Teams deliver FIA pit boost deadline: ‘Has to be signed-off this week’
Multiple Formula E team principals have insisted that the FIA must decide “this week” whether pit boost will be introduced this season, with a meeting to take place today, RacingNews365 has learnt.
Pit boost, the new name for what was known as attack charge, should have been introduced to FE two years ago; however, issues with the technology has delayed it.
The technology sees a driver pit for a 10% boost of additional energy, created by the car having a fast charger plugged into it.
FE is desperate to introduce the technology for double headers initially, to make the events follow two different race formats.
A mock-race during pre-season testing at the Jarama Circuit on Wednesday afternoon was viewed as its final chance to work, for it to be introduced before Gen4 in 2026.
Unfortunately, issues during the race were experienced by Nissan and DS Penske. As informed to RacingNews365, the charger used by Nissan did not work on the first attempt, but did on the second.
DS Penske’s issue was a fault with the charging cable, resulting in a loss of track position for both teams.
Maserati team principal Cyril Blais found the mock-race beneficial; however, has urged for caution with the experiment having not been a complete success.
“It was a very good exercise, very useful,” Blais told RacingNews365. “I think we have to be very careful before we do a complete sign-off, because the number one priority is to make sure it’s 100% reliable, and that then doesn’t jeopardise anybody’s race.
“That’s that’s the main target. But overall, I wouldn’t call it completely successful, but the race was done. It was completed.
“A few things there and there, but I think we’ve got some food for thought, and we got to investigate that and see how we move forward for the season.”
Final call urged
RacingNews365 has learnt that a meeting will take place on Thursday evening, with Blais insisting that a decision on whether the FIA will sign-off and introduce pit boost must be made this week.
“For me it has to be signed-off this week,” insisted Blais. “We can’t push it any further, because there’s a huge implication for the team, even though we won’t use it at every race.
“The plan is to use it for the double headers, which [the first] is already in Jeddah, and strategically there’s some tools, there’s a lot of implications, how much you practice with the crew.
“So I think we’ve done our due diligence, we’ve been testing it over the off-season. Now in pre-season testing.
“We did a full race, I think we got all the input that we need as a group, collectively to make the right decision. But I assume the decision needs to be made now before we leave the test.”
DS Penske and Nissan were not the only teams to endure issues during the mock-race, as Mahindra experienced a battery cell problem once the 24-lap test concluded.
Mahindra team principal Frederic Bertrand is unsure if the problem is linked to the pit-stop, but has identified that a significant amount still needs to be learnt.
“On our side, it was okay,” Bertrand told RacingNews365. “We had one issue with a battery with cells after [the race], but we don’t know at all if it was linked to this [pit boost] or just a simple failure.
“So yeah, for us, it was okay, there was no major issue. What we see still is that there is a lot to learn on how to optimise the way to choose the moment [to pit] and to make sure that we do the right calls and make sure that the mechanics do no mistakes when they are going there.”
Similarly to Blais, Bertrand believes the FIA must decide this week whether FE will feature pit boost this season.
“For me, the end of this week, there will be no additional test after this so either we have enough information to decide positively, or we don’t have enough and we have to decide negatively,” said Bertrand.
“I don’t think there is room for a risk there.”
