVID-19 test.
The Racing Point F1 team was almost caught short at the German Grand Prix in October when Lance Stroll tested positive for COVID-19 and had to be replaced at short notice by Nico Hulkenburg, who had earlier stepped in for Sergio Perez for the same reason.
The vast majority of Formula E teams will take reserve drivers to Santiago and Diriyah, the first two venues of the series’ first season as a world championship.
Although most teams are yet to confirm their reserve drivers, all bar Audi, Nissan, Envision Virgin and Dragon have confirmed to The Race that they plan to have one on-site in Santiago.
Audi has long had a policy of not having a dedicated spare driver at races although it has previously used Nyck de Vries, Nico Mueller and Benoit Treluyer on sporadic occasions.
For flyaway races last season in Santiago and Mexico it did not have a stand-in driver. This became a point of discussion when Daniel Abt crashed heavily in the first practice session in Mexico and had to be transported to hospital, putting him in doubt for the rest of the meeting.
Abt was eventually able to take part in the race after missing a practice session and the qualifying period.
That hasn’t deterred Audi from continuing its policy of having no nominated reserve for the opening races.
“So far we didn’t change the philosophy and do not plan to have a dedicated reserve driver,” a spokesperson told The Race.
The reasons for Audi not having a reserve are not entirely clear because like all teams it receives an allocated pass to be used precisely for that purpose. This pass, which is one of three ‘yellow’ credentials, cannot be exchanged for an extra engineer, for example.
Formula E tightened up its credential rules last year after several teams were found to be abusing the allocations and swapping personnel around with the passes they received.
Teams face severe sanctions if it they are found to be swapping passes across departments of staff.
Apart from E-Prixs that have featured tests immediately after they have taken place, Nissan e.dams and Envision Virgin rarely employ a reserve driver at races, although Envision is believed to have previously had access to its powertrain supplier Audi’s drivers when at events.
Its plans for a reserve are understood to still be under review for the coming season.
Nissan e.dams is believed to be considering taking a third driver to Santiago, with Jann Mardenborough and Mitsunori Takaboshi officially listed as simulator and reserve/development drivers respectively.
Of the teams that will bring third drivers to Chile, Mercedes has confirmed Gary Paffett; Porsche is likely to have either Thomas Preining or Simona de Silvestro at hand; and Venturi could take Formula Regional European Championship frontrunner Arthur Leclerc.
Jaguar has stated it will have a driver on site and is still believed to be talking to Sacha Fenestraz, who tested for the team in Marrakesh last March.
Mahindra Racing will also have a reserve driver on-site but is yet to decide who that will be, while BMW i Andretti is likely to utilise one of BMW’s still-contracted DTM drivers. Lucas Auer (pictured below) filled in as reserve driver in Berlin this summer.
The NIO333 team will probably take an additional driver but is presently busy finalising the contract of Oliver Turvey’s soon to be announced team-mate.
The Chinese owned team was forced into a last-minute driver switch at New York City in 2018 when Turvey injured his hand in a practice incident and had to hand over his cockpit to Ma Qing Hua.
Reigning title holder DS Techeetah will continue to have James Rossiter as an official reserve at all races.
The British driver also holds a sporting management position within the team and stood in for an ill Jean-Eric Vergne in first free practice at Marrakesh last February.
“We always planned to have a reserve driver on site but with COVID affecting us in Marrakech already, when James had to drive FP1 instead of JEV, we know now more than ever just how important it is to have someone on site,” said DS Techeetah team principal Mark Preston.
All Formula E teams have to nominate all their drivers by December 7.
