Mercedes’ Formula E car ran for the first time last week in a three-day test at the Varano circuit in Italy. The car covered a total of 527 kilometres.
Former McLaren Formula 1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who now races for the Mercedes-affiliated HWA team in Formula E, was one of two drivers to same the car.Former Mercedes DTM driver Edoardo Mortara also drove the car in place of Vandoorne’s Formula E team mate Gary Paffett, who was racing at Laguna Seca.
“When a new racing car comes to life for the first time and goes out onto the track, that’s always a very special moment,” said Mercedes’ head motorsport Toto Wolff.
“Not only have we reached an important milestone for our as yet young team, but we have also laid a solid foundation for further development. But there is still a lot of work to do before our race debut when the next season starts towards the end of this year.”
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Dan Rooke (@geekzilla9000)
3rd April 2019, 12:13
Vandoorne should drive that through Gotham City, it looks awesome.
Dave F. (@dave-f)
3rd April 2019, 13:25
It does, except for the roll hoop camera end-plates. Reminds me of advertising hoardings on the roofs of taxi cabs.
They should build a digital display into the bodywork to display not only the drivers name but position. speed etc.
cm (@cm-cm)
4th April 2019, 0:11
@dave-f that would fit right in at gimmicky formulaE… why not put speakers in the body work too? To bump that terrible party music…
thepostalserviceisbroke (@thepostalserviceisbroke)
3rd April 2019, 14:21
Naked carbon fiber. Beautiful. The shape kinda reminds me of Ferrari FXX.
robinsonf1 (@)
3rd April 2019, 15:29
I don’t even think it’s been lacquered, just polished up and away you go!
BNK
3rd April 2019, 16:15
I thought FE was a ‘spec’ series. Don’t they just buy a car off the shelf give it a livery and off to racing they go? Are teams building their own cars now to the regs? Is this FE Merc developing the car in the sense how F1 teams develop throughout the season or was this merely a shake down to make sure the car works and thats about it?
Andy
3rd April 2019, 16:27
It’s irrelevent. This is about getting their name and logo in front of eyeballs and going fast in order to sell cars.
Neil (@neilosjames)
3rd April 2019, 17:21
The car itself is spec but there are are different powertrain manufacturers. Mercedes are joining next season, so this was a shakedown sort of thing to ensure their powertrain was operating right.
Fly
4th April 2019, 0:06
Inverters, motors, cooling systems, drivetrains and wheel rims and energy regen / deployment software are all open for development in Formula E
BlackJackFan
4th April 2019, 3:09
Hi Fly – Gosh, that sounds reallyexciting… ;-)