The first impressions of Formula E's brave new era

The Hankook tyres wailed like banshees as the drivers tortured the last ounce of grip from them through the medium speed corners. And, through the Peraltada, they were on a knife-edge; Rene Rast and Edoardo Mortara went beyond the limits in practice as the cars bucked under load and threw them into the wall.

Others corralled the new Formula E cars into complying with their inputs. In the qualifying semi-final shootout between Jakes Dennis and Hughes, the latter driver began to feel the rear of his Nissan-powered McLaren stepping out through the 180-degree Peraltada. It should have been a one-way ticket to the outside wall, but Hughes managed to put enough steering in to coax his car through the corner.

The Gen3 car has proven to be a tricky beast to handle. Before the season had begun, the consensus was that the cars would punish mistakes, and strongarm the drivers into perfectly balancing risk versus reward. Mexico's season opener decisively proved that to be the case, and that will remain the case while the teams try to get a handle on Hankook's rock-solid rubber and find the window in which the tyres are at their most effective.

A lot was expected of the new cars during the race, particularly with how the drivers would go to battle in them. Their diminutive size hinted they would be much more conducive to close on-track fights through Formula E’s notoriously narrow cast of circuits, while the increase in power promised faster lap times.

Both of those plot points remained relatively inconclusive in Mexico City, for multiple reasons. Firstly, the addition of the chicane for this year denied a true like-for-like comparison in the pace stakes, and secondly, the still-unknown working range of the tyre has meant that the ultimate pace of the cars still remains masked. In the race, overtaking proved slightly more difficult as the safety car periods produced a surplus of energy. And, when everyone’s going flat-out, it’s harder to make moves in Formula E.

PLUS: How Dennis dominated Formula E's new generation opener

The Gen3 machinery has potential to produce exciting races, but the drivers don’t quite have their heads around the new car when it comes to those on-track battles. The Gen2 car was much more forgiving when it came to drivers leaning on each other during overtake opportunities, as they knew that the extra bodywork protecting the key parts could be risked for a shot at a do-or-die pass.

Drivers were still getting their heads around racing the new car, with Rast out after contact that Rowland felt was minor

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

With exposed wheels and a longer nose, the Gen3 doesn’t quite allow for that. Jean-Eric Vergne's battle with Sacha Fenestraz over a minor points placing comes to mind, and the DS Penske driver ultimately hit his countryman as he'd misjudged the dimensions of the new car.

Equally, Rast's retirement from his Formula E return was the result of a clash between he and Oliver Rowland at the Turn 5 hairpin four laps from the end, which broke the German's front-right suspension and left him to park up at the side of the road. Rowland suggested that Rast was unlucky to be out through their contact, and reckoned that in the Gen2 era, it would simply have been par for the course to carry on.

"We just touched wheels," said the Yorkshireman. "I think it's a pretty unfortunate for him to be out because of it; it must have hit like a really bad angle, but we barely made contact. It wasn't like we hit hard. I just think these cars are quite weak structurally. And last year it would've been nothing.

Formula E had faced calls to delay the introduction of Gen3 while supply chain issues and technical problems plagued the early development phases, but the series arguably took a risk in sticking with its plan. There's more to come too

"You have to risk more to pass with this car. You risk more, and the damage is easier - on these types of tracks, there's going to be a bit of attrition."

Regardless, from a purely visual standpoint, the cars look great on track. Early concerns over their aesthetics don’t quite translate to the TV screen, and the jet-fighter inspired design adds to that sense of speed. But they're noticeably skittish as well, particularly in these early stages, and that's down to the reduced tyre grip on offer.

That's not such a bad thing, however; Formula E isn't supposed to be the same product as Formula 1's massive, high-grip beasts that are considerably easier for the drivers to control. The FE machines are supposed to test some of the world's best drivers, and they live up to that billing.

Not all of the drivers welcome that challenge, however. Vergne, a frequent critic of the all-weather tyres that Formula E uses, would dearly love the series to introduce slick tyres to offer that extra grip.

"I would want slick tyres with around a 70% increase of grip," he said. "The tyres are hard, like concrete, and it's so slippery - and even more in the race because when you follow, you lose the downforce. It makes it very hard to race, and I hope they can bring better tyres next year, that's for sure."

Vergne wants more grip from the tyres, but this only added to the spectacle

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

But let's address the elephant in the room: the early technical worries. Was the concern justified? To a degree, yes; one could argue that the emergency braking kit should have come as standard from the start, but it was pleasing to see that nobody suffered from any brake failures during the race.

Mitch Evans endured an issue in practice when he went into the wall after the session, but thankfully suffered no repeats throughout the rest of the weekend. A palpable feeling of anxiety pervaded some of the higher-ups ahead of the race, which should subside with the introduction of a failsafe.

The teams' knowledge of the cars will only improve from hereon in. Formula E had faced calls to delay the introduction of Gen3 while supply chain issues and technical problems plagued the early development phases, but the series arguably took a risk in sticking with its plan. There's more to come too, with the planned introduction of fast-charging pitstops which will change the face of its attack mode feature even further.

Those changes already made include a reduction in overall attack mode time and offering more customisation with the activation time. Every race, the teams and drivers can elect to choose whether they split the allotted four minutes into a 3+1 strategy, a 2+2, or a 1+3, allowing for strategic variation. Pascal Wehrlein's well-timed 2+2 strategy paid off handsomely as it allowed him to clear Andre Lotterer and Jake Hughes on their 1+3s, going a lap earlier than each to ensure he had the delta to overlap them in the attack mode zone.

That said, the reduced attack mode allowance feels a little short. Adding two more minutes would offer more variation and lend it more gravitas in the race, as it feels like a minor footnote in its current form, but that's something that can be easily changed in the future. Overtaking does seem to be slightly more challenging, as proved by Lucas di Grassi's stern defence in Mexico City despite having to manage more energy than the cars around him, so something to grease the wheels slightly might be welcome.

Nonetheless, it’s still early days. It’s been a solid start to Formula E’s new era, and, in time, things will only get better.

Three different teams graced the podium in Mexico, which bodes well for the season ahead

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images