How a Formula E mainstay's new home is helping it prepare for Gen3

There’s something of a paradox about Formula E. As a series and as a concept, it still manages to preserve a veneer of newness about it; the championship has been able to retain its status as a disruptor in the world of motorsport, continuing to take pre-conceived notions of how racing should be and turn them on their heads.

Yet, as Formula E stands well within its eighth season, on the brink of its third-generation ruleset, it feels part of the furniture against other racing categories. It’s no longer a place for Formula 1 rejects to ply their trade in lieu of anything better to do – it's now a destination for drivers to shoot for.

Seven manufacturers are currently signed up for the Gen3 regulations, which will take effect next season. The new car with revised styling will have the covers peeled off in Monaco ahead of the principality’s E-Prix at the end of April, with the teams set to take delivery of them in May to begin their testing programmes in preparation for the new season.

In that, the biggest change is the increase in power of the rear-drive motor, which escalates from a peak output of 250kW to 350. There’s also an additional single-spec motor mounted to the front, which will add an extra 250kW in possible energy regeneration. Many of the areas at the rear of the car remain open season for the manufacturers to make their own; gearboxes and inverters can continue to be developed but, in the interests of cost saving, Formula E has elected to add more standard-supply parts within.

“Fundamentally they've, I suppose from a cost perspective, made the common package encompass a lot more than it did before,” explains NIO 333 chief technical officer Duncan Laycock.

“Dampers, for instance, were free - now that's a control part from ZF Sachs. They've reduced what you can do as a manufacturer, but the core part is that the powertrain is still under your control, the inverter, motor, and transmission. That’s where all the efficiency comes from; that's all within our remit.

NIO 333 is working hard to prepare for the onset of new Gen3 rules

Photo by: Tom Banks

“The back end is actually quite similar in terms of what you're allowed to do. The fundamentals from a car perspective is they've made a bit narrower, they've made it a bit shorter. They’ve taken weight out of it, and they set themselves a really aggressive target for what they had to do.

“Ultimately, the aim of the championship was to move the car to another performance point and maintain Formula E as the pinnacle of electric racing, because there's this increasing number of electric championships. They want to maintain themselves at the pinnacle of the sport.”

The NIO 333 team can trace its lineage through all three of Formula E’s generations: the tentative days of the original Gen1 car, the complete change in aesthetics and increased power of Gen2, and is now preparing to continue as a manufacturer for the dawn of the upcoming new era. It’s also seen the back of a difficult few years; ahead of the interrupted 2019-20 season, the team’s relationship with its former powertrain supplier broke down and it had to employ an older-spec Dragon unit as a makeweight for the year.

From there, and under new ownership, NIO 333 had to set about rebuilding its operations and ensure it could once again assert itself within the tightly knit order of the Formula E grid. A new powertrain, developed in partnership with Integral Powertrain, was put together for the following year, resulting in an immediate return with Oliver Turvey’s double-points finish at the season-opening Diriyah round.

"Last year was starting to be quite good for recruitment. The main change I think was last year our commitment to Gen3, and it's been pretty much ongoing since then"Russell O'Hagan

NIO 333 has also moved its operations to a new base overlooking Silverstone, thrusting the Chinese-owned outfit right into the heart of British motorsport. Having settled into its new home over the off-season, the team has been able to install the usual mod-cons a serious racing operation needs, including its own simulator room, offices and race bays. There’s also table tennis and a pool table, as Autosport notes after being kindly invited to the new facilities.

It’s not been a completely easy transition, with on-off impact of COVID and intermittent government advice to work from home putting the team's move behind the eight-ball. But NIO 333 has now been afforded a few months to stretch its legs in the new base.

“The biggest emphasis was getting consolidated into one place, and to change the culture of the company,” says deputy team principal Russell O’Hagan. “So that's been a huge step. [In terms of] technical recruitment, starting from the point where I joined, that was a little bit fruitless to start; they didn’t want to come, they didn't know if we were doing Gen3. And obviously, being at the back is not always that easy.

Turvey scored points in both Diriyah races to underline the progress NIO 333 has made

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“And then actually, pretty quickly, we were able to kind of start [getting people in]. The performance anyway was better, but then we made some changes in making it a better place to work and looking after people a little bit better knowing that [the] Silverstone [move] was coming. Last year was starting to be quite good for recruitment. The main change I think was last year our commitment to Gen3, and it's been pretty much ongoing since then; it’s been super busy since probably August last year.”

