Sébastien Buemi has revealed in a recent interview that he is “not against” changes to the race format in Formula E, but is concerned that it could become “complicated”, as two new initiatives could be implemented for Season 11.
FE remains keen to introduce its Attack Charge for the upcoming season. It would see drivers making mandatory stops during a race for the charging technology to be used. Drivers like Oliver Rowland say that it will change the strategy game in the all-electric series.
A few days ago, The Race reported that FE would consider a new ‘Golden Lap’ scheme, which would see bonus points being awarded to a certain driver who leads a race on two randomly chosen laps. This initiative is expected to be introduced for this season.
“Listen, I’m not against change, I’m not against trying new things,” Buemi told RacingNews365 when asked about these changes. “I’m happy to experiment, even if it ends up not adding too much. I don’t think it’s an issue.”
“I think Formula E has been dynamic enough to implement changes, whenever needed. You know, when they realize, ‘Okay, that’s not good, we go back’. So why not?”
However, the Season 2 champion has some concerns on the complexity of the changes, despite being open to trying these. Attack Charge could make it difficult to follow a race, when the pitstop is up to 90 seconds long. The concern would be that drivers could be lapped on smaller circuits.
Attack Charge is set to be tested during pre-season testing at Valencia, held in the first week of November.
“Whether it starts to be a bit complicated? Yes, it could start to be a bit complicated,” Buemi added. “I do agree, because obviously, if you add the attack charge, it starts to be extremely complex to make sure you follow the rules in the first place.“
“Because the moment you are allowed to stop, and you’re not allowed to stop depends on [so much], depends on which laps, then if you have to take attack mode as well, and if you have this golden lap stuff, it starts to be a lot of features.“
“It might be a bit too much, but until we try for the first time, I think it’s very difficult for me to really say, ‘Okay, that’s definitely too much’, but it could be. I think I’m happy to try, but I think it could be slightly too much in a 45-minute race,” he concluded, wondering how much innovation is too much.
