FE Mexico station： Panasonic Jaguar team wins by advantage

　　[Autohome FE Formula E] ABB FE Formula E ended the fourth race of the 2019-2020 season in Mexico City, with Panasonic Jaguar driver Mitch Evans leading the race at the beginning and winning the championship.

Highlights of the competition

Mexico E-Prix Overview

　　Mexico entered the calendar in the second year of FE’s existence and has hosted four races so far. The Audi FE team has won the last three races and hopes to become the first team ever to win four Formula E races on the same track.

　　Mexico is one of the few races in FE that uses a fixed racetrack. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez racetrack, built in 1959 and named after the brothers Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez, is located in the permanent racetrack of the Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City Park and is also the venue for the F1 Grand Prix.

　　The previous track design was a bit similar to the "NASCAR" ring track, with a section of track surrounded by stands in the center of the ring track, which was very unique. In this year’s race, the organizing committee modified the track, adding 7 corners, which extended the total length of the track by about 500 meters.

　　The Mexico station is still hot, with track temperatures exceeding 37 degrees Celsius in last year’s race, and this year it is also around 32 degrees Celsius.　

Qualifying

　　TAG Heuer Porsche driver Andre Lotterer set a lap time of 1 minute, 07.922s on the new track in Mexico City to take pole position.

　　Behind him were Mitch Evans of Panasonic Jaguar and Villein of Mahindra, although the latter was penalized to the end for changing the gearbox later, so rookie driver Nyck de Vries of Mercedes-Benz EQ was in third place.

　　As everyone gradually adapted to their respective cars and the rhythm of the race, the situation of the Chinese NIO 333 team became severe. From the beginning of the Mexican race, the failure of the car’s powertrain (inverter) affected the team’s race progress. Ma Qinghua was the first to be hit and had to replace the spare motor. His teammate Tevey "copied" his teammate’s troubles in the second free practice, and even affected his own qualifying sprint lap.

　　In qualifying, Oliver Turvey represented the Chinese team in pole position in Mexico in the 16-17 season, but he did not have the last laugh in that race. In this race, Turvey encountered technical problems with the car in both free practice and qualifying, and failed to make effective results. He could only start at the end of the line.

　　Chinese driver Ma Qinghua also did not escape the problem of car failure, and the race had to start from the back of the team. The team had no choice but to gain the 20th and 21st place starting spaces.

race

　　Coming to the race, although Rotler was in pole position, his car was on the outside of the track, which allowed Evans, who was side by side, to rely on the late brakes to take the lead and "kill" into Turn 1 after starting, and push Rotler out of the track. Rotler was already in fourth place when he returned to the track.

　　Nick Muller of the Geox Dragons, in sixth place, made a misjudgment about the entrance to Turn 1 and plunged into the tyre wall, ending his race with 48 minutes left. The organising committee then called out the safety car.

　　The race resumed with 35 minutes left, with Evans still leading the race. Rokit Venturi’s Massa hit the parapet at Turn 1, causing damage to the car and ending the race early.　

　　Vision Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird surpassed Nissan e.dams’ Sebastian Buemi to move up to second place.

　　As the competition became more intense, Loettler’s ranking further declined, while the right front wing was damaged, and the right wing kept pulling a plume of smoke. Eventually, the damaged front wing fell off, and the German returned to the pit lane for repair and finally withdrew from the race.　　

　　DS Techeetah driver da Costa and teammate defending champion Vergne placed sixth and seventh, followed by Audi driver Di Glass,

　　With 17 minutes remaining in the race, Mercedes-Benz EQ Team driver De Vries, who finished fifth, overtook Vision Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijns, the rookie who informed the team via TR that there was a technical problem with the car, then stopped at the end of the straight to become the fourth driver to retire.　

　　Vergne moved up to fifth place, behind teammate Da Costa, but the battery power of the two DS cars was not ideal. After several rounds of rankings, Vergne "passed" his teammate, allowing Da Costa to successfully surpass Buemi (Buemi) of the third-placed Nissan team on the strength of the battery.　　

　　With five minutes left in the race and a lap over, Evans was still in the lead, leading the field, with Bird and Da Costa in second and third place chasing after him.

　　As the pressure mounted on the drivers, Bird misjudged at Turn 13 and plunged into the protective wall, sadly ending his race and losing his chance to get on the podium. Costa crossed the finish line second, behind Buemi.

　　The Chinese NIO 333 team’s Twi and Ma Qinghua ran at their own pace after the start of the race, constantly catching up. With ten minutes left, Ma Qinghua, who had been fined through the pits due to excessive battery power release, unfortunately hit the wall at Turn 3 and withdrew. In the end, the plaid flag was waved, and Twi, who only replaced the spare motor before the race, broke through the encirclement in multiple accidents, ranking 13th in the results list, up 8 places from the starting position.

　　In two weeks, FE will return to the African continent, and in Marrakech, Morocco, a tourist destination at the foot of the charming Atlas Mountains, the NIO 333 FE team is looking forward to regaining its form. (Editor/Autohome Guo Feng)

China NIO 333 Team Dialogue:

Driver Trevi:

　　It was a very difficult day! During free practice, I had a lot of problems with my car. The "relapse" in qualifying prevented me from making an effective speed lap, so the race had to start at the end of the team. The early part of the race was fine, but we started to lose speed again in the middle and late stages, but still finished the race. We tried a lot of new things throughout the weekend, hoping to learn some lessons from this station. The FE-005 car still has a lot of areas to improve in order to improve our performance in the race.

Driver Ma Qinghua:

　　This race was quite bumpy! Since Shakedown, there have been many problems, which made the balance setting of the car less than ideal, making it difficult to achieve good results in qualifying. During the race, the balance of the car improved a lot, but there were problems with the software settings, especially in the recovery of kinetic energy. Regarding my crash, the rear of the car suddenly had a rapid tail flick. Considering that Turn 3 is a cement road and the non-racing line is dirty, it is difficult to avoid a crash. It was a pity today, but I still gained a lot of experience.

Team CEO Wang Xiao:

　　The difficult journey of the team this season has begun. Because in Riyadh and Santiago, the competition is quite uncertain. Now, as everyone gradually adjusts to their respective cars and the rhythm of the race, our situation has become severe. Obviously, the FE-005 car is difficult to compete on the high-speed track, which was expected before the race. In addition, the race also encountered technical glitches. From the results, Tevi is still mature and stable, which gives the team considerable peace of mind. Ma Qinghua had a crash, but still improved. For the next stop in Marrakech, we are confident that we will perform better. The team has started to prepare a response strategy and look forward to a rebound.