It’s race week once again FIA Formula E, and Motorsport Week has you covered for everything you need to know ahead of this weekend’s double-header in Shanghai.
After yet another frantic and dramatic weekend in Berlin, Formula E makes its first visit to China since 2019. Beijing was the venue for the first-ever Formula E race in 2014, which featured a huge last-lap crash between former F1 driver Nick Heidfeld and Nico Prost, son of Alain, leaving Lucas di Grassi to take the chequered flag.
The man who may be feeling the chirpiest upon arrival to China is Nick Cassidy, who had a dream weekend in Berlin, with a stunning win in race one and a podium in race two, leaving him 16 points clear of Pascal Wehrlein in the Drivers’ Championship.
After acknowledging after his weekend in Berlin that scoring as many points as possible without necessarily battling for wins is essential for his title charge, Cassidy told Motorsport Week that given that the much-maligned peloton style races will most likely be on show in Shanghai and the following race weekend in Portland, he needs to maintain the style of driving that is working best for him in those conditions.
“I find, because of these races, as soon as you don’t take risks, you get shuffled back very quickly,” he said, adding: “so I need to keep the same mentality – when I’ve been aggressive and decisive, it’s working, so I’ll stay like that.
“I think I’ve got good awareness, I do take risks and I am aggressive, and I just need to keep that up.
“I’ve found that in races where I’ve been more gentle, I get pushed around more.
“It’s been good learning in the last year-and-a-half, and I’m just trying to take all the learnings from each weekend, how I approach races, what works and then apply it to the next one.”
THE TRACK
The circuit is a shortened version of the Shanghai International Circuit, host of the Chinese Grand Prix. The long back straight is removed and the cars will instead drive through turn nine with a chicane ending the lap, making the final corner a right-hand turn, rather than the usual left. The length of the FE circuit is 3.051km, with Attack Mode positioned between the first and second corners.
WHEN
All times for the double-header listed below is in BST:
24/05
10:00 – 10:30: Free Practice 1
25/05
01:00 – 01:30: Free Practice 2
03:20 – 04:43: Qualifying
08:03 – 09:00: Race
26/05
01:00 – 01:30: Free Practice 3
03:20 – 04:43: Qualifying
08:03 – 09:00: Race
WEATHER
The whole of the weekend is scheduled to be cloudy with sunny spells, with Friday and Saturday reaching around 28 degrees, with Sunday peaking at a very hot 33 degrees.
