Formula E are back in Jakarta and the first session of the weekend did not hold back, providing plenty of on track drama and talking points ahead of Saturday.
Track Conditions Raising Eyebrows
The key discussion point in FP1 today was the level of dust on the surface of the track. More present in the first half of the session but still a concern into the second, many teams and drivers noted the dust levels on the track.
The dust evidently impacted the lap times in todays session, and led to many drivers having traction issues and spinning into corners. The concern is whether the dry weather turns damp, and rain hits the track. Rain combined with high dust levels will turn the track into an ice rink so the teams will be hoping that the track will be significantly dust free tomorrow.
The other notable factor of Jakarta is the track surface. With the track being relatively bumpy, will this cause chaos during the race on Saturday? Bumps in the track already claimed a victim in FP1.
Frijns Brings out the Red Flag
The first victim of the session was Robin Frijns who found the barrier into turn 7. His replays showed the car hitting a bump into the breaking zone, which completely ruined his left suspension and left him a passenger in his own car. The impact into the wall and damage was enough to completely take his out of the rest of the session.
“Looks like a full trident suspension failure” – said Envision Racing Team Principal Sylvain Filippi
The Envision Racing driver came onto the radio to express that he felt that the incident was not his fault. The green flag came out at the 16 minute mark, where about 10 minutes of extra time was added to compensate for time lost under the red flag.
Buemi Over-Pushes
During his initial hot lap, other Envision Racing driver Sebastien Buemi lost rear traction coming into turn 16. He span his car into the corner, missing out on what could have been a costly collision.
He aborted this initial lap but came back towards the end of the session with a lap good enough for P5 at the time.
Trouble for the Championship Leader
Oliver Rowland, current championship leader, was very unfortunate in todays session, finding the barrier. The Nissan driver spent the majority of the session sat in the pitlane. He only coming onto the track around the 20 minute remaining mark.
With 3 minutes left in the session, he started his hot lap, losing his rear and hitting the barrier. The impact luckily wasn’t major and he was able to continue driving the car. This impact unfortunately meant he wasn’t able to set a representative lap in the session.
Todays session provided a lot of discussion points, so we should be in for a action-filled weekend of Formula E!