The situation could have been serious, but the worst was avoided thanks to perfectly applied safety procedures. On Tuesday morning, test driver Robert Shwartzman stopped the #2 DS E-TENSE FE23 usually driven by Stoffel Vandoorne at Turn 11. The car appeared to be experiencing a battery problem, a part common to all cars and supplied by Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE). The car was brought back to the pits, its battery removed and transferred to the British supplier's garage for inspection. It was then a small explosion during the lunch break that caused a fire, leading to the evacuation of the premises and the intervention of the fire brigade.
No-one was injured, but this incident involving an element that had been in operation for over a year (and had been reconditioned for this new season) led to a number of investigations. It is also worth pointing out that since its debut in 2014, Formula E has never had to deal with a fire, demonstrating the high level of safety of its electric single-seaters.
