By Carlo Platella
Mexico City inaugurates the 2024 season, a fast and atypical track that in the past has not failed to provide emotions. The Mexican event will be the first of a championship that focuses on motorsports Jaguar and Porsche the greatest expectations, where there is also great curiosity for DS and Maseratifirst of the pursuers in 2023. The biggest theme, however, is the tenth anniversary of Formula E, inviting reflection on the past and future goals of the electric world championship.
Ten years of Formula E
In the tenth anniversary season, comparisons with the first years of the category become inevitable. Formula E currently boasts a starting fleet of seven builders, in stark contrast to the modest private teams of the early days. With the growth of interests and visibility, it has also risen the level of the pilots, now true specialists, divided between international profiles with experience in Formula 1 and the WEC or young talents who find in Formula E an alternative outlet from the preparatory categories. Equally commendable it is technological progress of the cars, now capable of completing the entire race distance while still reaching 270 km/h.
However, the due celebration of the success of Formula E cannot obscure the awareness of a growth that was expected to be even greater. So the tenth season, even before a goal, represents a relaunch point for the World Championship, with the ambition of reinvigorating its popularity. The priority for 2024 will be preserve the sporting uncertainty of the categoryboth in individual races and in the chase for the championship, making balance its main source of show.
In parallel, the objective will be to throw the foundations for the entertainment of the future, also based on the performance and characteristics of the cars. Successfully introducing fast charging is the first point on the agenda, followed by defining the Gen3 EVO package for next season, which will begin to exploit all-wheel drive. It will be a preliminary transformation of the single-seaters, a starter for the fourth generation expected in 2027, with which Formula E will stake much of its future.
The predictions
While the top of the category are working to ensure its future, on the track there is a world championship that is preparing to begin. We start again from the challenge between the Jaguar and Porsche powered teams, an exciting leitmotif of the 2023 season. The greatest expectations are precisely for Jaguar, the team in best form at the end of the last championship and which now, in addition to Mitch Evanscan count on the consistency of Nick Cassidy. Historically there has been good blood between the two New Zealanders, but there is curiosity to see whether their relationship on the track will be as positive if the stakes become high.
The official Porsche team aims to resolve the problems of last year, in particular the flying lap in qualifying, which cost a title that initially seemed safe. Andrettifor its part, has in the world champion Jake Dennis its most important guarantee. Behind them stand out the names of DS and Maserati, which in 2023 have established themselves as the first of the pursuers. The Valencia tests, for what they are worth considering the nature of the circuit and the differences between the work programmes, confirm what has just been illustrated.
By regulation, the cars remain unchanged in terms of hardware, since the powertrains are subject to a two-year homologation cycle. However, everyone worked to introduce updates to various software, particularly in energy and braking management, with great curiosity in assessing who will have made the greatest progress. The drivers themselves are now more in control of the Gen3, aware of their needs and able to guide the teams towards better setup. For this reason, despite the unchanged hardware from 2023, lap times are destined to drop by a few tenths, even up to a second.
There are also updates from the teams outside the cars. Among the teams there are those, like McLaren, who have worked to improve the correlation between track and simulator, but there is no shortage of those who have inaugurated a completely new one, as is the case of Andretti. The queen of investments, however, is Jaguar, which in the new season will rely on a cutting-edge factory with simulator, dynamic benches and latest generation production departments. All to go in search of that World Cup that has been chased for too long.
The track
Season 10 kicks off from Mexico City, on a different configuration, shortened to 2628 meters compared to the track used by Formula 1. Famously, the Mexican one is a track with poor grip, thanks to the low-grip asphalt and the 2200 meters of altitude, which lead to a reduction of over 20% in air density and aerodynamic load. Containing slipping will be crucial to limit the waste of energy and overheating of the tires, but the rarefaction of the air causes problems especially in terms of cooling. By Formula E standards, the Mexican facility is a medium-high speed track, with an average qualifying lap of 128 km/h. Stellantis powertrains, like DS and Maserati, tend to prefer the fastest tracks, but as always, the set-up of the entire package will make the difference.
The 2023 E-Prix offered a somewhat disjointed race, with large gaps within the field. With the Gen3 now in its second year of life, that's expected greater overall balance in the upcoming edition, but this does not mean that the Mexican track remains difficult for overtaking. The problem is not the width of the road, but rather the lack of violent braking, with the exception of turns 3 and 9, placing great emphasis on qualifying. Overtaking opportunities will very much depend on the level of energy allowed by the FIA, which will be communicated no earlier than Thursday or Friday.
For the 2024 E-Prix the race distance drops from 36 to 35 laps, equivalent to just under 92 kilometres. Almost surely the energy will be less to the 40 kWh assigned in 2023, excessive if you look at the low level of management in the tender. During 2023, in fact, the organizers progressively reduced the kWh granted for the E-Prix, so much so that the energy per kilometer of the first race was 5% higher than the average from the second third of the season onwards. However, for the upcoming edition we will need to be careful not to be excessively sparing with energy. A highly managed strategy, coupled with a high-speed track like the Mexican one, could outline a “cycling” race, based on the exploitation of contrails and with often unpredictable dynamics.
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