Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Shanghai E-Prix

  • R10- Shanghai E-Prix

    Wehrlein flew away from the second row of the grid to sweep around the outside of poleistter Guenther and P2 Barnard at the long, tightening right hander at Turn 1.
    Standings leader Rowland, meanwhile made up five spots on Lap 1 to find himself second, ahead of Guenther.

    The leaders squabbled hard with positions swapping through Lap 2 before it all got a bit too close through the chicane with Cassidy coming off worst – spat out into a half spin and down to the back of the field – Rowland, Guenther and Hughes somehow unscathed amid the crunching carbon fibre to lead the pack on Lap 4.

    Vandoorne was first to jump for the initial of his two 50kW four-wheel driver Attack Mode boosts and clambered up to the front of the field come Lap 6, taking advantage of some minor contact between Hughes and Rowland which saw both stumble.

    Positions cycled as energy usage came to the fore through the first third of the race, and Attack Mode started to come into play.
    De Vries led di Grassi, Rowland, Guenther, Buemi, Vandoorne the top six on Lap 9 – while reigning champion Wehrlein slipped as far as 12th through the first round of Attack.

    The Porsche driver made it back up to P5 come the end of his first 50kw boost, with Rowland and Guenther still to activate.

    Rowland looked to be employing the same strategy as he did in Jeddah, during the first PIT BOOST race – going later for his first Attack to get to clear air out front before pitting, with leader de Vries covering that strategy off and matching the Brit up.

    Mueller’s early leap for PIT BOOST left him well placed as he fired in the quick laps to go gain enough time on those yet to stop to leave him the net race lead as it stood.
    Rowland and Guenther had to put their foot down to counter, and they duly did – doing just enough on Lap 18 to emerge from their stops out front.

    A lap later, and Wehrlein, who had put pressure on the leaders prior to his PIT BOOST stop, then split Guenther and Rowland to emerge P2.

    On lap 19, Robin Frijns, who’d quietly found his way through the pack to fourth, made a move on Rowland for third, as it stood – 13 places gained.

    Those yet to use their final Attack Mode, and had energy in-hand then chose to leap. Barnard jumped the lead group to slice by the front-runners through the final chicane and away from the pack to the tune of almost two seconds on Lap 21 the NEOM McLaren driver dropping Guenther, de Vries and Wehrlein.

    Guenther had half a minute of Attack over Rowland himself, and pressured the Nissan through the final laps before making a move count on Lap 26 over the start/finish.

    On lap 27, Barnard produced a storming move on Rowland for second – hanging it around the outside of Rowland to steal up the inside of the Nissan into the chicane, with Ticktum following in the melee to clamber onto the final step on the podium.

    On the final lap, Guenther was home and dry out front but behind it was all kicking off. Ticktum pressured Barnard, with a dive into Turn 1 followed a move at the chicane.
    He leapt outside of Barnard while Vergne jumped inside the McLaren to bypass Ticktum in the process into second.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Guenther, P2: Vergne, P3: Barnard, P4: Ticktum, P5: Rowland, P6: Nato, P7: Bird, P8: De Vries, P9: Buemi and P10: Frijns.

  • RND 12 – Shanghai E-Prix

    FP3-

    Half a second split the top 17 runners as Nick Cassidy topped the times for Jaguar TCS Racing in Free Practice 3 ahead of the Shanghai E-Prix Round 12.

    A warm, steamy morning saw 27 degree air temperatures early on in Shanghai, and times matching free practice 2’s.

    Cassidy ran to a 1m13.500s late on and said he’d found something in himself to get there, while praising the team’s work over the weekend so far.

    Dan Ticktum, on home soil for ERT followed just 0.089s back with Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa rounding in third.

    Qualifying-

    NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes achieved his second Julius Baer Pole Position of the season around the Shanghai International Circuit.

    In a very intense qualifying battle, NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes managed to beat DS PENSKE’s Stoffel Vandoorne by just 0.001s!

    The insane margin between the two in the final of the duels ties the record set by Lucas di Grassi in Berlin back in 2017.
    And it’s the second time we’ve seen a pole decided by such a small gap this season, with Wehrlein of TAG Heuer Porsche putting it on pole by only 0.002s in Sao Paulo.

    Several of the big names were knocked out early on including reigning world champion, Jake Dennis who will start 16th. Yesterday’s pole sitter Jean-Eric Vergne couldn’t replicate his success a second consecutive day and will line up ninth.

    Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries managed his best qualifying performance of the year to start fourth after making his first Duels appearance of the year.

    The full top 10 are- Pole: Hughes, P2: Vandoorne, P3: Da Costa, P4: De Vries, P5: Cassidy, P6: Evans, P7: Nato, P8: Rowland, P9: Vergne and P10: Guenther.

