Power is Power: Formula E, Diriyah
Sam Bird, sporting a beard, celebrates winning the first race of the Diriyah E-Prix, Friday 22 November 2019 (photo: under licence and © FIA Formula E)
Race results from the official Formula E website
In one of the early seasons of Game of Thrones, Cersei Lannister offers a stinging retort to the scheming Littlefinger, who tells her, “knowledge is power.” Adopting the determined expression we would learn to respect and fear in future episodes, the woman who would go on to sit on the Iron Throne says, “power is power.”
Formula E sometimes resembles an episode of Game of Thrones. In New York last season, the carnage was such that it seemed like a particularly chaotic battle on some Northern hellscape. It was apt in some ways that, for the second time, the Formula E season began in Diriyah, in an actual kingdom - Saudi Arabia - which, somewhat like House Lannister and King’s Landing, holds immense political clout, is regarded by much of the world with suspicion, and makes frequent attempts to present a softer profile.
Formula E would have been forgiven for being overshadowed by the Diriyah Season, a festival of family fun that used motorsport as its centrepiece, but also included concerts from Clean Bandit and Imagine Dragons. Thankfully, Clean Bandit’s violinist left the band in 2016, meaning Formula E would not be playing second fiddle. Not only that, the racing over both days was both clean and close, a fine advert for electric street racing, and enough to keep people glued to the screen without distractions.
BMW still fastest
Last year, Antonio Felix da Costa led from start to finish in what looked like the precursor to a dominant season for the BMW i Andretti team. That was not to be, with a lack of experience of winning, along with a brand new infrastructure, perhaps telling. This time around, Alexander Sims ended the double-header race meeting with the calm air of someone who himself had dominated a race.
Sims could have won both races, the Englishman starting from pole position twice, but the first race fell to Sam Bird and Envision Virgin Racing after he fought from fifth in the opening laps to win. Stuck behind Edoardo Mortara’s Venturi in the early stages, with the Swiss having to drive ultra-defensively, it was not a clear path to victory for Bird.
The morning light over Nyck de Vries’ Mercedes shows the peppering of sand all over the Diriyah circuit (photo: under licence and © FIA Formula E)
He had to find his way past Mortara, outbraking him before the chicane, but then caught and passed with ease the impressive Nyck de Vries, the Mercedes-Benz EQ driver in his first Formula E race, after having won the FIA Formula Two title. Stoffel Vandoorne in the sister Mercedes was the next target.
As Bird lined up a move at the chicane similar to the one that had taken him past Mortara, Vandoorne braked even later, with the momentum taking him past the leading Sims. Not even Vandoorne seemed to be expecting a pass there, and it was miraculous that there was only the most minor of contact. Bird sailed through the gap a bemused Sims left, with the Mercedes and Envision Virgin first and second.
Bird would take the lead as Vandoorne was being relayed a message on his radio, potentially causing a split second of hesitation. The lead was one Bird held for the final ten minutes of the race, even after a Safety Car period caused by Daniel Abt crashing heavily his Audi in midfield. The surging Andre Lotterer found his way to second in the final stages of the race, in what was a great result for a Porsche team that had deliberately set expectations at a manageable level after a mixed Valencia testing week.
Andre Lotterer had a pleasing weekend for Porsche (photo: under licence and © FIA Formula E)
The first day had been marked by huge deposits of sand and dust on the track in the Unesco World Heritage Site of Diriyah - perhaps understandable, given the location, but still worse than it was last year, leading reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne to ask “what have you done to the track?” Journalist Sam Smith said on Twitter of free practice 1 on Friday, “this isn’t a practice session, this is a risk assessment exercise.”
Saturday, as might have been expected, meant a far cleaner and more predictable surface for the drivers, but still presented peril for anyone who deviated offline. This was a theme of both races, with the Attack Mode zone, positioned just at the beginning of the start-finish straight, both costing at least a second to lap times, and being in a place where drivers could cause inconvenience to following cars in order to get in line.
This was the case for Antonio Felix da Costa, who along with his new team-mate, Vergne, had a miserable weekend for DS Techeetah. Both drivers were given stop-go penalties in the second race, Vergne for a gearbox change, da Costa for driving into a rapidly slowing Sebastien Buemi, who tried to take a tighter entry into the final corner in order to trigger Attack Mode, but ended up providing a virtual brake test for the Portuguese. It was a harsh penalty by most measures, and perhaps reflects that Attack Mode zone positions need to be reviewed.
As for DS Techeetah, they, and especially Vergne, started last season slowly too - the Frenchman did not win a race until Sanya, round six, and he will be hoping to have a clean practice and qualifying session at the next race in Santiago, after a series of crashes and technical issues pockmarked his weekend.
Sims dominant on Saturday
The second race, though, belonged to Sims. He never looked in serious danger of losing the lead, pulling out enough of a gap on the following cars that it put his position in no jeopardy when he took Attack Mode on the mandatory two occasions. It looked like being a BMW 1-2, but Max Günther, Sims’ team-mate, had overtaken two cars before crossing the start-finish line after a Safety Car period, and was demoted to 11th.
The second race belonged to Alexander Sims (photo: under licence and © FIA Formula E)
Instead, the ultimate long-game player, and a man who probably looks up to Littlefinger, Lucas di Grassi, took second, in what the Brazilian will certainly view in terms of a longer title challenge. Vandoorne was again third, and if Mercedes can perform like this after no prior race experience with a new powertrain, it is frightening to imagine its potential.
The saddest story of the weekend was Oliver Turvey, leading the reconstituted NIO 333 team, which is using a previous-generation Penske/Dragon powertrain and which had to rush to be ready for testing. The Chinese-owned team was expected to be the slowest, but Turvey, reacting well to the vagaries of qualifying, got 12th on the grid for the first race, and in the second race managed to take 9th on the road.
Celebrations, unfortunately, were short-lived, with Turvey deemed to have gone 0.6kwh over the permitted power limit. For NIO 333, and the similarly struggling Dragon team, fighting the biggest teams is an increasing challenge.
Can anyone challenge the biggest manufacturers in the long term?
To quote Fall Out Boy, Formula E is no longer a scene - it’s a goddamn arms race. If Cersei was right, and power really is power, then those four German superpowers will all eventually find a way to win, either this season or in the future. With BMW and Sims showing that their package is quickest out of the box, will they be able to see their good form through to mid-season?
Clearly BMW’s is the fastest package at this time of the season, but it was this time last year, too. Have they learned the lessons from that drop-off, and can it be prevented this time around, at a time of heghtened competition? That’s the question yet to be answered, and those mega-brands, plus DS Techeetah, will have power-plays of their own to come.
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