2023 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Discussion

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With pre-season testing underway in Valencia, its high time we discussed all that the worlds first single-seater electric Championship will have to offer.
Some questions to generate discussion:
  • Who will win the Drivers and Constructers championship?
  • Who will be dark horses?
  • Who is the most underrated driver on the grid
  • What about the rookie field? How will Hughes and Fenestraz fare?
  • Which team has the best and worst livery?
  • What race are you looking forward too most?
  • Are you going to any races?

DRIVER LINEUPS
Nissan - Norman Nato/Sacha Fenestraz
NEOM McLaren - Rene Rast/Jake Hughes
NIO 333 - Sergio Sette Camara/Dan Ticktum
Envision - Sebastien Buemi/Nick Cassidy
ABT Cupra - Robin Frijns/Nico Mueller
Mahindra - Lucas di Grassi/Oliver Rowland
Maserati MSG - Edoardo Mortara/Maximilian Guenther
Avalanche Andretti - Jake Dennis/Andre Lotterer
Jaguar TCS - Mitch Evans/Sam Bird
Tag Heuer Porsche - Antonio Felix da Costa/Pascal Wehrlein
DS Penske - Stoffel Vandoorne/Jean-Eric Vergne

Calendar
R1 - Mexico City - 14 Jan 2023
R2 - Diriyah - 27 Jan 2023
R3 - Diriyah - 28 Jan 2023
R4 - Hyderabad - 11 Feb 2023
R5 - Cape Town - 25 Feb 2023
R6 - São Paulo - 25 Mar 2023
R7 - Berlin - 22 Apr 2023
R8 - Berlin - 23 Apr 2023
R9 - Monaco - 06 May 2023
R10 - Jakarta - 03 Jun 2023
R11 - Jakarta - 04 Jun 2023
R12 - Portland - 24 Jun 2022
R13 - Rome - 15 Jul 2022
R14 - Rone - 16 Jul 2022
R15 - London - 29 Jul 2022
R16 - London - 30 Jul 2022
 
My answers
1. Mortara and Maserati
2. NIO 333
3. Nato
4. Hughes will do well, Fenestraz, less so
5. Best - ABT, Worst - Andretti
6. Portland
7. Afraid not…
 
Gonna be an interesting season for sure. Certainly been lots of teething issues with the new gen3 cars, so much so that there's an extra test session has been added to today to help the teams get on top of it.

In the mock race they did, Mclaren and Hughes came out on top ahead of Guenther and Maserati, obviously can't take much from that with so many cars having issues and such but as Mclaren have inherited a multi championship winning outfit, I'd expect them to be up there. So for me, Jake Hughes is somewhat of my dark horse owing to his FE race rookie status.
 
JAKE DENNIS WINS THE MEXICO CITY E-PRIX FOR AVALANCE ANDRETTI!

An incredible race to kick off Gen3, full of excitement and nerves right to the finish. It would be Lucas di Grassi in the Mahindra on pole position (with his teammate 22nd and last!), with Dennis on the front how beside him. Jake Hughes would start 3rd on his debut, 4th would be the other Andretti of Andre Lotterer, with Dan Ticktum rounding out the top 5. The race would start and di Grassi would get away well, checking out from Dennis and Hughes, who had tried a move around the outside unsuccessfully. Sacha Fenestraz would move up to P7 with an incredible move on Buemi.

Further down the back, the Abt of Robin Frijns ground to a halt at the T9 chicane, hitting Norman Nato in the rear and causing both cars to retire. This meant a safety car deployment On lap 2. As the safety car wound in on lap 6, the top 4 would keep their positions, but Pascal Wehrlein managed to pass Dan Ticktum for P5. It wouldn’t be long before another safety car was deployed. In fact, it was on the same lap! Sam Bird had stopped his Jaguar car after T1 with a reported driveshaft failure, causing the Porsche safety car to reappear.

There was little action again until lap 12, when Dennis managed to sneak past di Grassi for the lead at T3. This battle opened the door for Hughes in the McLaren to attempt a move on the Brasilian, but to no avail.

Maserati had showed little promise based on their pre season running, and that trend continued when Edo Mortara spun and clouted the T1 barrier meaning another safety car deployment. Dan Ticktum would have to serve a drive through penalty as well for overpower, ending his race. On lap 26, di Grassi and Hughes both took attack mode, but that gave Wehrlein the chance to slip past Hughes, as he was in attack mode from the lap before, meaning the Porsche driver was up to P3, still quite a way behind Dennis, who had checked out.

