HYDERABAD E-PRIX 2023: Formula E is going to India for the first time, and Hyderabad will be the host city for the race. It will be the 30th location for the Formula E series and will take place around Hussain Sagar lake and NTR Gardens. Fans in India will be able to cheer for the local team, Mahindra Racing, which has 2016/17 Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Rowland as drivers. Right now, Mahindra Racing is in 6th place with 18 points, while the leading team is Avalanche Andretti Formula E with 76 points after three races.
Fans in India who love motorsports and Formula E can watch the Greenko Hyderabad E-Prix 2023 competition live on Star Sports Select 2 and Disney+ Hotstar. The whole Formula E weekend will be shown on Disney+ Hotstar.
See the full plan for what’s happening during the whole weekend of the 2023 Hyderabad Electric Car Race (HYDERABAD E-PRIX 2023).
February 10 (Friday)
Free Practice 1 – 4:25 PM to 5:15 PM (IST)
February 11 (Saturday)
Free Practice 2 – 8:05 AM to 8:55 AM (IST)
Qualifying – 10:40 AM to 11:55 AM (IST)
Race – 3:03 PM to 4:30 PM (IST)
About Formula E: ABB FIA Formula E World Championship
Formula E is a race competition for electric cars. It was started in 2014 by FIA and a Spanish businessman. Now it is recognized as an official world championship by FIA.
History
The idea of a city-based electric car race championship was created by Jean Todt, the head of the international car racing organization, the FIA. He presented the idea to politicians Alejandro Agag and Antonio Tajani at a dinner in Paris in 2011. Tajani was interested in making cars more eco-friendly, and Agag was willing to help Todt because of his past experience in setting up racing events. Now, the championship, called Formula E, is recognized as a world championship by the FIA, making it the first electric car racing series to receive this recognition.
Regulations Followed in Formula E World Championship
The Formula E championship is a competition with 11 teams, each having 2 drivers. The cars used in this sport are electric and look similar to the hybrid cars used in Formula One. The races happen in city centers on tracks that are between 1.2 to 2.1 miles long.
1. Race day format
On race day, there are two practice sessions in the morning where the drivers can use full power. There is one hour-long qualifying session later in the day where drivers are split into two groups and race head-to-head to set the fastest lap. The winner starts in the first position and the rest are placed alternately. In the first four seasons, there was a set distance with a pit stop, but now the race is set to 45 minutes and the battery lasts the whole race. In race mode, the power is limited to 200 kW. For seasons 6 and 7, energy was removed under safety car or FCY, but from season 8 added time is used.
2. Point Scoring
In the FIA system, the top ten drivers get points. The first driver gets 25 points, the second gets 18 points, and so on. If a driver starts in the first spot, they get 3 extra points. If they finish in the top ten and have the fastest time, they get another point (or 2 points in the first 2 seasons). In 2019-2021, the driver with the fastest lap during group qualifying got 1 point. There’s a championship for both drivers and teams. The driver with the most points at the end of the season wins. The team with the most points is found by adding up both drivers’ points.
3. Attack mode
In season 5, Attack Mode was added to the race. This allowed drivers to get extra power for a short time by driving through a special area on the track. The exact amount of power and the time it lasts is set by the FIA just before each race to make it harder for teams to plan. Drivers can use their extra power at any time before the end of the race, but if there’s a yellow flag or a safety car, they can’t use it.
4. Attack charge
In season 9, some races will have a new feature called Attack Charge. Teams must take a 30-second break to recharge the car’s batteries, and this will give them two extra boosts during the race.
5. Fanboost
Fans can vote for their favorite driver in each race through the official website or app. This gives the driver extra power which can be used during the race by pushing a button. Voting starts 3 days before the event and ends after 15 minutes of the race start. The top 5 drivers with the most votes get an extra power boost for 5 seconds during the second half of the race. Fanboost is no longer available for season 9.
Cars used in Formula E Championship
1. Spark-Renault SRT_01E
For the first four seasons of Formula E, the car used was called the Spark-Renault SRT 01E, made by Spark Racing Technology. The chassis was designed by Dallara, the battery system by Williams Advanced Engineering, and the gearbox by Hewland. Michelin supplied the tires. For the first season, 42 cars were ordered and 4 were given to each of the 10 teams, with 2 kept for testing. The car had a power of 250 horsepower and could go from 0 to 100 km/h in 3 seconds with a top speed of 225 km/h. The batteries were recharged using glycerine from bio-diesel production. In the first season, all teams used an electric motor made by McLaren, but starting from the second season, teams could make their own electric motor, inverter, gearbox, and cooling system while keeping the same chassis and battery. Nine different manufacturers made powertrains for the 2016-17 season.
2. Spark SRT05e (“Gen2 car”)
The Formula E Gen2 car was introduced in 2018-19 and is a big improvement over the old Spark-Renault SRT 01E car. The new car has a bigger battery and can go faster, with a top speed of around 280 km/h. The Gen2 car no longer requires mid-race car swaps. It also has a safety feature called the halo and uses Brembo braking systems. Michelin is still the tire manufacturer for the series.
3. Gen3 car
A new electric car for the Formula E race series was shown off in Monaco. It will have more power and faster speeds, and be able to recharge quickly during races. The car will be made by different companies and will have a smaller size and lighter weight. The tires will be eco-friendly.
4. Safety car
For seven seasons, a BMW i8 plug-in hybrid was used as the safety car for Formula E races. Then, for two seasons, two different versions of the BMW i8 were used. For some races in the 2020-2021 season, a Mini Electric was used instead. From 2022, a Porsche Taycan with a special color scheme representing all 11 teams is being used as the safety car.
Also read: Various Uses of Lithium: How it Used?
