The preseason tests carried out at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia take on a preponderant role, due to the adaptation stage that drivers and teams are going through with the inclusion of the Gen3 car.
After an arduous week of laps at the Spanish track, there are several impressions from racers, engineers and managers about the car described as the most powerful electric single-seater in the world.
Maserati driver Edoardo Mortara expressed his satisfaction at driving the new car and assured that it is capable of making even more progress than seen in the preseason.
“There is a lot to discover. We were at our best with the Gen2 car last year with software that exploited all the performance available after years of working with those cars and powertrains.
Here, we’re just getting started. We have a lot to learn and there is a lot more to look forward to,” he said in statements reported by “Soy Motor”.
He estimates that the gain will possibly be seen more at race pace, because the car is much more efficient at recovering more energy, which means having more power available for the race.
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No Ceiling Reached
For René Rast, who will race this year with the iconic and debutant Neom-McLaren, “no one has explored the limits yet.” “The Gen3 obviously has a lot more power, it’s lighter and more agile in the corners, and there’s a lot of lap time to be gained during the season. I think in a year or two, we’ll be a lot faster,” he indicated.
On energy refueling, Maserati’s Maximilian Günther sees the GEN-3 as a big challenge because drivers now have regeneration also on the front axle.
“In total that’s 600 kW between the two axles. The braking feel is different and even more variables can be controlled on the ‘software’ side together with the engineers. The possibilities of this are quite exciting and it will also be much faster because we have 100 kW more power and the tires are different than before, so there are many challenges ahead”.
For his part, Oliver Rowland, representing Mahindra, points out that the teams still have a lot of work to do before the first race. “It’s pretty much all new, at the moment we’re not 100% sure how to extract the finer details and it will be exciting to see how all the other teams and drivers get up to speed during the season and how we need to adapt to the new demands of the car.”
Formula E season 9 with all preparations almost ready for January 14 when the 11 teams and 22 drivers take to the track in Mexico City.