Lap 29 saw di Grassi 2% down on both Wehrlein and Hughes, in terms of energy. This lead to extreme battery saving by the Mahindra, and Wehrlein eventually passed him for P2 into T9

A gripiing battle ensued for P3, with di Grassi, Hughes, and Lotterer all fighting for the last spot on the podium. Wehrlein had used extra energy to his advantage, and pulled a gap to the fighting group

Incidents for Sergio Sette Camara and Rene Rast ended their races in the 5 ’added laps’ (a new feature adding on time from safety car procedures). These were not televised live, so I cant tell what happened, but they both retired

Buemi and Antonio Felix da Costa joined the fight for P3 with a lap to go, but it would be to no avail as they stayed in their positions. Lotterer would get past Hughes down the inside into T9, but it would be the other Andretti of Jake Dennis who had dominated the first race of Gen3 and took the chequered to win in Mexico City!
 
JAKE DENNIS WINS THE MEXICO CITY E-PRIX FOR AVALANCE ANDRETTI!

An incredible race to kick off Gen3, full of excitement and nerves right to the finish. It would be Lucas di Grassi in the Mahindra on pole position (with his teammate 22nd and last!), with Dennis on the front how beside him. Jake Hughes would start 3rd on his debut, 4th would be the other Andretti of Andre Lotterer, with Dan Ticktum rounding out the top 5. The race would start and di Grassi would get away well, checking out from Dennis and Hughes, who had tried a move around the outside unsuccessfully. Sacha Fenestraz would move up to P7 with an incredible move on Buemi.

Further down the back, the Abt of Robin Frijns ground to a halt at the T9 chicane, hitting Norman Nato in the rear and causing both cars to retire. This meant a safety car deployment On lap 2. As the safety car wound in on lap 6, the top 4 would keep their positions, but Pascal Wehrlein managed to pass Dan Ticktum for P5. It wouldn’t be long before another safety car was deployed. In fact, it was on the same lap! Sam Bird had stopped his Jaguar car after T1 with a reported driveshaft failure, causing the Porsche safety car to reappear.

There was little action again until lap 12, when Dennis managed to sneak past di Grassi for the lead at T3. This battle opened the door for Hughes in the McLaren to attempt a move on the Brasilian, but to no avail.

Maserati had showed little promise based on their pre season running, and that trend continued when Edo Mortara spun and clouted the T1 barrier meaning another safety car deployment. Dan Ticktum would have to serve a drive through penalty as well for overpower, ending his race. On lap 26, di Grassi and Hughes both took attack mode, but that gave Wehrlein the chance to slip past Hughes, as he was in attack mode from the lap before, meaning the Porsche driver was up to P3, still quite a way behind Dennis, who had checked out.

Lap 29 saw di Grassi 2% down on both Wehrlein and Hughes, in terms of energy. This lead to extreme battery saving by the Mahindra, and Wehrlein eventually passed him for P2 into T9

A gripiing battle ensued for P3, with di Grassi, Hughes, and Lotterer all fighting for the last spot on the podium. Wehrlein had used extra energy to his advantage, and pulled a gap to the fighting group

Incidents for Sergio Sette Camara and Rene Rast ended their races in the 5 ’added laps’ (a new feature adding on time from safety car procedures). These were not televised live, so I cant tell what happened, but they both retired

Buemi and Antonio Felix da Costa joined the fight for P3 with a lap to go, but it would be to no avail as they stayed in their positions. Lotterer would get past Hughes down the inside into T9, but it would be the other Andretti of Jake Dennis who had dominated the first race of Gen3 and took the chequered to win in Mexico City!
Was in interesting race. I think it lacked some of the excitement of previous years, everyone is still a bit tentative in these new cars, reliability concerns still there but it will get better and it was far from dull. The fight for 3rd and then 4th was excellent, great debut for Jake Hughes in the Mclaren but Dennis just had one of those days he had where he is unstoppable and Werlhein was strong as well, both Porsche powered.

A side note on Frijns incident after he hit Nato, the impact of the car bouncing broke his wrist. He is therefore a doubt for Saudi Arabia in 2 weeks time.
 
I like the packaging of the design. Not a fan of the view from behind, but that’s don’t look as fragile as previous gens. The race was okay. At least I get to see all the action on Stan. Sport.
 
Was in interesting race. I think it lacked some of the excitement of previous years, everyone is still a bit tentative in these new cars, reliability concerns still there but it will get better and it was far from dull. The fight for 3rd and then 4th was excellent, great debut for Jake Hughes in the Mclaren but Dennis just had one of those days he had where he is unstoppable and Werlhein was strong as well, both Porsche powered.

A side note on Frijns incident after he hit Nato, the impact of the car bouncing broke his wrist. He is therefore a doubt for Saudi Arabia in 2 weeks time.

Jack did mention this on comms, hope he gets well soon and races in Diriyah, but obviously his health is the priority
 
I like the packaging of the design. Not a fan of the view from behind, but that’s don’t look as fragile as previous gens. The race was okay. At least I get to see all the action on Stan. Sport.
Cars look cool and look like a handful. Close field in practise and qualifying was interesting...

