Formula E comes to Mexico for its one and only race on a purpose built circuit tomorrow. This event also boasts the best podium of the year too, The season so far has produced some pretty good races and has been nicely unpredictable. I speak from experience on that front as I’ve been trying to predict it in these intro articles all year and have got it wrong pretty much the entire time.
The current championship leader is Jean-Eric Vergne after the Techeetah team came from nowhere in Santiago to secure the sports first ever one two finish. Not to be sniffed at when you consider they are a customer team (of Renault) and only got 1 days testing pre-season compared to everyone else getting 8. Of course it wasn’t without incident as the quick release seatbelts they fitted for the driver change were a bit cheaty and second driver Andre Lotterer mounted his team leaders car going down the main straight in attempt to hump him out the way. Vergne does have a tendency to get involved in odd situations. He remains the only driver I have ever seen take pole position whilst travelling backwards over the time beam. Will Techeetah remain at the front? Impossible to say but Vergne has been in contention at all races now so you have to consider him as a title challenger.
Someone who is not a title challenger is defending champion Lucas Di Grassi who still remains on zero points and probably floods of career defining tears. To say Audi’s well publicised early entry into Formula E as a manufacturer has gone a bit Pete Tong is an understatement. At this point we are on the verge of a disaster of the same proportions of the Millennium Dome or the Zune. The thing is that when the car has been running its race pace looks pretty good but they always seem to be too far down the grid to use it. If Audi are going to bounce back anywhere then Mexico is probably the place. They were head and shoulders above everyone else in testing which was done on purpose built circuit and that should translate to here in Mexico. It has in the past been a good circuit for them. A win here would heal some wounds but the drivers and constructors title seem too far now.
Elsewhere the usual suspects will most likely be in contention. Buemi is steadily pulling points back on the title contenders and will be in the running. Bird and Rosenqvist are doing a great job at scoring high points consistently and I would expect one of them to be in the lead of the championship on finish of the race this weekend. Jaguar too are one to watch and I expect them to get a big result (a win?) at some point this year. Piquet is pretty much there and there abouts but his team mate Evans needs to translate his obvious pace into results. Of course, as we’ve seen this year, the teams further down the grid are only a good performance and a bit of luck away from a win. The great thing about Formula E is that a good bit of driver form or a track that suits a car can really bring someone in to play.
So once more into the unknown – my money is on a Di Grassi miracle comeback win this weekend but I’ve been wrong about pretty much everything so far this season. Of course I’m the only one making these predications – any of you lot care to join me in predicting things wrongly?
In the UK you can see qualifying (17:45) and the race (21:30) live on Spike tomorrow (Saturday). If you’re a sadist you can also watch it on Eurosport. For those of you who live internationally its shown live on the Formula E website and if you follow this link http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/championship/tv-schedule/ you can find out which channel covers Formula E in your country.
The current championship leader is Jean-Eric Vergne after the Techeetah team came from nowhere in Santiago to secure the sports first ever one two finish. Not to be sniffed at when you consider they are a customer team (of Renault) and only got 1 days testing pre-season compared to everyone else getting 8. Of course it wasn’t without incident as the quick release seatbelts they fitted for the driver change were a bit cheaty and second driver Andre Lotterer mounted his team leaders car going down the main straight in attempt to hump him out the way. Vergne does have a tendency to get involved in odd situations. He remains the only driver I have ever seen take pole position whilst travelling backwards over the time beam. Will Techeetah remain at the front? Impossible to say but Vergne has been in contention at all races now so you have to consider him as a title challenger.
Someone who is not a title challenger is defending champion Lucas Di Grassi who still remains on zero points and probably floods of career defining tears. To say Audi’s well publicised early entry into Formula E as a manufacturer has gone a bit Pete Tong is an understatement. At this point we are on the verge of a disaster of the same proportions of the Millennium Dome or the Zune. The thing is that when the car has been running its race pace looks pretty good but they always seem to be too far down the grid to use it. If Audi are going to bounce back anywhere then Mexico is probably the place. They were head and shoulders above everyone else in testing which was done on purpose built circuit and that should translate to here in Mexico. It has in the past been a good circuit for them. A win here would heal some wounds but the drivers and constructors title seem too far now.
Elsewhere the usual suspects will most likely be in contention. Buemi is steadily pulling points back on the title contenders and will be in the running. Bird and Rosenqvist are doing a great job at scoring high points consistently and I would expect one of them to be in the lead of the championship on finish of the race this weekend. Jaguar too are one to watch and I expect them to get a big result (a win?) at some point this year. Piquet is pretty much there and there abouts but his team mate Evans needs to translate his obvious pace into results. Of course, as we’ve seen this year, the teams further down the grid are only a good performance and a bit of luck away from a win. The great thing about Formula E is that a good bit of driver form or a track that suits a car can really bring someone in to play.
So once more into the unknown – my money is on a Di Grassi miracle comeback win this weekend but I’ve been wrong about pretty much everything so far this season. Of course I’m the only one making these predications – any of you lot care to join me in predicting things wrongly?
In the UK you can see qualifying (17:45) and the race (21:30) live on Spike tomorrow (Saturday). If you’re a sadist you can also watch it on Eurosport. For those of you who live internationally its shown live on the Formula E website and if you follow this link http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/championship/tv-schedule/ you can find out which channel covers Formula E in your country.
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