Formula E prepares for Seoul final

After 14 races on four continents of the planet, the first of which took place in January, the Formula E season is again approaching its final, which will be held in Seoul for the first time this year.

On August 13-14, in South Korea’s capital, the World Electric Car Racing Championship drivers will test their strength on a somewhat unusual track, which runs partly through the Olympic Stadium, which hosted the 1988 Summer Games.

The ring with a lap length of 2618 m and 22 turns was laid on the territory of the Olympic Park, and Sunday’s double final race will mark the 100th anniversary in the history of the electric series.

Mathematical chances for the title are held by four drivers from four different teams, although the Mercedes driver Stoffel Vandorn’s advantage over rivals is 36 points and the chances of anyone winning them back are slim. But it’s different from zero because there are 58 points to play this weekend and Formula E races are very unpredictable at times.

For example, who could have imagined that Jaguar driver Mitch Evans would be unlucky and stop for technical reasons in the previous phase of the championship, which was held in London? But he had excellent chances to close the gap to the leader of the individual standings, and in any case, the speedy New Zealander still remains in second place with his three wins and six podium finishes.

Just five points behind Evans are Edoardo Mortara, the Swiss Venturi Racing driver, and Jean-Eric Vergne, the DS Techeetah driver and two-time Formula E champion, is still 16 points behind the 4th line of the individual standings . can be considered as contenders, if not for the title, then at least for the vice championship title.

But as always, the leaders’ lives will certainly be complicated by their numerous rivals, each of whom will solve their own problems. Lucas di Grassi, the 2017 champion who won the second race of the London weekend, will certainly do everything in his power to build on his success and complete his run for the Venturi team as best he can – next year the Brazilian to Mahindra.

The intrigue of the final won’t be as sharp as it was a year ago, of course, because then, for the season’s Berlin final, 18 riders retained formal title chances, that’s 75% of the championship’s entrants. Still, the weekend in Seoul promises to be interesting in its own way this time around.

This will be particularly facilitated by the nature of the narrow and technical track, full of bends, where there are also straights, but which are not too long. In addition, riders have yet to find an approach to it, so the value of training will be higher than usual.

The final races of Formula E’s eighth season will be the last for second-generation cars, and next year Gen3 electric cars will hit the World Championship circuits, which will most likely lead to another shift in the balance of power. But that’s going to be another story…