Rookie tests, Zurich ePrix, cost limitations: the latest news from Formula E

Nico Muller impresses during rookie tests:

With temperatures of 10 degrees in the air and 12 degrees on the track, the conditions were not ideal for all these drivers who had never driven a Formula E car. However, this did not prevent them from being very active on the track until the drizzle appeared. At midday, Paul Di Resta (Jaguar) was at the top of the timesheet with a 1:22.343, ahead of James Rossiter (Techeetah), Joel Eriksson (DS Virgin), Maximilian Günther (Dragon), and Antonio Giovinazzi (DS Virgin).

In the afternoon, the conditions were more conducive to performance for all participants. This allowed Nico Muller to quickly take the lead before managing to break the circuit record with an impressive time of 1’19″651. In the end, he led over Pietro Fittipaldi (Jaguar), Maximilian Günther (Dragon), Paul Di Resta (Jaguar), and James Rossiter (Techeetah). The Audi driver’s time concluded a day marked by few incidents. Nonetheless, note the off-track excursions of Andrea Caldarelli (Dragon), Mitsunori Takaboshi (Renault e.dams), Michael Benyahia (Venturi), and Bruno Spengler (Andretti). In the other Audi, Nyck de Vries experienced numerous technical problems similar to those encountered by Lucas Di Grassi during the ePrix, preventing him from completing many laps. We may see some of these rookies again as full-time drivers in Formula E in the future.

The route of the Zurich ePrix revealed:

The automobile race will make its grand return to Switzerland on June 10th in the streets of the country’s most populous city. In fact, all automobile competitions were banned in the country since the tragic Le Mans accident in 1955. For this occasion, a 2.46 km track will be reserved for Formula E in a neighborhood very close to the port of Zurich. The beginning of the track is quite classic with a series of right-angle turns before reaching the fast section which consists of two straight lines interrupted by a fast turn. The two long straight lines of the temporary circuit will take the Mythenquai along the port and Alfred-Escherue street.

The national race of Sébastien Buemi and Edoardo Mortara will be sponsored by the Swiss bank Julius Baer, which is a major sponsor of Formula E. So, see you next June to find out who will be the winner of the Julius Baer Zürich E-Prix.

[BREAKING] Official Track Layout for “2018 FIA Formula E Julius Baer Zürich E-Prix” revealedhttps://t.co/ltfQHOfLkP#FormulaE @FIAFormulaE @juliusbaer @Sebastien_buemi #ZurichEPrix @Zurich_ePrix pic.twitter.com/52OnH0AwyM

— e-Formel.de (@eFORMELde) 5 janvier 2018

The overall costs of second-generation single-seaters are official:

The fifth season of Formula E will see the introduction of a second generation of race cars still manufactured by the French company SPARK but equipped this time with batteries supplied by McLaren Applied Technologies. This should theoretically allow the cars to increase their power from 200 kW to 250 kW. Similarly, the battery capacity will increase from 28 kWh to 54 kWh in order to cover the entire race distances with a single car. On this occasion, the FIA has released a note including the costs of each component that makes up the 2018-2019 generation electric Formula cars.

The total cost of a complete single-seater must first remain under a limit of 817,300 Euros. The electric engine is similarly capped at a maximum of 250,000 Euros, the batteries at 200,000 Euros, the chassis at 299,600 Euros, and finally the halo at 12,700 Euros. In comparison, current single-seaters cost 480,000 Euros, or 960,000 Euros in total with the requirement to acquire two cars per driver. The new generation will therefore be much more expensive but will still allow a saving of 150,000 Euros per single-seater since only one will now be necessary. Moreover, the teams will now own their machines instead of merely leasing them. These constraints should help prevent a cost explosion with the arrival of numerous manufacturers in the near future.