Piquet: New FE race format will force drivers to ‘think more’

Jaguar Racing's Nelson Piquet Jr believes Formula E’s new race format will force drivers to “think more” during the upcoming 2018/19 season.

Formula E has scrapped the mandatory car swaps that have featured in every race since the series’ inception in 2014 thanks to the greater battery capacity in its Gen2 car, which will make its race debut in season five.

Additional power modes have also been introduced, allowing drivers to race at a higher power (225kW instead of the standard 220kW) once they have gone through an activation zone - with the number of activations during each race to be determined at each event.

A new lighter Michelin tyre – dubbed the ‘Pilot Sport’ – will have to last an entire race distance, adding a new dimension to race strategies.

Asked how he thought the changes would influence races, Piquet replied: “I think the drivers are going to have to think a little bit more.

“With the attack mode and the tyres being a bit softer, there’s going to be different tyre degradations. It’s not simply putting 220-225kW and stepping on it.

“With more power you are asking more out of the tyres as well, heating them up and consuming more tyres.

“So doing that at the beginning of the race or at the end of the race, all of these things you will have to be thinking constantly to manage and work out what’s going on at the same time.

“There’s no point saving 225kW to the end of the race if the tyres are dead, you are still going to be slow. They’ll be a lot of different things going on, which I like. I see it as a positive for us.”

The season one champion believes energy management will be less complicated than in previous years given drivers now only have one car to drive across the new 45-minute timed-race format.

“I think it’s going to be easier in a way, because it’s just 45 minutes and there’s not two cars,” he explained.

“I think it was a bit harder last year because you had to be efficient and try to finish the first stint on zero percent when you came into the pits, and then the same thing with the second car.

“So you were calculating twice, managing the battery till the end. In this case there’s only once you are going to do it so it’s in a way less chances for mistakes or running out of battery in the first car two corners from the end.”

When asked by Crash.net for his thoughts on Formula E’s decision to remove car swaps, Piquet said: “I think it’s positive.

“I think it makes it a little bit less confusing for the people. I think last year, there were situations in the last four years were running last, then he’s first and then he came back to the middle.

“People weren’t understanding what happened and a car swap which nobody ever sees in racing. I think it will make it a little bit easier for people to understand and follow what’s going on.”