The race was maybe a little less exciting than others - but as a contrary view despite a bit of stalemate in parts there was close performance and a pretty high level of jeopardy. As distinct to races with many passes that are really just people sorting into the energy efficiency order or the car performance in F1 and results of DRS or attack mode...

The new format of Attack mode with different strategic use could become interesting on different track layouts if the are a little easier for a power pass, however, maybe the proportional advantage of attack mode is less than in the past? and the lower grip levels may make it difficult for drivers to effectively use attack mode.

edit: Stan sport coverage seems pretty comprehensive. I like it. The new logo and graphics and new theme song all seem like pretty slick production to me.
 
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Definitely enjoying the quality of the production. I’ll have to check out the FormulaE Unplugged as well.
Also enjoying the WRC coverage.
 
Kelvin van der Linde will replace Robin Frijns in the ABT Cupra car this weekend, after the Dutchman suffered a broken wrist in Mexico City. The South African is well known for his antic at Noisring in DTM 2021, causing Liam Lawson to lose his championship after crashing into him twice at T1 on Lap 1 in both races. He will be making his Formula E debut
 
Enjoyed the first race, currently enjoying Saudi, am confused about the attack, I feel like it’s more of a hinderance than help. Any one else think this? Also are they both compulsory?
 
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Enjoyed the first race, currently enjoying Saudi, am confused about the attack, I feel like it’s more of a hinderance than help. Any one else think this? Also are they both compulsory?
On this specific circuit, the Attack Mode activation is after the big overtaking spot, meaning 1 minute uses are useless, as it runs out before they get back to the long straight. On this track yes, it seems to slow them down.

They used to get 2 uses of 4 minutes, now it seems to be 2 uses totalling 4 minutes. I think they need to go back to 8 minutes of attack mode as this 4 isn't enough to make up for the time loss by going into the zone.
 
On this specific circuit, the Attack Mode activation is after the big overtaking spot, meaning 1 minute uses are useless, as it runs out before they get back to the long straight. On this track yes, it seems to slow them down.

They used to get 2 uses of 4 minutes, now it seems to be 2 uses totalling 4 minutes. I think they need to go back to 8 minutes of attack mode as this 4 isn't enough to make up for the time loss by going into the zone.
Thanks! First season I’ve properly watched! I was thinking it might be better at different tracks!
Enjoyed the race today!
 
How long until F1 copies this podium ceremony?

Not a bad race, the McLaren running out of juice then getting pushed across the line was good stuff.
 
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It’s like driving through the Bat Cave. :lol: The screens and all that was very cool. Albert Park has the real estate to go that elaborate.
 
That was an absolute thriller for Cape Town's debut. What a great final few laps that was as well. Unreal overtake by Da Costa on Vergne for the lead, incredible.

 
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That was an absolute thriller for Cape Town's debut. What a great final few laps that was as well. Unreal overtake by Da Costa on Vergne for the lead, incredible.


Yep that race was a good one. Spectacular scenery around the track was interesting to see.

The attack mode strategy mix this year still seems to be a bit of a guessing game, and interesting that the attack sometimes doesn't seem to be a huge advantage -is the low downforce, hard tires and energy use limitation mean drivers can't alway use the maximum of the extra power?

Some of the teams seem stronger than others but not too dominant and then different track characteristic swing to favour different drivers - so it's shaping up to be a quite an exciting season...

And that intro sequence music is awesome.
 
The Attack has come down from 8 minutes a race to 4, still with two activations. There isn't enough time to make up for the time loss of going into attack mode this season, and as Diriyah and Hyderabad showed, the activation point's position on track matters a lot more than before with such short activation times.
 
The Attack has come down from 8 minutes a race to 4, still with two activations. There isn't enough time to make up for the time loss of going into attack mode this season, and as Diriyah and Hyderabad showed, the activation point's position on track matters a lot more than before with such short activation times.
But the drivers can choose how much of the 4 minutes they use in each activation. So someone who goes 3 minutes then 1 minute will probably have a better shot at getting an advantage than 2 lots of 2 minutes.

Not to mention the safety car can completely eliminate the attack mode strategy.
 
yeh, going offline for only 1 minute of boost seems counter-productive... however on some circuits the driver might be able to jump the position back...

the strategic element of choice of 1:3 or 2:2 or 3:1 is interesting, it doesn't seem to have had a big impact yet but it will be interesting if other tracks is more significant.

The new cars look great and I really enjoy how sketchy they look in motion - a lot of handling of the car by the driver.
 
2:6, 3:5, 4:4, 5:3, 6:2 is a much better spread that would actually make the Attack mode worth running wide into though.
 
