Formula E made its mark in India for the first ever Hyderabad E-Prix, the circuit is one of four new additions to the calendar for Season 9 and the introduction of Gen3.
The Hyderabad circuit was a highly anticipated venue by fans, teams and drivers but the reality of how the weekend unfolded was unexpected.
Ahead of the opening sessions, turn 1 was transformed from a fast right hander to a tight left-right chicane. The change was made due to safety concerns regarding the speed carried into turn 3 and to give the drivers another regenerative braking opportunity.
But the last minute change required a quick turn around and as event organisers battled to get the circuit ready, they were unable to build permanent barriers or kerbs around the newly formed chicane. The choice was made to separate the track from the run off area by painting white lines onto the tarmac.
This fixed the issue of the barriers but birthed a whole new issue related to track limits. The drivers pushed the limits more and more to find those crucial gains. The FIA were forced to heavily police track limits in that area, bringing an automatic track limits detection point into play.
Once again whilst this would presumably fix the issue, the drivers suffered the consequences of going beyond the limit in the latter stages of qualifying. The system caused a long delay in the midst of the duels as a number of drivers were under investigation for going beyond track limits in their quarter final laps.
Eventually, Sam Bird, Edoardo Mortara, and Rene Rast had their times deleted and were eliminated from qualifying. Jean Eric Vergne would progress to the next stage of the duels despite being beaten by Bird. Rast and Mortara were both eliminated, meaning that nobody had won their duel and nobody would progress.This caused confusion as many wondered how the semi-finals would be completed.
“To be the quickest and to have it taken away is gutting”
Jake Dennis, Autosport
Going into the semi finals, Sebastian Buemi was up against Mitch Evans whilst Vergne was forced to run a solo duel. Evans would beat Buemi in a close battle, as Vergne fought against himself in what is possibly the most awkward duel in Formula E’s history. After being knocked out in the first quarter final, Vergne found himself in the final as a result of the track limits fiasco. He started the Hyderabad from 2nd place and went on to take his first win since the Rome E-Prix in Season 7.
The controversy surrounding the track limits sanctions caused a stir within the paddock due to how heavily it impacted the qualifying results.
Jake Dennis was one of five drivers who were given 5-second penalties during the race as a result of track limits violations, and he was quick to voice his concerns.
“It’s more luck than judgment. I think it’s very, very harsh, I don’t particularly agree with it.”
“We asked for different solutions and this is the solution they’ve come up with. For me, we could’ve done a better job solution wise.”
Sam Bird and Jean Eric Vergne was also very critical of the controversy, suggesting that serious changes need to be made before Formula E returns to Hyderabad in 2024.