Formula E made its 10th trip to Mexico last weekend, and Motorsport Week has all the latest news and reaction from round two of the season.
The race was a dramatic high-speed thriller with two late Safety Cars playing into the hands of Nissan’s Oliver Rowland, who took a smash-and-grab win from under the noses of the Tag Heuer Porsches of Antonio Felix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein.
Motorsport Week brings you all the gossip and behind-the-scenes news from an entertaining weekend.
Mexico City E-Prix a sellout
The Mexico City E-Prix was a sellout, with a capacity crowd cramming into the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to see Rowland’s dramatic win. It will surely cement Mexico’s place on the calendar, particularly with the increase in speed of the FE cars showing it is a worthy venue.
Nissan’s extra test time to solve Brazil bug pays-off
Before the race, Nissan’s Tommaso Volpe confirmed to Motorsport Week that the team had to “invest some additional track time” in order to eradicate the overpowering issues that compromised both Rowland and Norman Nato in Sao Paulo.
Volpe said: “[it’s] a very stupid mistake in a way because it’s easy to fix, but it compromised our race.”
The Nissan powertrain, which also features in the NEOM McLarens – who were also afflicted by the problem in Brazil – seemed to show no trouble in Mexico, with Rowland providing the perfect tonic for the team to kickstart its season.
‘Intelligent’ Pulling to be kept close by Nissan
Volpe also told us that F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling – who went fastest for the team in the historic all-female Formula E test in Madrid – is a driver they intend to keep close to them as her career develops.
Pulling has a funded drive in GB3 this year as a result of her F1A triumph and Volpe praised her ability, saying: “She is very intelligent.
“Intelligence is something that really makes a difference as well, because it’s very complex and the energy management is something complex to understand. So, we knew she would have done well. Of course, we were positively surprised by the fact that she was constantly at the top.
“I think she, in a way, put herself out of her comfort zone, but she adapted so fast that she definitely showed how diverse she can be in her talent.
Volpe added: “For sure, we will stay in touch and we’ll try to involve her on other occasions.”
Elkins scouted by F1 after consistent Formula E performances
Scot Elkins has quietly gone about his job as Formula E Race Director since 2016 and has largely been a celebrated figure for his no-nonsense approach to dealing with the intricacies of the sport.
Formerly a DTM Race Director and a Deputy in F1 and its primary feeder categories, Elkins has plenty of experience, and Motorsport Week understands his name has been floated in conversations in regards to the F1 role.
Niels Wittich departed towards the end of last season, with Rui Marques taking charge of F1 as well as his usual brief with both F2 and F3 in the remaining rounds of the season, and the FIA is keeping its options open as to whether there will be a change again.
Filippi says ‘continuity’ in driver line-up key with GEN3 Evo season underway
Envision Racing boss Sylvain Filippi told Motorsport Week that the continuity of retaining its Season 10 driver line-up of Robin Frijns and Sebastien Buemi is a positive move for the team, with both men’s experience key in developing the GEN3 Evo car.
“It’s normal to change drivers regularly, he said. “But when there’s no reason to, really, I like continuity.
“There’s no question that we saw the data yesterday from the previous season. Seb and Robin are, no question, perfectly able to deliver really fast laps in quali and race.”
Lola boss praises multi-national setup amid rapid Formula E team improvement
Lola owner Till Bechtolscheimer recollected a moment in the pre-season testing programme at Jarama in which the three parties that make-up its Formula E team came together to solve a mechanical issue, which emphasises the team’s progress at such a rapid rate.
The famed British manufacturer and Yamaha joined forces in April to announce the entry with the existing ABT outfit, and Bechtolsheimer admitted to Motorsport Monday: “It’s not easy to take a group of Lola guys based out of the UK, a group of ABT guys based out of Germany, and a group of Yamaha guys largely based out of Japan and throw them all together and expect it to be a well-oiled machine day one.
“But I think we’re getting there. We’re getting there really, really quickly.”
“I remember this very noticeable moment where we were having an issue with, I think, bleeding the system on the car and the Lola guys were talking about it,” he said.
“And suddenly the ABT mechanics joined the conversation and started kind of giving their input on it and then we grabbed the Yamaha guys. It turns out one of the Yamaha guys embedded in our team is one of Yamaha’s biggest experts on this particular issue.
“And suddenly there was all three groups kind of all stood around the car, collaborating on how to best solve it and you could just see this transition from three groups turning into kind of a single team.
“It’s only race two for us here, but it’s already feeling like a really cohesive group of people.”
The full interview with Till Bechtolscheimer will be on Motorsport Week later this week.
READ MORE – Oliver Rowland defeats Porsches to take Mexico City E-Prix victory
