Formula E's unsolvable problem

Strictly speaking, last weekend's ABB FIA Formula E race in Paris was not the electric championship's first wet race.

This is because the event in Hong Kong earlier this season was actually labelled a wet race by the FIA, despite all of the rainfall occurring before the start. The track was damp, certainly, but it wasn't anywhere near what might be considered a fully wet, rain-affected race.

Paris absolutely was. Just over a third of the way into the race, the heavens opened onto the Circuit des Invalides. A race that had started in cold sunshine had got darker very quickly - probably too quickly for Nissan e.dams, which had a one-two lead disappear - and suddenly the heavy clouds were furiously unloading their contents upon the French capital.

This caused chaos. And considering FE races are generally on the hectic side, that's quite a statement. During the worst of the conditions, it felt as if the TV director was simply cutting from one incident to another, with nothing in between. Cars seemed to be flying off the road at each corner.

There were crashes - and bad ones. Jerome d'Ambrosio punted the entirely innocent Sam Bird into a spin at the barriers at the track's main overtaking spot of Turn 3, and seconds later Oliver Rowland did the same to Alexander Sims, with Stoffel Vandoorne's race ended in the same incident after a touch from Jose Maria Lopez.

Later on, Edoardo Mortara's attempt to get by Alex Lynn at Turn 13, on the approach to the pitlane entry, was optimistic at best and reckless at worst - unusually bad for a driver of Mortara's quality. And another highly regarded FE racer, Oliver Turvey, knocked Felipe Massa (and himself) down the Turn 3 escape road at one point, while before that Massa had spun by himself on the start straight.

It was, at points, madness. It seems remarkable to reflect that proceedings weren't red flagged, given the previous four FE races had been suspended. Eventual race-winner Robin Frijns said when the rain came down it was just about "surviving".

"It was very tricky conditions to have," explained the Envision Virgin Racing driver. "Knowing what the rain would do with the track conditions was very difficult. Knowing that you are leading and you're the first guy who will [arrive] in the corners - Andre [Lotterer, who finished second] was behind me and was waiting for a mistake.

"So, the pressure was on all race long - I never had time to rest, only in the full course yellows. It was definitely one of the toughest ones."

"Believe it or not, Formula E is the most difficult thing to drive - even in the dry" Andre Lotterer

Frijns may have been worried about the DS Techeetah driver circulating behind him, but actually Lotterer decided "the safest thing at that moment was to take it home".

"At the beginning [of the rain] I thought maybe we can do something because I was quite good in the morning in free practice [Lotterer topped the wet FP1 session]," the triple Le Mans winner continued. "But somehow there was less grip, or that set of tyres was not that grippy.

"Then it started to rain more, the visibility was bad and I just tried to stay there, sometimes putting a bit of pressure [on Frijns] just in case he made a mistake. But I was pretty much bringing it home, and even that was difficult. There was zero grip out there."

Daniel Abt, who finished third, likened the conditions to an Audi promotional event in Zell am See back in January, when he drove the manufacturer's Gen1 FE machine on ice in a demonstration run alongside double World Rally champion Walter Rohrl at the wheel of a historic Audi Sport quattro, and Rene Rast in a DTM car.

"Honestly, it didn't feel much different to what we had today," he reflected. "Actually I think the spikes had a bit more grip..."

One of the notable aspects of the FE field - in addition to its high quality - is that the drivers have masses of experience from other racing categories.

But the challenges they face in FE are unique, and Paris proved that. In addition to the wet weather, it was also cold. This further reduced the grip on offer on a track that, given its city-centre location, is made up of many different types of surface.

"These conditions are probably one of the hardest you have in motorsport," said Audi's Lucas di Grassi.

"Believe it or not, Formula E is the most difficult thing to drive - even in the dry," added Lotterer. "Racing in other categories - going at 350km/h at Le Mans - it's all pretty easy with the downforce and everything.

"Here, you pray for your life every time you go on the brakes - it's a really challenging game. I think it makes Formula E really unpredictable and there's a lot to do at the wheel for the drivers, so it's pretty cool.

"But today was probably the lowest grip we have ever experienced. Even in the middle of the straight, we say we don't have that much power, but we were full wheelspinning at three-quarters down the straight. It just shows how little grip there was."

What grip there was came from the tyre supplied to each FE team: Michelin's Pilot Sport rubber. This is an all-weather tyre, made at the request of the series to demonstrate the capabilities of electric cars as alternative mobility options - rain or shine.

Here comes the problem. Michelin's FE programme manager Serge Grisin said: "This edition of the Paris E-Prix perfectly illustrated the merits of Michelin's technological choices when designing Pilot Sport tyres for Formula E."

And he's right, the conditions - dry to wet - did show that the cars can perform in either conditions. But ultimately, they are never going to perform at their best for the same reason. The FE tyre is a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Wet-weather-induced crashfests are bad. But the solution is not to stop racing when there is a hint of precipitation

When asked to compare racing in the wet in FE to doing so in similar conditions in F1 or the World Endurance Championship, di Grassi said: "90% is the same.

"The difficulty is that our tyres are a compromise for the dry and they're a compromise for the wet. So, the car is more snappy. It's almost like driving semi-slicks in the wet for us.

"What is [also] difficult is the difference in the type of surface you have. It's like driving the Nordschleife or Macau in the wet. At an F1 track, normally the Tarmac is very consistent, so you know what you can expect from the grip. You have the racing line, the outside line - you go where you find a little bit more grip. But here, there's 20 different types of grip - pedestrian crossings, the lines, everything.

"And you have zero margin for error - the wall is [always] just there."

There were times during last Saturday's race when it all felt a bit too much. It wasn't FE's fault - the tyres prove that you can race in all conditions, it just wasn't very clean. It wasn't Michelin's fault - it has fulfilled the all-weather brief. And it wasn't the drivers' fault - they are simply using the tools at their disposal, even if some of the moves were clumsy at best and outrageous at worst.

It has been said on more than one occasion that racing in the 2018/19 FE championship has been too much like a demolition derby. And that's just as bad in the wet as it is in the dry, even if it's more understandable.

But what we saw last weekend creates a tricky situation for FE. Wet-weather-induced crashfests are bad. But the solution is not to stop racing when there is hint of precipitation in the air - this isn't NASCAR. And the drivers shouldn't be discouraged from making moves in the wet.

So it's hard to see what, if anything, can be done. The all-weather tyre is a brilliant innovation, and is vital in promoting the viability of electric mobility. Plus, carting slicks and wets around the world would significantly increase costs. But the tyre is not perfect in the dry or the wet - and that is a problem.

It's not one that's going to go away. Before Hong Kong, FE got through 49 races before having its first officially wet race - and its first proper rain-impacted race came three events later. So the chances are this is not going to become a regular problem.

But there's no denying it is a problem, and probably an unsolvable one at that.