Saturday’s race in the Indonesian capital is Formula E’s first round in South East Asia since its last visit to Putrajaya in the 2015-16 season, and unpredictable weather is expected – with rain apparently forecast.
However, the high heat and humidity will remain through any rainfall, which will have a considerable effect on the management of battery temperatures – under which the battery will begin to lose efficiency.
Battery life tends to decline at hot temperatures, and the battery regeneration occurring during the race will also ensure temperatures escalate. Thus, the drivers will have to keep an eye on temperatures throughout the weekend.
Nissan e.dams’ Sebastien Buemi explained the preparation for high-temperature races – having admitted that he’d “forgot how hot and humid it was [in South East Asia] because we’ve not been in Asia for a long time.”
“In the simulator we practice different temperatures, from the most optimistic one to the most pessimistic one,” Buemi explained.
“And then of course, we try to optimise the racing around that – the hotter it is, the less we can push on the on the battery.
“You try to save the battery and at the same time, be efficient. There are ways to put less energy in the battery, so to warm it up less. And then you try to lose as least lap time as possible.
“We’ve been practising that. And hopefully after FP2 we’ll have a clearer picture which trend it’s going to be and then you go in the race relying on what you learn in the sim and in FP2.”
Sebastien Buemi, Nissan e.Dams, Nissan IM03, Oliver Askew, Andretti Motorsport, BMW iFE.21
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“Everyone’s got the same battery, so we’re in the same boat at the end of the day,” added Envision’s Robin Frijns.
“You can change things in the software to try to help the battery. But at the end of the day, everybody’s quite similar on that.
“We just need to see how to race develops, how bad it really is, how bad it can be, and react. I mean, the quicker we react to a race to better it is in the end.”
Frijns also likened the surface of the new Jakarta circuit, effectively a purpose-built facility despite the incorporation of a road and a parking lot outside of the Ancol Beach City mall, to that of the Diriyah track.
He added that he expected the tyres to be “cooking” if the race remains dry.
“The track surface looks quite smooth, similar to Riyadh I have to say. But obviously, it’s quite a bit hotter than Riyadh.
“I think for the tyres itself, it doesn’t look too bad. But I don’t know what the temperature is going to do. For sure the tyres will be cooking, like massively, but then the question is, if they’re also going to derate a lot. Let’s wait and see.”
NIO 333 driver Oliver Turvey added that he hopes any car management and conditions can open up opportunities for the Chinese squad, as it hopes to add to the tally of seven points it has from the season so far.
Turvey took seventh in the second Rome E-Prix as rookie teammate Dan Ticktum bagged 10th as the team took its first double-points finish since Buenos Aires in 2017.
“It’ll be just working with the team trying to understand everything,” Turvey explained. “I think it hopefully will present some opportunities in the race – it’s not going to be easy with all the things to manage.
“We’ll try understand everything and optimise everything to maximise the performance, but it’s definitely going to be a challenge a lot of long corners here.”
