Accustomed to reigning in Formula 1, Mercedes is preparing to take risks in season number seven of Formula E, which will be the team’s second season in the electric competition.
In 2019-2020 Mercedes finished on the podium of the competition which was a great start for the their debut season. For 2020-21 German manufacturers will start the campaign with a highly evolved powertrain.
Ian James, Mercedes EQ Formula E team director pointed out the team’s new car is an “evolution” of the Silver Arrow 01 from last season, but with major changes.
“Conceptually, is an evolution,” he said. “But there isn’t really any component part we haven’t touched and redesigned and gone at again.
“That’s really born from the fact that when you’re working that concept, we had started on the season seven power unit before we’d even turned a wheel in anger in season six.
“You’re laying out that groundwork really very early on. So it is a completely new power unit that we’re bringing for season seven.”
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Last season Mercedes’ mistakes
Despite the good finish in 2019-2020, Mercedes suffered reliability errors, centered on Nyck de Vries’ car. The young Dutch rider could not get on the podium in Santiago de Chile due to a battery problem and in Mexico he had a brake system failure.
De Vries who also suffered mechanical problems in Marrakech and in the second of six races at the Berlin ePrix. A situation on which Ian James has spoken.
“We have to focus on being more effective in our second season. We have a strong protocol when it comes to dealing with failures, be they technical or operational errors. It is vitally important that we all speak honestly about what happened last season, as it allows us that the mistakes we have made do not happen again. Our rookie year is behind us and that no longer serves as an excuse. We need to reduce mistakes and we cannot make the same mistake twice, that’s clear. We trust our package for 2021, so if we can eliminate those mistakes we are in a good position.”
