Written by Lorenzo Baer, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
Oliver Rowland was the fastest on track on the first day of racing around the Anhembi Sambadrome in São Paulo.
The twisty and bumpy roads of the Autódromo do Anhembi play host to the first round of Formula E in the 2024-25 season. Between expectations and confirmations, free practice 1 proved to be a small example of what to expect for tomorrow's official race.
Despite an initial expectation of rain, the weather remained mild in the late afternoon in São Paulo, with clouds, high humidity and a temperature of 29ºC setting the tone for the free practice.
The highlight of the day was the Nissan Formula E Team, which managed to place its two drivers in the first two positions at the end of the session. The fastest of the day was Briton Oliver Rowland, who managed to set a fast lap of 1:10s162, while Norman Nato wound up eight tenths behind his teammate's mark.
Despite the Japanese automaker's cars dominating the final standings, life for the Nissan duo was not that easy.
Until the middle of the session, the cars from TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team and Envision Racing dominated, with Robin Frijns keeping his name at the top till late of the session.
Kiwi racer Mitch Evans also demonstrated some potential in Jaguar's new model, the I-Type 7, taking the lead with seven minutes to go on the practice.
However, this good moment for the Kiwi did not last long, with the improvement in the times of some of his rivals and mechanical problems at the end of the session dropping the driver in the classification.
Another one who also had his moment in the classification was Andretti driver Jake Dennis, who for brief moments remained at the top of the standings. But the Briton's lead was short-lived, before the Nissan drivers began to impose themselves on the race.
Of the newcomers Lola Yamaha ABT and Cupra Kiro, it was the former who showed a quicker turn of pace. Lucas di Grassi, sat fourth in the timesheets, with 24 minutes of running to go.
Zane Maloney, meanwhile, still transitioning from Formula 2 to Formula E, had a more troubled free practice, being a constant figure in the lower positions.
Throughout the 40 minutes of training, there were only two notable incidents. On his first flying lap in FP1, Nico Müller came too close to the circuit walls, damaging his suspension as a result of a shock with one of them.
Despite the team’s best efforts to repair the Andretti before the end of the session, Müller did not return to the track after the incident.
Mitch Evans also contributed to the incidents of the race, when the Kiwi's Jaguar simply lost drive on the track. Although he managed to restart the vehicle, a few metres later, the Jaguar stopped again on the Anhembi racecourse.
The Kiwi’s problem brought out the first yellow flag of the season, with just two minutes remaining in the session.
The talking point of FP1 were the new GEN3 EVO vehicles, which present some differences compared to last season's vehicles.
A slight increase in weight (of six kilos between one season and another) helped to improve the weight distribution in the vehicle, a trait going hand in hand with the car’s new all-wheel drive system.
Even so, many drivers faced difficulties in turns four and eleven on the Anhembi track, some of the most tricky sections of the track. Nevertheless, most drivers managed to set considerably better times than those of the last couple years.
The main point of contention ahead of the season in São Paulo was what to expect from the current Formula-e season, with its changes and new features for the year to come, many of which are about to be finally tested in São Paulo.
For both Tommaso Volpe, head of the Nissan Formula E team, and Phil Charles, head of DS Penske, the main topics were the changes in attack mode, and the long awaited introduction of the “Pit Boost” feature.
Charles’ main concern was that the pre-season tests in Jarama did not really serve as an evaluation standard for what is to come in São Paulo:
“Jarama is absolutely not the ‘average’ track for the season. For example, it has some quite high speed corners and that's quite different from what we got here (in São Paulo) [...] so, we got some really interesting information, but we just don't know exactly if we are reasonably good for this season”.
“When you come back from the first test of the pre-season, it feels a little bit like when you are a kid at school and you are away for the summer holiday, and your friend goes to a football camp or a chemistry camp , and gets better than you.
“The same thing happens in Formula E, when we all went to Jarama to see if we are still the best, and also to learn from the others and improve for the upcoming season.”
Comments