Showing posts with label formula e. Show all posts
Showing posts with label formula e. Show all posts

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Da Costa wins Argentina E-Prix



António Félix da Costa became the fourth different winner in four races as he claimed victory in a crazy ePrix around the streets of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Félix Da Costa inherited the lead on the final lap after staying out of trouble in a race where Sébastien Buemi, Lucas di Grassi and Nick Heidfeld all enjoyed spells at the front before encountering problems.

Pole man Buemi retained the lead at the start while Heidfeld got the jump on Jaime Alguersuari on the run down to the hairpin at the first corner.

Buemi led the opening stint while Heidfeld used his fan boost to no avail, as Di Grassi picked off Sam Bird for fourth before diving up the inside of Alguersuari for third on lap seven.

Heidfeld hounded Buemi for the lead at times but was caught out at Turn 5 as Di Grassi made an opportunistic, but ultimately successful, move. Heidfeld subsequently went wide at the final chicane and lost places to Alguersuari and Bird, and only narrowly fended off Félix Da Costa.

Karun Chandhok suffered a right rear suspension failure on lap 16 and hit the wall at the chicane and with the race almost at the halfway mark the majority of the leaders dived into the pits, though the Safety Car was not deployed until a minute after the Indian's accident. 

This delay muddled up the pack, with the race leaders halfway down the train, behind rivals who were almost a lap down courtesy of being caught out when the race was neutralised. 

After several farcical laps the almost-lapped drivers were permitted to overtake the Safety Car and line up in the correct order and the restart was given on lap 23.

Buemi led away at the restart but clipped the wall on the entry to the final chicane, causing terminal damage to the front right of his e.dams machine.

That elevated Di Grassi into the lead of the race, ahead of Heidfeld, while Bird snuck up the inside of Félix Da Costa into the first corner, though the Briton's move was in vain after he was given a drive through penalty for running the red lights during his earlier pit stop.

Di Grassi began to edge away but he suffered a suspension failure at the chicane and slammed into the wall, handing the lead to Heidfeld, who initially had to repel Bird before the Virgin driver toured through the pits to serve his penalty.

Venturi driver Heidfeld consequently held a comfortable two second advantage over Félix Da Costa but with four laps remaining stewards deemed that the German was caught speeding in the pits during his mandatory stop.

Heidfeld served his penalty and Félix Da Costa thus took the lead but all hell broke loose behind him as several drivers scrapped for position.

Jean-Éric Vergne had been running in second position but was forced onto the defensive and ran wide at the first corner when Nicolas Prost made a move.

Prost was trailed closely by Alguersuari, Daniel Abt and Nelson Piquet Jr and as the group diced for position it was Abt who erred while attempting a move on Prost and clattered into Alguersuari.

Prost thus claimed second, while Piquet Jr took third despite believing that he wasn't on the lead lap and Alguersuari recovered from the contact to take fourth.

Vergne, who had previously damaged the front of his car after nudging Alguersuari, lost out in a last lap battle with Bruno Senna over fifth position, while Bird set the fastest lap as he recovered to seventh after his earlier misdemeanour.

Salvador Durán originally finished eighth but was excluded for exceeding the maximum power usage, meaning that Heidfeld, Oriol Servià and Stéphane Sarrazin rounded out the top 10.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

F1 : Buemi retains reserve driver role at Red Bull



World Endurance Champion Sebastien Buemi will remain the Red Bull Formula 1 team's reserve driver in 2015.

Buemi, 26, started 55 grands prix for Toro Rosso between 2009 until 2011 before resuming reserve driver duties for Red Bull when he and STR team-mate Jaime Alguersuari lost their 
F1 race drives to Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said Buemi had since become an invaluable part of his F1 squad's set-up.

The Swiss dovetailed his 2014 F1 reserve duties with a victorious WEC campaign for Toyota alongside British racer Anthony Davidson, and is also currently contesting the inaugural Formula E championship, in which he lies second for the e.dams squad after the first three races.

Buemi said he was looking forward to helping Red Bull attempt to recover from losing its world champion status to Mercedes this year.

"It is like being part of the family and I have a good working and personal relationship with everyone at the team," he said.

"I'm looking forward to helping with the development of the RB11 in any way I can.

"It should be an exciting season and I'm delighted that I will be a part of it."

Friday, December 19, 2014

Jean Eric Vergne joins Ferrari



Maranello, 19 December 2014 – Ferrari announces that, as from next season, Jean-Eric Vergne will join the Scuderia in the role of test driver to work on car development in the simulator.

The rest of the driver line-up consists of the race pairing of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, along with test and third driver Esteban Gutiérrez, while Marc Genè and Davide Rigon are confirmed in the role of test drivers.


Pedro de la Rosa leaves the Scuderia at the end of this year. Everyone in the team thanks him for the work he has done over the past two years.


“On behalf of the entire team, I welcome Jean-Eric, who I’m sure will make an important contribution to our development work in the simulator,” commented Scuderia Ferrari Director General and Team Principal, Maurizio Arrivabene. “He will fit in to a programme aimed at improving important areas, invigorating and strengthening an already strong and capable group of professionals.”


“I feel very honored to be joining the Ferrari family and becoming a part of the most prestigious team in the history of Formula One,” commented Jean-Eric Vergne. “The objective is a unanimous one and that is to help the Scuderia get back to the top step of the podium. Having had two years working in the simulator for a top F1 team and three years racing with Toro Rosso, my experience will add to the great efforts that are currently being made in order to get the team back to its winning ways. I look forward to fulfilling my dream in becoming a member of the Ferrari Formula One team and having the Tifosi behind me every step of the way.”