    Round 12-

    A good start from Vandoorne saw the DS driver beat Hughes to Turn 1 with da Costa in tow. The Portuguese driver took Hughes’ second spot at Turn 10 a lap later, aiming to drag himself up to leader Vandoorne in the slipstream on lap 2.

    Hughes, Nato, de Vries and Cassidy – third to seventh – all jumped for Attack Mode on lap 3, though could stick with the lead pair with the race pace as it was early on.

    The Jaguars running sixth and seventh, Evans from Cassidy once again looked to play the team game, though the latter exclaimed over team radio at his unhappiness at the change of tactics for round 12.

    Norman Nato led Vandoorne, da Costa, Hughes, de Vries, Cassidy, Evans, Guenther, Bird and Vergne – with da Costa a percent to the good on energy on those around him.
    Sure enough, the Portuguese’ progress started in earnest as he caught Vandoorne unawares with a dive around the outside into the final chicane complex to set about leader Nato.

    On lap 9, da Costa jumped to the front, beating Nato to Turn 1’s apex before ceding P1 again to take his first Attack mode boost – a contrasting strategy for the Porsche driver.

    Drama on lap 12, saw title contender Pascal Wehrlein forced into pitting to have his left-rear tyre replaced, punctured following contact with NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird.

    Da Costa looked to be the man to beat given the energy he had in-hand on the rest 0 some three percent of usable energy to the good on the leaders, enabling him to jump to the front again on lap 16 and looked to dictate.

    Hughes in third got the call to use more energy to move forward and set about Nato in second and da Costa in first on lap 18.
    A lap later, Cassidy tried to make a move on Hughes into Turn 1 and clipped his front wing in the process.
    Then at Turn 6, Hughes then it out around the outside of Nato to make it by the Frenchman for P2.

    The battling in-behind da Costa was playing into the Porsche driver’s hands, despite being the car punching through the air first.
    From lap 16 to the end, da Costa had the energy, pace and temperature margin to hold fast and dictate to the end, despite severe pressure from podium debutant Hughes.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Da Costa, P2: Hughes, P3: Nato, P4: Cassidy, P5: Evans, P6: Vandoorne, P7: Vergne, P8: Gunther, P9: Frijns and P10: Rowland.

  • RND 11 – Shanghai E-Prix

    FP1-

    Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans was the quickest person on track during the first free practice session in Shanghai, as the grid was separated by just over half a second.

    The Jaguar team looked strong throughout the session, which was disrupted by a technical problem for several cars.

    Just behind Evans, was the Andretti of Norman Nato, with his championship winning teammate Jake Dennis down in 14th. DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne found himself rounding out the top three in third.

    No sooner we had the 30 minute session got going it was brought under red flag conditions after several cars stopped on track. Both the Porsche and ERT’s as well as Nyck de Vries all had to be recovered from the Shanghai circuit for the technical problem.

    FP2-

    Andretti’s Norman Nato and DS PENSKE’s Jean-Eric Vergne both set an identical time to top the running in Free Practice 2 ahead of the Shanghai E-Prix Round 11.

    Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein’s second in the standings and just 0.013s back in third.

    The fast sweeping corners in Shanghai made things difficult for the drivers, with plenty of correction on the steering wheel to keep things in order.
    Engineers will be busy getting the setup right for their drivers, and making sure all the simulator work tallies with how things felt for real on track.

    Qualifying-

    DS PENSKE’s Jean-Eric Vergne will be starting the inaugural Shanghai E-Prix from the front of the grid as he secured the Julius Baer Pole Position in China.

    The close qualifying battle saw all the drivers fight their was around the popular Shanghai International Circuit to sort the starting grid for the race.

    Going up against Oliver Rowland in the Nissan, this pole position now sees Vergne equal the Formula E record for the most pole positions – 16 – which ties him with Sebastien Buemi.

    The full top 10 are- Pole: Vergne, P2: Rowland, P3: Evans, P4: Wehrlein, P5: Hughes, P6: Da Costa, P7: Nato, P8: Vandoorne, P9: Frijns and P10: Cassidy.

    Round 11-

    Polesitter Vergne launched cleanly and into Turn 1 while Rowland bogged down from second passed immediately by Wehrlein and Evans.

    Wehrlein was the first driver to take his first mandatory Attack Mode power boost – only he and Rowland jumping for it of the top 10 runners on lap 3.
    Robin Frijns briefly found himself in P1, before he took an initial two-minute Attack Mode boost, handing the lead back to Wehrlein.

    The Porsche’s teamwork continued as da Costa hit the front at the start of lap 5, before taking his attack mode activation, and dropping behind teammate Wehrlein.

    Jaguar’s Evans fired himself into the top three on lap 7, splitting the Porsches with a move through Turn 1 and a lap later, the Kiwi then took the lead.

