It’s been a long wait, almost as painfully long as the F1 winter break but Formula E is back with a race in Miami. Despite the lack of racing ever since the last round back in Argentina, Formula E certainly hasn’t kept quiet.
The first major events announced by Formula E a few weeks ago included a Moscow round being added to this years calendar as well as Battersea Park in the United Kingdom holding a double header in the UK with a Berlin airport revealed to be the site of their future ePrix and news outlets have been rife recently stating that Paris is to hold the first ePrix of the 2015/16 season. Exciting times.
One of the major talking points this weekend will be about the announcement detailing next seasons Formula E constructors and who will be supplying the new powertrains. With Renault, McLaren and Spark already major names involved with the sport, eight more companies have undertaken the task to produce powertrains for teams next year. Already a technical partner and represented in the series through e.DAMS, Renault has been selected following an FIA tender process, along with ABT Sportsline (Audi), Andretti, Mahindra, Venturi Automobiles and Virgin Racing Engineering. Newcomers Motomatica and NEXTEV TCR complete the line-up.
2015 Miami ePrix Preview
Now to this weeks race. Characteristically, there have been a few driver changes up and down the grid. Firstly, Andretti have acquired the services of former Toro Rosso F1 driver, the ever-popular American Scott Speed to race along side Jean-Eric Vergne as Franck Montagny’s positive drug test still looms over them. Also, Dragon Racing have hired Audi World Endurance Championship driver Loic Duval to race alongside Jerome d’Ambrosio; Oriol Servia instead being appointed at the team as partner and managing director. In the last day China Racing have announced that former F1 driver Charles Pic has joined the team alongside Nelson Piquet Jr for the long term. He is a good bet to produce solid results having raced for Andretti in the opening round, scoring a 4th place. He replaces Ho-Pin Tung who as well as having Asian Le Mans commitments will probably be kept as test and reserve driver as China Racing develops it’s manufacturing programme for season two according to the respected Formula E website Current E. The final driver substitution is at the Trulli team, as Michela Cerutti has withdrawn from the championship for professional reasons. Former Red Bull Racing and Force India F1 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi replaces her.
The Miami ePrix looks set to be another cracker of a race just from the layout. The ePrix is set along the coast of Biscayne Bay incorporating the backdrop of the city skyline. At 2.17km it features 8 corners. The track boasts a number of long straights and 90-degree corners, with a unique pitlane mid-way round the lap at turn six.
Finally, the introduction to fans of FanBoost has already proved controversial but now, the Formula E team has made it so spectators can see who is currently in possession of the votes. At the time of writing, the usual suspects Vergne, Bruno Senna and Nick Heidfeld hold the all-important top three stops whilst the absent Michela Cerutti and Sam Bird are in hot pursuit.
