2016 Mexico ePrix Preview

At the Buenos Aires ePrix five weeks ago, DS Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird won his first Formula ePrix win of the 2016 season with a controlled drive from start to finish ahead of Sebastien Buemi in second place and Lucas Di Grassi in third place.

With Bird running in the top four during the practice session, he was able to manage to get a fast lap together to claim his first ever Pole Position and managed to take his first win of the 2016 season as a result and DS Virgin Racing's first win in Formula E too.

Fast-forward to the fifth round of the second Formula E season moving to the Autodromo Hermanos in Mexico this weekend and is the first North American event of the second season of the FIA Formula E Championship for single-seaters which is on a specifically modified version of the circuit as most ePrixs are usually run on temporary track specially created on roads open to normal car traffic.

The race will take place on a 2.092 kilometres long track, which drivers must tackle 43 times. It uses a large part of the oval inside the track that was used for the Mexican Formula 1 Grand Prix, held on 1st November last year. There is a total of 18 corners, the slightly banked famous Peraltada is used in its entirety even if it's interrupted by a chicane (T15-T17,) before coming out onto the pit straight.

This venue is in a park that was one of the sites for the 1968 Olympic Games. It is therefore a place that is an integral part of the social and cultural fabric of the Mexican capital and the enthusiastic local crowd will give this innovative championship a very warm welcome just as they did when Formula 1 returned to the venue a few months back.

In the last couple of years, Mexico as a country has been very actively involved in promoting FIA series and only last weekend, the Mexican round of the WRC took place a few hundred kilometres from the capital and, in September, the city will again host a round of the FIA WEC Championship.

This is down to the great efforts of the OMDAI and its President, who is also the FIA Vice President for Sport, José Abed: the thanks of the FIA go to him and his staff for what they have done and will do in the future promoting sport and road safety in Mexico.

After the two races in South America, the title fight still features S̩bastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi as the main contenders, even though, after taking the win in Buenos Aires (the first for a Citroen powertrain РSam Bird is also in the running). These drivers have pretty much monopolised the podium in this first part of the season, having amassed a total of nine top three finishes (four for Di Grassi, three for Buemi and two for Bird) out of a possible twelve. Only D'Ambrosio, Frijns and Heidfeld have managed to get involved in this scrap.

Furthermore, in the last race in Buenos Aires, we saw yet again, that even if Renault seems to have a significant power advantage and that the slightest thing can jumble the order; meaning the result is far from being a certainty. In fact, the inability to predict the outcome is a peculiarity of Formula E and is a significant part of its popularity, as can be seen by its global audience, which is constantly growing when compared to the first season.

To watch the coverage of the Mexico ePrix this weekend, BT Sport will broadcast the inaugural running of the Mexico City ePrix live in the UK on BT Sport Europe at 9:45pm on Saturday 12th Marxh.

The Meixco ePrix will also be streamed live online in the UK via YouTube, Dailymotion and through the official Formula E App and website – http://www.fiaformuale.com
There is also delayed coverage of the race is also available on ITV4 at 11:15pm on Saturday 12th March, with the highlights aired on ITV at 9:25am on Sunday 13th March.
But the remaining races in the FIA Formula E Championship will continue to be shown live across ITV's channels.

Keep checking Driving for Pleasure for coverage of the 2016 Mexico ePrix with our reports of each session.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa