A long wait ends: Tech forecast for Zurich E-Prix

PREVIOUS POST
Plenty of overtaking opportunities on offer: Tech forecast for Berlin E-Prix PrevNEXT POST
Meet The Crew: Lewis Butler, Technical Director Next

PREVIOUS POST
PrevNEXT POST
Next

A long wait ends: Tech forecast for Zurich E-Prix

TECH TALK

Posted on: 08 June, 2018

Circuit racing returns to Switzerland after more than 60 years and we are so excited about the race. Although results haven’t gone our way recently, we are confident of a strong show in Zurich. Ahead of this weekend’s race, we have our Chief Engineer Vinit Patel with the tech review.

It is pretty amazing that Switzerland has observed and embraced the advances in safety and technology made in the last 60 years, and have opened their doors to let us come in and race in their capital city.

The track itself is quite an interesting and complex one, wherein we will probably see the highest speeds of the season. There’s a long straight which could offer an overtaking opportunity at the end of it; subsequently, there’s also a very tight section, not unlike Monaco or Macau, where the streets are not so wide and it’s pretty easy to defend; however, it’s also easy for a driver under pressure to make a mistake and go into the barriers in this section.

We’ve heard that there’s a lot of resurfacing going on for the race, and that the final track will be a mix of bumpy and worn road from all the heavy vehicles and street traffic, and absolutely fresh surface for us to race on: complete opposites. We will only see the final result once we reach there as this work is still ongoing.

Formula E has led quite a charmed life when it comes to the weather and I do believe that we’ll get away with it once again. Despite all the forecasting and predictions of a wet race, much like NYC last year, we’ll still have a dry race. That said, I’d absolutely welcome the rain because this presents a whole new set of challenges and it pushes the engineers to think on their feet a little more. It will also make for much more of an open book, and teams that have generally struggled through the season could come away with a very good result.

I’m also quite confident that we’ll be well prepared to make sure that all our onboard systems function perfectly in the wet.

The front of the grid has stabilised a bit, and I do expect the Audis, Techeetahs, Virgins and Buemi to be right up there in the front. The Jaguars, however, have been consistently quick on a new track, we saw this from Mitch in Rome, so expect them to be in the mix, and Oliver Turvey’s NIO has been consistently quick in qualifying.

We’re disappointed that we couldn’t replicate our season three performance in Berlin, but we’ve pinpointed our issues from there and learnt from them while moving forward. Zurich is a new event and this does leave the field a little more wide open since no one has the experience of this track before.

Zurich is a new event and this does leave the field a little more wide open.

It’s all about who can get in, get hooked up and make the most of the weather conditions quicker than anyone else. The pitlane has a unique feature: it is cobbled and hence very low grip and this will definitely make it very interesting.

We’re looking forward to racing in some fresh Alpine air by the lake in picturesque Zurich.

Don’t forget to catch us in action in the Zurich E-Prix on 10 June 2018 at 16:00 UTC.

PREVIOUS POST
Plenty of overtaking opportunities on offer: Tech forecast for Berlin E-Prix PrevNEXT POST
Meet The Crew: Lewis Butler, Technical Director Next

PREVIOUS POST
PrevNEXT POST
Next

Formula E

Media

Blog

Gallery

Gallery

Connect