Source - www.formula1.ferrari.com

Monday, December 15, 2014

JEV nearly wins on Formula E debut

Formula 1 refugee Jean-Eric Vergne said losing a potential win on his Formula E debut in Punta del Este did not take the shine off his weekend with Andretti Autosport.


The Former Toro Rosso F1 driver Vergne, who had taken pole in Uruguay on his first day in a Formula E car, was challenging Sebastian Buemi for victory with just two laps remaining when the front-right suspension of his Spark-Renault broke, forcing him to a halt.

Sebastian Buemi won his first Formula E race in the all-electric single-seater series' third round. 

After the third round of the Formula E, this is what JEV had to say on his experience behind a Formula E car.

"I had no expectations coming into this weekend,".

"I came here to have fun and that's what I did.

"The weekend would have been perfect if I had won, but somehow the suspension broke and that was that, so it's a bit of a shame. But that's racing.

"I didn't hit any kerbs, I didn't touch the wall or anything. I believe the suspension of these cars is fragile and I heard they're going to be changed for the next race."

"I think we lost a lot of time because of the safety car that came out exactly as the same time as I came out, I couldn't push, so that's why I gave Buemi the position."

"But I think we've shown a fantastic performance, especially with pole position."

"That was a proper pole, and it's nice to be at the front again."

Vergne also suffered an issue with his fanboost.


Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Jean-Eric Vergne to race for Andretti in Uruguay



Jean-Eric Vergne will take part in the next Formula E race in Uruguay as he starts to carve a career outside Formula One.

Vergne was ditched by Toro Rosso at the end of this year to make way for rookies Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz in 2015. This weekend he will drive for the Andretti Formula E team at the Punta del Este ePrix and he is already setting his sights high.

"It's not often that you get to race at this time of the year," Vergne said. "I am really looking forward to this opportunity, especially given its location in a place like Punta del Este. Although I have no experience in this new series, I am excited about the prospect of racing in Formula E, and racing for such a prestigious team as Andretti. As always, the main objective of the weekend is to stay out front and finish the year on a high note. The weekend will be a little like a journey into the unknown, but it is a journey that I am thoroughly looking forward to!"

Vergne is one of 11 ex-F1 drivers in the Formula E field this weekend and team boss Michael Andretti believes it shows the high status the series has reached in its inaugural year.

"We're really happy to put JEV in the car for Punta del Este," said Andretti. "He has great talent and we think he'll pair well with our team for competitive results. I also think having interest and participation from respected F1 drivers shows great strength and the true potential for Formula E as a series and world championship."

Monday, December 1, 2014

Formula E Car Technical Specifications

Mahindra Racing Formula E Car

The 2014 season of the Formula E Championship will feature only the SRT_01E.

The Spark-Renault SRT_01E has been designed by Spark Racing Technology which is a consortium of vehicle and vehicle component makers, which include Renault, McLaren Electronic Systems, Williams Advanced Engineering, Dallara and SPARK.

SPARK is in charge of designing the car; components like the chassis, aerodynamic components, suspension etc will be handles by the company.

Dallara is charge of designing and construction of the carbon-fibre and aluminium monocoque chassis which will be the backbone of the whole race car.

McLaren Electronics is in charge of providing the electric motor that will power the car, the gearbox and other electronic equipment on the car.

Williams Advanced Engineering will take care of the battery and related components.


Tech-specs:

  • L x W in mm: 5000 x 1800
  • Weight: 800 Kg
  • Engine: 180 BHP (limited) /140NM electric engine, mid-mounted, with a push-to-pass button that increases power to 270 BHP
  • Transmission: 4-speed sequential
  • Front suspension: Double steel wishbones, pushrod operated, twin dampers and torsion bars
  • Rear suspension: Springs
  • Wheel: 18-inch, fitted with all-weather treaded tyres from Michelin


Performance:
  • 0-100 KMPH in 3 seconds
  • Top speed of 220 KMPH

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Bird wins Putrajaya ePrix

Sam Bird won the second round of the Formula E Championship in Malaysia.

The Formula E Championship has seen two winners in two races as Sam Bird took the chequered flag in Malaysia. 
Daniel Abt started the race from third, but didn't get going very well and dropped to the rear and finished 10th. It was Katherine Legge who lost control on braking and turned Michela Cerruti in the process. Matthew Brabham soon spun as he raced down into the chicane, slamming into the side pod of Nick Heidfeld, who seemed to escape the contact unscathed. All this took place on the opening lap, prompting a safety car.
Sam Bird took over the lead on the ensuing restart. He pulled away until the eighth lap when Franck Montagny squeezed Nick Heidfeld into the tire barrier at turn five, igniting another full-course yellow.
The race resumed on lap 13 and the safety car was not needed for the remainder of the event. Daniel Abt switched cars very early in the going and therefore, was leading the race with less than ten laps remaining. He was running low on power though and was forced to crawl at a snail's pace in order to make it to the finish.
Abt lost the lead to Sam Bird with five laps remaining before the checkered flag. Bruno Senna lost the rear and slammed the wall on the final lap of the race while attacking Buemi for the final spot on the podium, dropping him to 14th.
Lucas Di Grassi still leads the Drivers Championship with his second place finish in Putrajaya. Buemi made sure that he took the final place on the podium.

Race Result

1. Sam Bird
2. Lucas di Grassi
3. Sebastien Buemi
4. Nico Prost
5. Jerome d'Ambrosio
6. Karun Chandhok
7. Oriol Servia
8. Antonio Felix da Costa
9. Jaime Alguersuari
10. Daniel Abt