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Mercedes Is Still Playing Coy About Its Formula E Future

About a month ago, the Mercedes-EQ Formula E team announced it’d signed an option with the series to begin development of its Gen 3 car. “Development,” in this sense, is pretty much tantamount to attending meetings alongside all the other constructors — but don’t mistake it as a confirmation of ongoing participation. The Gen 3 regulations are expected to kick in after the next season, beginning with the 2022-23 championship, and last until the end of the 2025-26 campaign.

On Tuesday, team boss Ian James related in a virtual roundtable discussion, of which Jalopnik was a part, that Mercedes still isn’t quite ready to officially commit to the Gen 3 cycle. However, James also said that formalization will come “in due course.”

We need to take decision obviously at some point because of the development work that’s going on, and at the moment we’ve registered as an interested manufacturer. Therefore we’re able to take part in the technical working groups and so on and so forth.

So I don’t think it’s going to drag on for too much longer, but this just like the natural part of the process — just making sure that, you know, we understand the direction the things are going in and that it’s right. Mercedes has a lot of things going on internally — as there is across the whole automotive industry at the moment — and so there’s sort of external factors to us as a team, which needs to be taken into consideration, and that will all be done in due course.

What’s interesting about Mercedes dragging its feet with respect to a full endorsement is that many of its major automaker-aligned rivals have not. At the end of March a group of constructors, including Porsche, Nissan, Mahindra and DS, made their continued involvement known. There was said to be a deadline at this time for teams to make that call, as The Race reported, but Mercedes evidently decided to take its sweet time and not worry too much if anyone noticed.

If the tentative Gen 3 specifications bear out as planned, Formula E cars should receive quite the power bump — rising from the current qualifying spec of 250 kW (335 horsepower) to 350 kW (469 HP), and 300 kW for races. Energy recovery, or regen, will be harvested from both axles. The addition of mid-race “flash-charging” will necessitate pit stops for refueling, adding a degree of strategy and unpredictability while potentially extending race length, too. Perhaps Formula E will even be able to entertain more full-scale circuits as it’s attempted to this year, considering the cars will be more powerful and possibly be able to run for longer.

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But Formula E is in no position to twist Mercedes’ arm. It’s already losing Audi and BMW after this season, as the Silver Arrows’ top two domestic rivals have set their sights on sports car racing, specifically with LMDh prototype programs. LMDh is not a pure-electric series — though it does involve a spec hybrid component — so there is some alternative energy marketability there.

So the ball is really in Mercedes’ court at this point. That said, given the language James and the team’s technical advisor/development driver, Gary Paffett, were using on the call, it doesn’t seem like the company is feigning interest in Formula E just to dip out without a moment’s notice. I asked Paffett — who wears multiple hats within the team — to sum up his feelings on what Gen 3 will bring to the series. It seems he’ll relish the opportunity to get behind the wheel:

The circuits we race at, they’re very tight. Already with the car we have now, the Gen 2 car, the 250 kW in qualifying — you’re arriving at some corners thinking, you know, you could be in an F1 car in Mexico doing 320 [km/h]. They are damn quick. So the prospect of the speed we’re going to have in Gen 3 cars is going to be incredible. It’s going to be an incredible car to drive. And … the harvesting from both axles adds a completely new dimension.

James and Mercedes in general have been nonspecific in explaining why the team hasn’t yet planted its flag for Formula E’s next era, but it’s fair to assume money probably has something to do with it.

It’s understandable that Mercedes would want to be absolutely sure it’s making the proper investment. Part of Gen 3’s addendums states that any team that exits the series midway through a regulatory cycle, as Audi and BMW are about to, must pay Formula E the lump sum of all the regulatory fees it would have incurred on a yearly basis if it’d just kept competing until the end of the cycle.

Those fees amount to $415,000 per year — quite a lot to pony up at once just to not race, though only a small portion of the roughly $12 million Jaguar is said to have spent in 2019. (A prospective cost cap figures to bring that down by as much as two thirds.) Formula E is hoping constructors see that bill and decide they might as well stick around. And even if they don’t, the organizers can still make some scratch as teams walk out the door.

Porsche Bets It All In Monaco Formula E And Loses Big

While Porsche joined the Formula E series last season, the Monaco E-Prix was not on the calendar during the 2019-20 season, so Porsche’s 99X Electric has never raced there. This was a new opportunity for the German team to learn another new track, and unfortunately lady luck was not on their side. After podium results in Rome and Valencia, Porsche netted zero points from the race in the principality. While Andre Lotterer managed to finish in 9th, he had a collision with another car on the final lap of the race and was awarded a time penalty, pushing him back to 17th. Teammate Pascal Wehrlein was caught up in a collision instigated by another competitor, and was forced to retire from the race shortly before the checkered flag. When you place a big bet, you have to be prepared to walk away from the table empty-handed, and that’s exactly what happened to Porsche.

During the race Pascal started in 8th after a tight qualifying which saw him off pole by only 0.05 of a second. Traffic piled up at the hairpin during the first lap of the race, however, and he was stuck behind stopped cars, dropping him to 15th in the blink of an eye. Because the circuit is so tight and passing is difficult in such closely matched cars, Wehrlein was not able to make up ground lost. In the closing laps of the race he was hit from behind by a competitor, and the resulting flat tire caused him to sit out the rest of the event.

