The age of Reason.
Formula E, promoted to the world championship in its seventh year, kicks off its 2021 season a little later than expected with two ePrix on Friday and Saturday in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
The 100% electric single-seater championship should have restarted in Santiago de Chile in mid-January, but the Covid-19 pandemic led to the postponement of the event.
Direction therefore the surroundings of the capital Ryad for the first two night races in the short history of the discipline.
After six seasons since 2014-2015, Formula E, which until then had proven itself as a simple championship, will crown its first world champions at the end of the year.
It thus reaches the highest level of competitions recognized by the International Automobile Federation (FIA), joining Formula 1, WRC (rallies), WEC (endurance) and WRX (rallycross).
A calendar still incomplete
Sanitary restrictions oblige, the category composes its calendar over time.
"The definition of Formula E is to race in the heart of cities and, inevitably, given the current situation, that adds complexity," said its sports director, Frédéric Espinos, to AFP.
For the time being, eight rounds are therefore scheduled: Diriyah on Friday and Saturday, Rome on April 10, Valence (Spain) on April 24 for the first ePrix on a permanent circuit, Monaco on May 8, Marrakech on May 22 and Santiago on 5 and June 6.
The rest will be announced in early spring, "thirteen or fourteen races remaining the goal," according to Espinos.
Formula E is expected to continue its journey west, from the Americas to Asia.
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The 2019-2020 season, already disrupted by the pandemic, crowned DS Techeetah for the third consecutive time among the drivers (with first the French Jean-Eric Vergne twice, then the Portuguese António Félix da Costa) and for the second in a row among manufacturers.
“I often say that in order to win, you just need to be there at the right time with the right people and I believe that once again you have everything in hand: the right drivers, the right people within the team, the right cars, in a good championship ”, assures Xavier Mestelan Pinon, who lives his last races at the helm at DS.
Da Costa, him, approaches 2021 with a pressure "a little different" after having conquered his first crown.
"I am no longer the hunter but the hunted," he remarks.
But it's okay, I try to forget it when I put on my helmet.
I pilot, I have fun and it all starts from there. ”
Mercedes and Porsche in ambush
If of course he dreams of a double, is the idea of becoming the first world champion in the category an additional motivation?
“Maybe there because we talk about it, tempers the Portuguese.
But, under my helmet, I don't think I have to win any more because it's a world championship.
It'll just be a little better reward for whoever gets it. ”
DS Techeetah is logically still one of the favorites, with its traditional rivals Nissan e.dams or Virgin Racing but also Mercedes and Porsche, arrived in 2019-2020 and who will want to transform the test for this second participation.
The Silver Arrows come out of a convincing first year, completed with a first victory, with a double, in the last race of the season, third place among constructors and second among drivers for the Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne.
Porsche, it has joined the services of a new driver, the German Pascal Wehrlein, alongside his compatriot André Lotterer.
And Briton Sam Bird flew from Virgin Racing to Jaguar.
Between all of them, the competition promises to be fierce: the pre-season tests in Valencia in November were tighter than ever, the field being held in just over half a second in all sessions.
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