The Notebook: Portland

Get the inside line on Portland with insights powered by Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Formula E’s 2023 season is edging closer to its conclusion, and this weekend, Maserati MSG Racing heads to Portland, Oregon, for the ninth round of the current campaign.

Familiar with fans of IndyCar and American open-wheel racing, the purpose-built Portland International Raceway has a fearsome reputation, and presents a new challenge for Formula E.

Fast from start to finish, it puts every driver’s courage to the test and presents the ultimate challenge for energy conservation, efficiency, and strategy management.

Our Racing Director, Jérémy Colançon is used to facing such challenges, and has been present on the Formula E grid since the series’ inaugural season in 2014.

He’s a four-time World Champion, two-time Engineer of the Year Award winner, and all-round paddock authority.

Using insights powered by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Jérémy defines the inside line on Formula E’s newest race as the series returns to the United States.

Momentum: Jakarta was an incredible weekend for the team and was the result of the same consistent approach we have been using all season. Maintaining our attitude has been crucial to showing the true performance of our technical package and with the right direction, our aspiration is to build upon our most recent results in Portland.

Energy Intensive: Portland is the most energy sensitive circuit on the Season 9 calendar. Although there are opportunities to recover energy in Turns One and 10, the track’s high-speed layout will make managing energy in race conditions hugely challenging. It will be much more difficult than any other circuit on the 2023 schedule.

Slipstreaming: Combining the high energy sensitivity with the race’s length means that slipstreaming will be a key factor during the E-Prix. The circuit’s configuration, which features long straights and some technical sections, will increase the strength of the slipstream further and will therefore provide an additional chance to save energy when following cars. With real-time data insights from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, we will be able to adjust our strategy based on this reading, enabling us to optimise our pace, based upon our efficiency.

Setup Similarities: Although the weather conditions will be vastly different, Portland has some key similarities to Jakarta in terms of setup philosophy. After finding a good compromise with the car balance and systems to unlock our pace, we should hopefully be in a good situation for this weekend.

Morale: Maserati MSG Racing is a team filled with fighters. After our win Jakarta, our morale is naturally high, but whether we win or lose, we always want to do better. The victory was a good reward for our hard work, but now we need to put everything together for Portland, with the hope of executing a perfect weekend.