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Jake Boxall-Legge

Di Grassi doesn’t expect many Formula E track changes for Gen3

Formula E CEO Jamie Reigle previously stated that he would be willing to look into potential circuit changes to better showcase the improved speed of the Gen3 cars, which will have 350kW of power on board.

This will be allied to a motor at the front of the car, which will increase the regeneration of the cars to top up the battery during a race.

Di Grassi agreed with Reigle's previous assertion that Paris was in need of a reconfiguration owing to its small size, but stated that the expected similarity in battery capacity meant that longer circuits were likely out of the question.

When asked if the Gen3 car could potentially race at the full-size Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit ahead of the Mexico City E-Prix, di Grassi explained that the new cars would still be designed to race at smaller street venues.

"I think there is a little bit of a misconception," di Grassi said.

"Although we are basically going to have more power in Gen3, the amount of energy we're going to have is similar to what we have now.

"So if you're racing, the car will not be made to race in a full circuit like [Mexico]. The car actually is smaller, shorter, shorter wheelbase to accommodate better the street circuits.

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric, Andre Lotterer, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric, Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Racing, Silver Arrow 02, Robin Frijns, Envision Racing, Audi e-tron FE07, Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Techeetah, DS E-Tense FE21 (Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images)

"You still need to do energy management and you still have a limitation on the, let's say, the current debate for the circuits that we race now.

"Of course, with some circuits like Paris which were already kind of tight for the Gen2 car, it needs to go a little bit longer.

"But overall from my understanding the car is not made to race in traditional tracks like [the full-length] Mexico.

"Although the car can reach over 320kph or more, the ratio in the gearbox and everything else will be made to still race on circuits which are city centre circuits."

Antonio Felix da Costa agreed with di Grassi's assessment, adding that Paris was arguably too "tight" for the first-generation, 150kW cars that were raced in Formula E's first four seasons.

"I don't know how quick Gen3 will be, but there are some tracks that were already tight - even for Gen1 cars - so those obviously need a small adjustment, like Paris."

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