With its commitment to Gen3 proving a big boost for NIO 333’s recruitment drive, it has been able to tempt engineers from other Formula E teams to make the move and bolster an already-strong team. With its growth behind the scenes, NIO 333 has a big opportunity to finally enact a move up the grid. After a few barren years bouncing around between powertrain partners and working between multiple locations, having everything in one place should, as O’Hagan puts it, “future-proof” the team as it works on preparation for Formula E’s new cars.

The team has also refreshed its driver line-up, bringing in Dan Ticktum to partner stalwart Oliver Turvey. Ticktum, who was perhaps unfairly characterised in his Formula 2 tenure by the plethora of spicy radio messages that were aired by the world feed, represents something of a departure in the team’s usual hiring processes. His addition to the team balances out the driver line-up somewhat: Turvey is of a disposition more inclined to yielding engineering feedback, while Ticktum prefers to live by feel and in delivering his feedback towards the car’s mechanical sensibilities.

“We had a really quite solid list of driver options,” O’Hagan recalls. “Most of them were quite similar in character - a reliable, good driver. But what we kind of wanted to go for was the best raw natural talent we could and hope that we could knock some of the rough edges off. And we also wanted someone who would light a bit of a fire.

“Dan, for example, every time he gets in the car, he's just flat out - even the shakedown sessions! I think he's been like eighth or ninth in them – doesn't mean they mean nothing, it's a half-power. But the difference in finishing ninth or 10th, or finishing in the bottom two, it does make a bit of difference.”

While Turvey and Ticktum are tasked with getting the most out of NIO 333’s existing Gen2 package, the team is hard at work getting its ducks in a row for next season’s new rules. So how will Gen3 change things?

Outside the car, teams have largely the same target: develop a powertrain that delivers the full 350kW as efficiently as possible, and then set about building the best software maps to ensure the drivers can get the most out of the car while pumping energy back into the batteries to last the distance.

Ticktum has impressed the team since his arrival

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“The current Gen2 car is, I think, from a driver's perspective, relatively tame,” Laycock explains. "And the other big fundamental difference with Gen3 is front regen; having the ability to have essentially 600kW of regen available to you.

“In terms of an energy map for racing, you effectively accelerated your car as fast as you could. You then lifted and coasted for a period, you had a paddle phase, which was where you tried to harvest as much energy as you could. And then the last part was with hydraulic brake supplemented for the last part of the corner entry.

“This paddle phase is, I won't say is definitely gone, but is more likely to be gone because now you have the regen from the front. And that's effectively taken care of within the control systems and the driver isn't dependent upon harvesting everything they can from the rear axle.”

"Fundamentally, the core is the car is going to be a bit quicker at the end of the straight – 15-20 kph faster. But that's kind of set by the calendar and which circuits we're going to use" Duncan Laycock

Although the Gen3 cars will be lighter and faster than their predecessors, a lot will also come down to circuit design. With Formula E looking at a return to Paris for the 2022-23 season, it has come with a tacit admission that a larger circuit around France’s capital is needed, but it’s unlikely that the current cast of circuits will change too much in their layout. Thus, it’s unknown how much drivers will be able to attack the circuit with the new cars, but they’ll still have to contend with their increased output.

"Fundamentally, the core is the car is going to be a bit quicker at the end of the straight – 15-20 kph faster,” Laycock adds. “But again, that's kind of set by the calendar and which circuits we're going to use and if the FIA adjust the circuits to keep the speeds under control. There's a lot of stakes that need putting in the ground to define absolutely everything.

“But we just do the best we can with the information we have at the time and continually go around this simulation loop of okay, this is the latest set of parameters that we're working to - what is the consequence of that? And how is it going to reflect on what we do from an operational perspective?

“What we do from a design perspective, obviously, we're not fixed yet. But in terms of reality, the lead times involved in the magnets, the electronics, etc, you're pretty much on a fixed course. And you've either got it right, or you haven't got it right. And the point we're at now, all we can really do is flag up where we think there's loopholes and avenues that can be exploited - and there needs to be a step to regulate it.

