Formula E drivers will face a unique challenge in the all-electric world championship at this weekend’s Mexico E-Prix at Puebla, with a combination of abrasive track surface and a banked corner the like of which they have not tackled before.
The final constant radius left hand banked corner at Turn 15 is part of a permanent short oval configuration at the Autodromo Miguel E. Abed which is little used. The banking will put the Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres through forces they have not endured before and the supplier has already confirmed an increased allocation of rubber to teams.
This will see three sets of tyres being able to be used per car this weekend as opposed to the usual two for double-headers.
The eight tyres rules were introduced for the current season as part of a cost-cutting and sustainability measure but for exceptional circumstances, it can be increased. This was also the case when Formula E visited a permanent track at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia earlier this year.
The Puebla track has not been resurfaced for this race and is believed to have wild swings of variable grip levels and significantly bumpy areas throughout the 15-turn, 2.982-kilometre track.
The loadings on the tyres at Turn 15 will be a challenge for drivers managing wear and some teams are expected to have specifically modified run programmes heading into the exploratory practice sessions on Saturday.
The Race understands that some teams believe that the final corner could be taken flat-out at the full 250kW power setting, while others think it unlikely.
“From our running in the simulator we can see the effects of the banking on the tyre duty cycle,” NIO333’s team principal, Christian Silk told The Race.
“Fortunately the Michelin tyres are extremely robust, and although the banking will put an additional load into the tyres our simulation work indicates that the increased loads will not present any significant issue.
“Obviously the best way to learn about any circuit is to go out and do laps on the track. However, if you put too many laps on the tyres before the race we could potentially suffer a drop off in performance of the tyre either during qualifying or during the latter stages of the race.
“We will have to design our run programs to ensure we equalise the mileage between each tyre and save the best sets for qualifying and the race.”
Ironically, the only other corner that caused Formula E cars significant wear rates was also the final corner, known as the Peraltada, at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. This slightly banked corner was driven flat-out in the only visits of the Gen 2 in February 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Michelin conducted a circuit evaluation on Thursday afternoon ahead of the official track walk with Formula E project manager, Jérôme Mondain telling The Race that “we validated the scenario with no change of starting pressures or limited camber values.”
This is expected to allow teams to be able to run their preferred configurations as were used in pre-event preparations over the last two weeks
Local weather forecasts currently indicate a 70% chance of thunderstorms hitting the Amozoc district of the Puebla region where the track is located.
Wet weather running would save teams from modifying their mileage during sessions if the wear rates are excessively high.
