DS-Penske finishes in the points at the Formula E season opener with both DS E-Tense FE23s: Pace and reliability give confidence for the championship
Full of beans: Like the rest of the DS-Penske team, Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne arrived at the Hermanos Rodriguez Circuit in Mexico City, where the 2024 Formula E season kicked off on Saturday, with firm intentions after encouraging simulator sessions. “We have worked tirelessly and have every reason to believe in ourselves,” said Stoffel Vandoorne ahead of the race.
“Of course, we know that our rivals have also made progress, but we have learned a huge amount in our first year with the Gen3. We feel that the team is more determined and stronger, and that gives us a positive start to the championship,” said the Belgian.
Apart from the fact that it was the first race of the season, there were a few important things to consider this weekend. Firstly, the geographical location of the circuit: Mexico City is at an altitude of 2,200 meters, the air is slightly less oxygenated. This dries out the body, can lead to headaches and affects the cooling of the cars.
Then there are the large temperature fluctuations. “There can be a very big difference in temperature between practice at 7:30 in the morning and the race in the afternoon,” continues Stoffel Vandoorne. “The track changes a lot and you have to qualify as well as possible to have a chance of a good position.”
The science of the race
In the first free practice session (Friday afternoon), which was interrupted by two red flags, no hierarchy could yet emerge. The next morning, after a few warm-up laps, things really got underway with the set-up of the cars. In this session, the times fell pretty quickly, close to last year’s pole but more than a second off the track record
Vandoorne and Vergne, who finished fifth and eighth respectively, were less than half a second off the reference time, suggesting that the DS Penske drivers were very cautious. In qualifying, Vandoorne made it into the quarter-finals, which Vergne missed out on by 13 hundredths of a second. After starting eighth and tenth on the grid, the pair drove a smart race in which Vergne made up four places to finish sixth.
“I’m happy with the progress I’ve made with the race mode of my car,” said Vergne after crossing the finish line. “Things didn’t go so well in qualifying, but we were able to make up four places in the race thanks to a good strategy. It’s a shame that it’s not so easy to overtake on this track with this car, because I had the pace and the energy to achieve a better position at the finish. “
Vandoorne’s eighth place is also worthy of note, as the 2022 World Champion began a new collaboration this weekend with Kyle Wilson-Clarke, the former Porsche engineer of Pascal Wehrlein, who moved to DS-Penske in early January. The retention of his starting position, although the two have only been working together for a few days, bodes well for the rest of the season.
In two weeks’ time, the Formula E World Championship returns to the Diriyah Circuit on the outskirts of Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), where two races will be held in the late afternoon after dark.
