Hong Kong is the venue Formula E has been chasing since the series’ inception two years ago. This intense, densely populated metropolis is surely the closest thing the planet has come to realising Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. The perfect backdrop for the self-styled ‘future of motorsport’, or a soulless, soundless racing sci-fi dystopia – it depends where you stand on pure EVs, and their fitness for competitive purpose.
As the teams arrived on the island, a typhoon warning had been issued, raising the prospect of the first wet Formula E race in its two-year history. In the event, the storm blew itself out, although 85 per cent humidity and 32° heat were challenging enough, for the teams and 30,000 spectators alike. Hong Kong has long envied neighbouring Macau’s motorsport status, and expectations were as high as the skyscrapers framing the track for its first-ever race.
The city locations and street circuit set-up are two of Formula E’s main USPs, and Hong Kong lobbed a number of tricky variables into the arena. Panasonic Jaguar Racing driver Adam Carroll has raced pretty much everything in his career, and the ultra-quick Ulsterman usually says it like it is. “It’s very bumpy out there,” he told TopGear.com a few hours before the race start, “I mean, properly hairy in places. Around here, on a tight little street circuit, trust me when I tell you that 200kW is enough to keep you on your toes. This is proper racing for sure.”
Carroll and team-mate, rising GP2 star and Mark Webber protégé Mitch Evans, are Formula E newbies this season. Jaguar’s decision to go racing again, after a 12-year absence, in an electric race series seems to have galvanised the entire pit-lane. In the run-up to this first round, Mercedes also announced it has taken up an option to race in season five, while BMW is expected to confirm a full works entry. McLaren has also been awarded the contract to produce the batteries from season five, the point at which they’ll have the capacity to do a full race distance. This will end one of Formula E’s perceived weaknesses: the need for each team to run two cars.
That said, it was the mid-race car swap that actually turned the Hong Kong e-Prix on its head to deliver one of the most unpredictable and fascinating races in the young series’ history. Nelson Piquet Jr had started from pole position in his NextEV, and settled into a comfortable lead against teammate Oliver Turvey, DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird, and Renault e.dams and reigning Formula E champion Sebastien Buemi. Further back, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport driver Lucas di Grassi and his team-mate Daniel Abt were both shown the black and orange flag to pit for repairs to deranged bodywork after various altercations. Bird and fellow DS Virgin driver Jose Maria Lopez tripped over each other, Lopez eventually crashing into the barrier alongside the tricky chicane. Piquet had to take evasive action to avoid collecting the Argentine and tapped the barriers after locking his brakes. He didn’t damage his car, but the incident dropped him to third place.
Lopez’s mishap triggered the safety car, and as that coincided with the pit-stop window, team strategy and energy management all suddenly came to the fore. Bird, who pitted with his battery almost totally depleted, then had a problem getting his second car going, while di Grassi, who had started 19th, vaulted up the grid to finish second behind Buemi. Ex-F1 driver Nick Heidfeld also showed his experience and guile by making up four places on the first lap, with some ballsy late braking, to take the final podium position.
“We had identified a window when we knew we could pit,” Buemi said. “I was surprised that Sam did not come in. But I’m happy with how it went – it was very tough. In the first car I didn’t have the pace to go much quicker, but in the second car I was much
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