How will longer races affect the field?

It was revealed earlier this week that Formula E races are to become slightly longer. The season opener in Beijing will be a lap longer than it was last year, with other races expected to do the same.

This will put more focus on battery life management – who can use the most power whilst making the car go the distance, ie. who can be the most efficient which, of course, is what electric racing is all about.

What this means is that it takes more than outright pace to win a race, which will put teams who spent more time sorting out reliability in testing in a favourable position, particularly in the early stages of the season.

Although Mahindra were not quick in testing, they were bulletproof. Team Aguri and Andretti are running a Season One powertrain to focus more on reliability and extracting everything from their old package. Dragon and Virgin have been looking solid in terms of reliability, even if not super fast.

But it just so happens that the two teams that seemed the fastest in testing were the two teams who were not entirely satisfied with their reliability. ABT and eDAMS look like they will be leading the field, but how long will that hold up?

It is plausible that we will see some odd results in these early stages. Testing is very limited, and the cars won’t have been driven in complete anger until qualifying and the race this weekend. And with such variety across the field in terms of motors, gearboxes and powertrains, there is no real way of telling who will be where when the chequered flag falls other than waiting and seeing.

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