Laycock says faster new Gen3 cars will bring significant new challenges

Photo by: Tom Banks

“That’s to make sure that the concept that was originally put out and how it was intended, is what is delivered on the track. And that's where we're working with the FIA to make sure that's all covered off, and I think all the teams are interested in doing that. Because whenever you have the advent of a new set of regulations, there is the opportunity to make a quantum step. And some people make an even more quantum step nobody thought of. Formula E is all about close racing.”

Another change for Gen3 comes in the form of the new tyre supplier Hankook, which takes over from Michelin as the French manufacturer bows out having been in Formula E since its inception. Laycock says that the Korean supplier is set to provide tyres of a similar grip level to the current Michelins, continuing the trend of an all-weather compound with a low rolling resistance to improve the overall efficiency of the powertrain.

As long as the Formula E-spec parts hit their delivery target of May, the first group test and flurry of shakedowns are expected to take place in late June. With the first Gen3 powertrains homologated for both 2022-23 and 2023-24, it means that any early disadvantages in concept will have to be smoothed out in the software department. Kicking off with problem-free running will be NIO 333’s desire when its own Gen3 powertrain hits the road for the first time.

“What a pilot would say, 'Any landing is a good landing'?” laughs Laycock. “If you can move straight into doing performance work and start to correlate your simulation, start to characterise your tyre, then that's already good.

“For the first shakedown of the vehicle, if it runs and it doesn't have problems - or it doesn't have any significant problems, it doesn't have a fundamental issue, then that would be a good successful shakedown. Basically, no major problem or something that makes you not sleep at night and come back and go, ‘We need to spend hundreds of thousands to put this right' - that would be a good shakedown. But there's no reason why it shouldn't be the case. You can only do what you have control over.

“There's a lot of the car that's outside of our control. And it might well be that despite the fact that they've done a lot of testing with a mule car, and later, Formula E teams start running around and they run it in a way that perhaps nobody perceived would ever be run. Then you could be dealing with a whole host of issues that aren't directly your responsibility to sort out. But because it's hindering your testing from then on, then you obviously have input and need to do something about it. The number of test days are limited, and the testing window is small.”

It’s a brave new world for Formula E, and the Gen3 rules promise much in the championship’s bid to keep raising the stakes with its all-electric mantra. NIO 333, now revitalised and unified in its new Silverstone base, is looking to make its first step into the new era a success.

The first shakedowns for Gen3 are set to commence in June

Photo by: Tom Banks

Albeit one of the smallest teams on the grid, it’s looking to get as much bang for its buck as its new Silverstone neighbours Aston Martin managed back in its days as Force India. Against the might of multinational automotive concerns like Porsche and Jaguar, it’ll face some stiff competition, but NIO 333 is slowly on the ascent having been able to consolidate after a tough period in Formula E.

Before Autosport departs NIO 333’s brand new facilities, we’re invited onto the driver-in-loop simulator to revisit the Mexico E-Prix circuit around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Asked if we want a demonstration of how to hustle the virtual representation of NIO 333’s Formula E car around, we politely – and foolishly - decline and decide to go into it blind. How hard can it be?

The high of completing a clean (albeit glacial) lap is immediately dampened by going far too deep into Turn 1. Autosport gets out of the cockpit and goes for lunch, a pursuit this writer is far better at contending with

As it turns out, very. First up, the brake pedal blindsides us with its rigidity. Under braking for Turn 1, it becomes immediately apparent that the braking points are far different to what one expects from years of playing Formula 1 games at home with a controller. Every lap we turn seems to end up with either a lock-up at the hairpin, a brush with the outside wall at the Peraltada, or some other buffoonery attributable to a novice behind the wheel.

But after a few laps of getting the mistakes out of one’s system, we’re briefly in the swing of it and muster enough concentration for a clean lap somewhere in the 1m17s. That’s about a full 10s slower than a real Formula E driver could manage in qualifying trim. But our concentration lapses again, and the high of completing a clean (albeit glacial) lap is immediately dampened by going far too deep into Turn 1. Autosport gets out of the cockpit and goes for lunch, a pursuit this writer is far better at contending with.

Imagine doing that in the middle of a race.

NIO 333 mission control provides a home base for the races, and can keep an eye on the simulator

Photo by: Tom Banks