This weekend's Mexico City E-Prix is likely to feature the most significant levels of tyre management in Formula E yet and the first true test of the new and racier Hankook tyres.
The relatively gentle nature of the track surface and lack of fast corners at the Sao Paulo season opener masked certain traits of the new Hankooks and although some management was needed in the final stages of the race, the two red flags effectively broke up concerns of any critical drop-off.
But that could all change at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. This season's race is now a lap longer than last season's and the eight minutes of advanced attack mode power with all-wheel drive is set to hammer the rubber.
The biggest test of the new tyres, which have a new construction with a less robust sidewall, will be the fast, final banked final corner - the famed Peraltada Curve that was renamed the Mansell corner in 2017.
The compound is the big difference between the Gen3 Evo spec of tyre and the original, which actually had two compounds within the tyre: a softer compound on the inside half and a stiffer compound on the outside. Now there is just one.
Teams are largely still trying to understand how the new tyres behave on different micro/macro surfaces and longitudinal and lateral track inputs.
Mexico is heavily lateral-biased and is therefore expected to be hard on the Hankooks. But with low track evolution it's possible there may not be so much need for teams to hold back running until the end of sessions - so, as was the case in Sao Paulo, some spreading of runs could take place through the sessions.
"The left-hand side will take a beating in Mexico, especially the front left," Maserati MSG's team principal Cyril Blais said when asked by The Race how challenging the tyre management will be.
"It will have to be carefully managed and it will be a big challenge to keep the tyres in the right window, especially for the race and especially when you follow cars because you always wash out a little bit.
"We know this new [Gen3 Evo] bodykit makes it a little bit harder to follow cars, and you get a little bit more affected [by the wake of the car(s) ahead]. All those combinations put together will make it an interesting challenge."
Some teams and drivers were open about forsaking running in practice in Sao Paulo last month to save tyres for qualifying and predominantly the race.
With just two sets of tyres allocated per E-Prix (three sets for double-headers), competitors now have to navigate an added 20 minutes of free practice running before potentially completing at least two flying laps in the qualifying group session and then three additional all-out laps if they are to get pole position (and three bonus points with it).
Temperatures are not forecast to be especially high in Mexico City but a significant increase is expected across race day: it is likely to be 12°C for the early-morning practice session, which takes place at 7.30am local time (1.30pm UK time), but 22°C by the time the race starts at 2.05pm.
This could exacerbate the issue of a largely empty track for large portions of second practice in particular, something that Andretti driver Jake Dennis told The Race in Sao Paulo was inevitable at stages of the 2024-25 season.
"My understanding is it's a given [that cars will be sat in pits]," said Dennis. "I don't think it'll be horrendous, but maybe the first 10 minutes there won't be much running."
Concerns were largely unfounded in Sao Paulo, with the caveat that it was the first race of the season and the relatively smooth surface meant the Brazilian track will likely be one of the least critical in terms of tyre management.
In the event, although most teams didn't run the maximum laps possible, it was only DS Penske that elected to forsake a big chunk of the FP1 - with both Jean-Eric Vergne and Maximilian Guenther sitting in their pit boxes for the first half of the new-look 40-minute session.
Teams asked for this
It was the teams, drivers and manufacturers that lobbied Hankook, the FIA and Formula E for a racier tyre for the Gen3 Evo era and it is the teams, drivers and manufacturers that now have to live with the give and take of the new Hankooks.
The give is the extra grip: teams wanted 5-10% more grip from the original tyres, which were notoriously hard and durable as per the specification that Hankook was directed towards when it won the Gen3 tender back in 2020.
But the take is the stress that places on the tyres.
"Nothing comes for free," DS Penske technical director Phil Charles told The Race in October.
"If you make it [the tyre] softer, it will go quicker in certain conditions, but it also may then start to degrade a little bit more and have a different temperature window.
"So, it's not a like for like in terms of operating range; it's got a different operating range and you have to work around that."
The teams and drivers have certainly had to work this season so far.
"The nature of the tyre is that if you get it right on a new set then you can really show that you are quick but if you just get it a little bit wrong there can be a big performance deficit, so you can look quite weak," Sao Paulo winner Mitch Evans told The Race.