    The top six looked the place to be with the pack jostling to hit that front quarter of the field, steering clear of the mid-pack melee and positioning themselves for a potential podium push.

    Evans led once again on lap 13, with the Porsches and Vergne still in that top four biding their time and waiting for their moment.
    The top 10 runners at the half-way stage had all used boosts, except reigning champion Dennis.

    Berlin winner, Cassidy found himself in the top six and two percent of usable energy to the good.
    The Porsche pair, Wehrlein from da Costa, swept back to the lead on lap 16, by Evans – the Jaguar driver their closest company, though absolutely nothing split the field.

    However, on lap 19, Evans had a percent of energy in-hand and managed to slice by da Costa through Sector 1, while the sister Jaguar TCS Racing of Cassidy had two percent energy over the leaders.

    Wehrlein outbraked himself into the hairpin, allowing Evans to pounce and bolt into the lead, while Dennis finally went for Attack mode and made it into third.

    Wehrlein had it all on to hold P1, with all of the defensive moves in the book on show but into Turn 1 of the final lap, Evans broke the German’s resistance right around the outside of Turn 1.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Evans, P2: Wehrlein, P3: Cassidy, P4: Rowland, P5: Dennis, P6: Vergne, P7: De Vries, P8: Buemi, P9: Vandoorne and P10: Di Grassi.

  • Sam Bird returns for Shanghai E-Prix

    NEOM McLaren have confirmed the return of Sam Bird, following his absence in Berlin due to injury.

    Bird was found to have broken his hand after an incident in Free Practice 1 at the 2024 Monaco E-Prix which saw the Brit lock up and hit the wall in the run-off area at Turn 1, Sainte Devote.

    McLaren confirmed the injury in a statement after the session, once Bird had been examined and sent to hospital for further checks.

    The Brit then went on to have a successful procedure to rectify the injury to the same hand he’d injured back in July 2022 during the London E-Prix.

    He was on-site in both Monaco and Berlin to support and advise Barnard who had replaced Sam in both races, with the youngster calling out the positive impact Bird had on his Formula E debut weekends.

    Barnard went on to score points in Berlin finishing 10th and eighth to set another record as the youngest points-scorer in Formula E.
    The Brit is continuing in his role as the team’s Reserve and Development Driver, dovetailing that work with an ongoing FIA Formula 2 campaign.

  • China and India join USA & Japan to stage Formula E races

    The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship today announced a return to China and India for the milestone 10th season, which makes it the only motorsport to stage events during 2024 in the world’s three most populous countries: China, India and USA.

    Shanghai and Hyderabad were confirmed as host cities in Season 10 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship following approval at the FIA World Motorsport Council meeting on 19th October.

    Formula E will race for the first time in Shanghai at the Shanghai International Circuit with a double-header of races on Saturday 25th May and Sunday 26th May 2024.
    The first ever Formula E race was held in Beijing on 13th September 2015 with a second instalment following a year later. Sanya then hosted the most recent Chinese E-Prix in 2019, with Formula E also racing in Hong Kong on four occasions over three seasons between Seasons 2 and 5.

    Hyderabad will host Formula E again on Saturday 10th February 2024, with the support from the Telangana Government and Minister K. T. Rama Rao and following the 31,000 capacity sold out-debut race in February this year.

    There are two more updates to the Season 10 calendar. The event planned for Jakarta on Saturday 8th June will not go ahead following the announcement of a campaigning period in the Indonesian presidential elections during most of June.
    This would impact the logistics of delivering a race on the streets of the capital city at the same time.

    The second update is a likely venue change in Italy for Rounds 7 and 8. This follows a review by experts at Formula E and the FIA into the Season 9 races in Rome, where the new faster cars reached the limits of the narrow, sharp turning circuit in Rome.
    Formula E is exploring alternative venues, including permanent circuit to maintain an event in the key Italian market. An update on the venue is expected before the end of the year.

    Without doubt our Season 10 calendar is the most compelling yet for drivers, teams, fans and viewers around the world. We are taking Formula E to Shanghai for the first time and are honoured to return to India thanks to the support of the Telangana Government and Minister K. T. Rama Rao. The combination of street circuits, which is in Formula E’s DNA, and established race tracks will allow drivers to push the capabilities of the GEN3 car harder and further after a first season that beat all expectations with triple-digit overtakes in most races and the world championship titles decided on the final weekend.

    Alberto Longo, Co-Founder & Chief Championship Officer, Formula E.

    Formula E will lead global motorsport next season as the only world championship to race in the three biggest markets of China, India and the USA. Together with our debut on the streets of Tokyo and races in other major global markets like Brazil, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the UK, we have built a calendar that has the potential to engage billions of people in the exciting, entertaining, electric future of motorsport.

    Jeff Dodds, CEO, Formula E.