Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team lay foundations for Season 8 during Valencia testing 02.12.2021: Formula E: Pre-Season Test, Valencia The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team successfully completed official testing for Season 8 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship on Thursday in Valencia.

Formula E: Pre-Season Test, Valencia

The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team successfully completed official testing for Season 8 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship on Thursday in Valencia.



•    Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries had three days of testing around the 3.376 km configuration of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo near Valencia (29 and 30 November, 2 December)


•    The team covered 452 laps (1,526 km) with the Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 during the three days of testing


•    Following the move to Brackley, the team's focus this week was on practising essential procedures and processes and on gaining as much race experience as possible


•    In addition to their normal work on testing, teams had an initial run through of the new qualifying format on Monday, in which there will be group stages and head-to-head battles as of Season 8. During this session, the team focused on learning more about the best use of tyres, on optimising timing and on familiarising themselves with race weekend procedures


•    A race was simulated from start to finish on Tuesday when drivers had extra power available for the first time in a race-like scenario (220 kW instead of 200 kW for races and 250 kW instead of 235 kW in Attack Mode). As well as 'extra time' which is to be introduced in Season 8 and could see races being extended by as much as 10 minutes in the event of a safety car or full course yellow period was also tried out




Driver    Day One     Day Two    Day Three

de Vries    1:27.608 | 60 Laps    1:26.159 | 88 Laps    1:25.901 | 78 Laps
Vandoorne    1:27.623 | 61 Laps    1:26.045 | 87 Laps    1:25.861 | 78 Laps





Nyck de Vries


That was a great week of testing as far as we're concerned; generally very positive. I think this has been our best Valencia test since we first began working together. The move from Germany to England has necessitated a number of changes with quite a few new faces on the team, but everything went really well.


We were well prepared for the tests and were able to complete our full programme over all three days. I'm very pleased with how it all went. This week was not about performance, so test times were not particularly representative, but we appeared to be competitive in all kinds of conditions and scenarios. I am happy with the tests.
 



Stoffel Vandoorne


The test went very well. I would go so far as to say that this has been the best test since I first joined Formula E and this team. Obviously, it comes with experience and from preparations done before the tests, but we were able to run through our scheduled programme without any issues.


What was most important for us was that we were able to practise procedures and processes within the team, as our move to Brackley has meant many changes with lots of new people, new systems, new software tools plus a whole load of other new things that we need to get to grips with as a team - and that's been our main focus during this week of testing.
 




Ian James, Team Principal


We were able to complete this week's test in Valencia without any problems and thus managed to successfully continue with preparations for Season 8. All in all, we can be very pleased with our progress, especially considering the changes we've made since the end of Season 7.


Both drivers felt comfortable in the car and we were able to lay solid foundations, on which to build for Season 8. At the same time, though, we know that the devil is in the details and we will be working hard come tomorrow morning to ensure we've got all the necessary procedures and processes in place based on our findings here, to take the momentum from Season 7 forward with us into Season 8.
 



Nick Chester, Technical Director


Overall, this test week has been positive. We completed all the laps we intended to do as part of our programme. The weather was good and there weren't too many red flags. We did our full programme every day and the car ran well. We learned a lot in the process, but there are one or two things we now want to look at again for Diriyah. Reliability and performance look encouraging.


At the same time, we have to bear in mind that the Circuit Ricardo Tormo is not a typical Formula E track. We used the same circuit layout as at the last race weekend here in Valencia, but the energy requirements are different when compared to other venues.


Also, the track surface is much smoother here at a closed circuit than at the street tracks we usually drive on. Nevertheless, testing was good from a learning point of view, and we were able to cross off some of the items on our test list.
 
 


After completing winter testing, the team will now head back to the factories at Brackley and Brixworth to prepare for the season opener of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in Diriyah, scheduled for 28 and 29 January 2022.
 


 
Sjoerd van Wijk -photos Mercedes