Sergio Sette Camara was unable to start the season-opening ePrix in Mexico City earlier this month due to a problem on the setup lap, which forced him to stop after hearing “a very loud noise” and seeing smoke coming from the back of his car.
His ERT team car, which uses the same battery as the competitors supplied by WAE, was returned to the pits with the red warning light activated on the top part of the chassis, which is used to inform the mechanics and marshals that the condition of the car is not they are safe. The impression given by Sette Camara is that the “battery exploded”.
ERT confirmed that the accident occurred while the Brazilian was carrying out a pre-planned burn out procedure and is still investigating the matter with the FIA and WAE (formerly Williams Advanced Engineering), which supplies batteries to all teams on the grid after having won the tender for Gen3.
“We are still working with the FIA and WAE to identify the root cause of the problem,” the team said in a statement.
“It is not easy to determine, as there is minor damage to several components and therefore it takes a long time to establish the cause and effect. It is a type of failure that we have never seen before and that we do not expect to see again new”.
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Sergio Sette Camara, Team ERT Formula E, ERT X24
Although the causes of the failure have not yet been clarified, like ERT the Federation also said it was confident that it was only an isolated episode, paying particular attention to what happened so that it does not happen again: “The FIA is confident that This is an isolated incident and that any potential similar event is monitored closely thanks to the robust safety procedures in place in the Formula E World Championship.”
Before taking to the track in Saudi Arabia earlier this week for the double-header of the Diriyah ePrix, Sette Camara had criticized the lack of communication from the FIA during the Mexican weekend, underlining that the Federation had not contacted him to make sure of his condition and to find out what he had inhaled in those circumstances.
However, after being updated on the situation before Friday's race, the Brazilian was reassured that a similar problem will not happen again. “It takes a bit of time, but they came to talk to me, both the FIA and the WAE, now the team and I are more serene,” the Brazilian told Motorsport.com.
“I think in the next few weeks if I need to do some checks [sull’indagine]I'll do them and if I don't do them, they'll give me their word, so I'm happy with this result.”
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