Lotterer, meanwhile, started from 19th on the grid. With the benefit of starting near the back, he was able to miss the stoppage that caught up Pascal on lap one, gaining a handful of spots in one fell swoop. During his second use of attack mode, he made up a bit more ground, elevating himself to twelfth. In the closing stages, he made up more places to end the race in 9th. His avoidable contact penalty undid all of that work, unfortunately, knocking him out of the points once more.

Comments on the Monaco E-Prix, Race 7

Amiel Lindesay, Head of Operations Formula E: “Pascal did a good job in qualifying and only just missed out on Super Pole. The start wasn’t ideal. When he got stuck in the middle of traffic at the hairpin, a top placing was out of reach in this initial phase. The qualifying didn’t go well for André but he did a mega job coming from 19th to ninth in the race — not many manage that in Monaco. Unfortunately, the time penalty robbed him of the rewards he deserved. We have six weeks until the next races in Mexico. We’ll use this time to prepare for the challenges of the second half of the season.”

André Lotterer, Porsche works driver (#36): “Things didn’t really come together for me in qualifying, but it went much better in the race. At the start, I stayed out of any trouble and tried to conserve energy and get into a good rhythm. I succeeded. We really wanted to finish in the points, which is a pretty ambitious goal when you start from 19th on the grid, especially in Monaco. And we would’ve made it, too, had it not been for the time penalty at the end. Hopefully, things will go better for us in Mexico.

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche works driver (#99): “It was a disappointing weekend all in all, at least in view of the result, but once again we underlined our potential. Our speed was pretty good, especially in qualifying. My start wasn’t great. I was shunted from behind in the hairpin. As a result, my car sustained quite a few damages. I’m now looking forward to the two new opportunities that are coming up at the doubleheader in Puebla.”

Mini’s Electric Hot Hatch Might Debut As A Formula E Safety Car

We’ve known that an electric Mini JCW hot hatchback is in the works from the Brit brand by BMW. It’s an exciting proposition, one many of us are looking forward to, and it gets more exciting as the day draws nearer. In a tweet on Wednesday, Mini released the above teaser image with the caption “Feels like it’s time for a boost. Watch this space… #ElectricThrillMaximised” Does that mean Mini will be pacing the field at future Formula E events?

The current Formula E safety car is this unique roofless BMW i8 with a giant wing. The hybrid i8 sports car has been serving in this role since season 1 way back in 2014 when the i8 was a brand new car. It makes sense that the company would want to replace the aging i8 as the face of safety in one of the most advanced and forward-looking series in the world of motorsport. Not least because the i8 will be ending production soon, but also because BMW will be leaving Formula E at the end of this season.

With BMW out, and Mini’s commitment to electrification, this swap would make perfect sense. You can see from the light bar on the roof of the Mini that it matches the one currently in use on the BMW. Therefore, one could infer that this is the specification which will continue onward into Mini’s tenure as safety car.

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I have high hopes for the electric JCW. The Mini Cooper SE electric is already considered one of the best handling electric cars on the market, so by extension the better handling JCW version should deliver more power and more on-track speed. Because Formula E tracks are typically quite tight, the Mini should be able to deliver on the job of safety car. Electric torque and nimble handling should be enough tools in the box for the effort.

Dammit, I’m going to have to buy one of these things, aren’t I?

With Mini almost sure to be running the Formula E safety car in the near future, how long will it be before Mini enters the sport as a manufacturer? While it’s certain that BMW is leaving FE, there’s nothing saying its compact car brand can’t pick up where it left off. It wouldn’t be the first time in this series, either, as Nissan’s FE program came out of Renault’s abandoning the sport.

I, for one, would love to see Mini racing in Formula E.

Another German Carmaker Just Dropped Formula E

BMW on Tuesday announced that it is officially bowing out of the ABB Formula E Championship after competing in the series for seven seasons (as a factory team since season five). The automaker’s withdrawal is not effective immediately, but will finalize at the end of the upcoming season, which kicks off next month with a double header in Chile.

It’s less of a swift pull of the plug and more of a sunset of its Formula E operations. Still, the news is a setback: BMW is the second team to announce its departure this week, following an earlier announcement from Audi that it’s withdrawing from Formula E at the end of the upcoming season.

BMW Group struck a dramatic tone in its press release, stating that all opportunities to apply knowledge gained on the track to production EVs has been exhausted. In other words, the well has run dry and there is no point in sticking around. Here’s a clip from BMW’s announcement:

The same engineers who develop the drivetrains for electric production vehicles are also responsible for the drivetrains in the race cars. Examples of the successful transfer of technology between the Formula E project and production development include new findings regarding energy management and energy efficiency, the transfer of software for power electronics from racing to production, and an improvement in the power density of the e-motors.

The statement broadly outlines what it was that BMW transferred from track to showroom as a result of its racing in Formula E, and it briefly mentions the team’s modest record in the series. But the press release mostly seems sponsored by the letter “P” as in “production.”

BMW emphasized that its decision comes on the heels of a realignment and renewed commitment to increase EV production. There just seems to be little return on investment in the series; the company said that investment is better directed elsewhere.

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Cost has been a recent concern for the teams, and that prompted the FIA to draft regulations addressing this. But even with upcoming regulations mandating significantly lower operating costs, it seems BMW would rather its resources go to meeting the EV goals.

That’s not going to be easy. BMW wants one million of its EVs on the road by the end of next year, and seven million by the end of the decade. That’s a lot of blue-and-white roundels, let alone a lot of EVs.

Now we have two German marques leaving FE, but at least Mercedes is still sticking around. The upcoming season will be the first to have FIA World Championship status, so maybe the BMW i Andretti team will rally near the end.