System E, lose everything on the last circuit: without telemetry you can

By Carlo Platella
There are days when it is difficult not to share the desire of a personal team at the end of the success that is now in the safe. In this, the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans remains unbeatable, with Toyota standing at the finish line on the last lap and Porsche inheriting first place. In Misano once again the German company took the victory at the last minute, at the expense of another Japanese manufacturer, Nissan. Oliver Rowland’s ride stops short of the finish line, due to a possible calculation error in the energy management software. A technical error like many seen in the world of racing, but unavoidable due to the specific philosophy of the Formula E sporting regulations.

Period

In the Nissan garage we are still trying to reconstruct what happened to Rowland’s car, but Team Principal Tommaso Volpe is already giving the first thoughts: “There must be something is wrong with the data we were working with. We don’t know yet, it’s very strange. I think it has to do with data from the control system, which may contain incorrect information, such as rpm. Everything seemed under control and Oliver didn’t report any technical problems.”

In Formula E, the energy management strategy is calculated by a special program, updated by the team from race to race. The pilot finds himself there follow the instructions given by the car, which uses warning lights and sound waves on the helmet to suggest the starting point of trigger release and rebuild. It is clear that the driver is free to take action, to adjust the speed to attack or defend, while the software responds by updating its calculations and also reacting to sudden race situations such as the entry of the Safety Car.

In the case of Rowland’s Nissan, the opinion is that the software has read the wrong data, calculating the wrong strategy suggesting an unsustainable pace for the Briton to reach the finish line. The race photos show how already on lap 15 Rowland has 2% less energy than the rest of the group, then rising to 3% in the last three laps, a deficit equal to almost a full lap in terms of energy. Nissan’s disappointment can only increase seeing how Fenestraz’s sister car, however, remains unscathed, crossing the finish line in fifth place.

Ban on telemetry

The dramatic epilogue of the second Misano E-Prix puts a magnifying glass on a certain aspect of the sport’s principles. Unlike other categories, The use of real-time telemetry is prohibited in Formula E between the garage and the car. The only person who can read the data directly is the Federation, which can monitor the vital parameters of each vehicle, mainly for safety reasons. Teams, however, must wait for the car to return to the garage before they can download the telemetry and analyze it later.

The driver becomes the only mediator between the car and the team, updating the wall on the parameters read on the steering wheel, but the communication is clearly limited and often in principle. With real-time telemetry, Nissan could have easily detected an abnormal situation, responded and prevented a tragic outcome, but this was not the case. This time it is the Japanese company that pays the price for the rules of the game, but the ban on the distribution of data is still a different aspect of the category. That bylaw it gives great importance to the role of the pilotwho, with the incomplete instructions given by the team, finds himself aware of the signals sent by the car and makes decisions independently.

Nissan dedication

The last-minute success does not erase the good things shown by Tommaso Volpe’s team in recent months. Nissan is the team that made the most progress in the last period, often recognized as a real threat by the owners of Porsche and Jaguar standards. Already in San Paolo McLaren had brought success to the powerful Japanese team, while in Misano the official team got four consecutive places, even enjoying the top of the drivers’ championship with Rowland.

More importantly, in Emilia-Romagna Nissan is celebrating its return to the top step of the podium, inherited after Da Costa’s disqualification on Saturday. That victory, however, is still pending, with Porsche already promising to appeal against the Portuguese’s disqualification. The technical deviation comes from the speed return springs, which in principle must be selected from the list of components approved by the Federation. Da Costa’s Porsche it still had the springs of the second generation car, which the FIA removed from the approved list with the advent of Gen3, without presenting it to the team. A dispute that arises for more than a year and may have other consequences.

Open world championships

Apart from Da Costa’s disqualification, Porsches officially crossed the finish line first in both races held in Misano, with Jake Dennis’ Andretti on the podium on Saturday and Sunday. That is not the case The German powertrain has been shown to be the most efficient of the lotgiving us hope considering the calendar still includes events such as Berlin, Shanghai and Portland.

Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis they now lead the drivers’ standings by the same number of points. Compared to last season, the world champion complains about a bad harmony with the car, which with the development of the program has changed in the behavior of stopping and accelerating. On the other hand, the German from the official team continues to qualify at the front rows of the grid, showing how last year’s problems with flying legs are a distant memory. Jaguar, on the other hand, still underestimates everyone in the team ranks, knowing that he can play for something important in two weeks in Monaco. However, it is pointless to predict danger in a category that appears to be without masters as before this year.