PORTLAND E-PRIX

For the first time since Valencia in Season 7, and only the second time in Formula Es history, the championship visited a permanent race facility, in the form of Portland International Raceway which also plays host to Indycar races on a yearly basis. This would result in a wider track, with more runoff and therefore more room for error for the 22 cars who would be starting the race. Coming into the weekend, Pascal Wehrlein was leading the drivers championship for Tag Heuer Porsche, with the teams championship being led by Envision Racing. Andre Lotterer would return to the second Avalanche Andretti seat, with David Beckmann returning to his reserve role. However, it would be his teammate, Jake Dennis, who would take the three points for his first pole position of the season after defeating Nissan driver Sacha Fenestraz and denying the rookie his second pole of his career (or third if you count Monaco). This meant, that before the lights went out, we had a new championship leader, with Dennis one point ahead of Wehrlein coming into the race. The top five was completed by Norman Nato, Rene Rast and Maximilian Guenther. Looking at fellow championship contenders, Pascal Wehrlein would line up a disappointing 20th on the grid, Nick Cassidy would start 12th, and Mitch Evans would start 22nd after he did not take part in quali. However, this would turn into 18th, 10th and 20th respective after the two DS Penske were forced to start in the pit lane after installing scanning equipment into the pits which enabled them to collect live data from the cars.

After dragging myself out of bed at half midnight to watch the race (Americans I feel your pain), the lights went out and we got underway. Dennis got away well from pole, as did Norman Nato who moved up to 3rd to make it a Nissan 2-3. Nick Cassidy was the other big mover off the start, moving up to 6th from 10th. The cars behaved well until the start of lap 3, when Nico Mueller went off at the first chicane and hit his front nose off. He was able to continue without pitting, but went down to 17th. A shame as he was running just outside the points. Lap 6 saw the first safety car deployment, as Roberto Mehri‘s Mahindra ground to a halt due to technical glitch, not the first time the M7Electro power train has suffered an issue. As we went green again, Nato had the lead from the impressive Antonio Felix da Costa and pole sitter Dennis. There was also debris on the track as Fenestraz had hit Dennis, causing him to pit. However, he didn’t lose much time as we were still under SC. The SC came in on lap 8, where drivers up front were quick to enter attack mode, using it to fall into the pack and stop punching a hole in the air for the others. We were green flag racing for…2 laps! Then Mueller, who had a torrid race this far, complained of a brake failure as he crashed heavily into the wall side on and become the second retirement of the race, with his crash registering at 27G. We Eventually went to green again on lap 17, with Cassidy enjoying a remarkable comeback ahead of Guenther and da Costa. Predictably, Cassidy and Guenther took the second attack modes, but this would not stop Cassidy retaining the lead, such was the gap he had pulled previously. 4 laps would be added on to the end of the race, but that wouldn’t stop da Costa from launching an attack on lap 22, the Porsche driver doing well to pull a gap on the field. Lap 26 would see another lead change, as Cassidy closed the gap and passed into the T1-2 chicane, and he would fall back over as Dennis made an outside move stick, but da Costa came back at him later in the lap. Howe er, it would not be bought for da Costa as he was caught and passed by Dennis on the final lap, but Cassidy was a deserved winner. Evans took P4 from 20th on the grid, as well as the fastest lap. Sebastian Buemi took P5 in a great result for Envision, with Guenther P6, Lucas di Grassi finished 7th in a good result for the struggling Mahindra team, 8th would go to previous championship leader Wehrlein, P9 to the Nissan of Norman Nato, and 10th to the ABT of Robin Frijns, the team bottom of the teams championship starting to fight for points regularly. The drivers championship lead now lays in the hands of Cassidy, with Dennis in second and Wehrlein in third. Evans and the somewhat disjointed Jean-Eric Vergne rounding out the top 5.
 
Formula E will stream for free on Roku starting next year! I'm very excited. No more VPN or sketchy sites


Beginning in January 2024, five races will air live on CBS Television Network and simulcast on Paramount+, with both channels already featured and integrated prominently on Roku’s platform. Roku users that subscribe to Paramount+ can easily enjoy the races airing on the service through the Paramount+ app on Roku’s Sports Experience. CBS Sports Network will also show one highlights programme per round.

The new partnerships, which mark Roku’s first-ever live sports rights acquisition, reflects growing interest in all-electric motorsport racing in the United States. Starting next season, 11 races in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will be available on The Roku Channel, a leader in free ad-supported streaming, and will also be easily accessible through the Sports Experience on Roku’s Home Screen. Roku counts more than 70 million global active accounts, and is the number one TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico based on hours streamed.
 
Formula E will stream for free on Roku starting next year! I'm very excited. No more VPN or sketchy sites

Also notable that the races are broadcast live on Channel 4 Sports Youtube channel, so have been free to view for some time now
 

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