2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix

The race saw the introduction of a brand new car to replace the Spark-Renault SRT 01E that had been used since Formula E began in 2014.^[4] The new car, the Spark SRT05e (or "Gen2"), eschews the conventional design of having a rear wing in favour of incorporating aerodynamic elements into the chassis and floor and features the halo for driver head protection. It was also designed to last the entire race due to a new McLaren Applied Technologies designed battery, eliminating the need for mid-race car switches.^[5] Cars will have a series of pre-set power modes introduced to encourage strategic racing without allowing a team to gain a competitive advantage through powertrain development.^[6] In a further regulation change, the maximum power permitted to be used by each driver during the race increased from 180 kW (240 hp) to 200 kW (270 hp) and up to 250 kW (340 hp) in practice and qualifying.^[7]

Also, the championship introduced a system dubbed "attack mode" or "Mario Kart mode" in which drivers received an additional 25 kW (34 hp) of power by driving through a designated area of the circuit off the racing line.^[4][7] The duration of the boost mode and the number of boosts available was decided in advance of a round by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), to stop teams from anticipating its use and incorporating it into race strategy.^[8] Furthermore, LED lights embedded into the halo illuminated electric blue when a car enters attack mode and magenta when a driver deploys FanBoost to help television viewers and spectators follow the race easier.^[8] In a final change to the regulations, races were no longer be run to a set number of laps. Rather, they lasted 45 minutes with one full lap to be completed once the time limit expired.^[7]

A total of 11 teams of two drivers each for a total of 22 competitors were entered for the ePrix.^[9] Heading into the new season, three teams opted to keep the same line-up as they had in the previous season; as several teams changed drivers. One of the main changes involved the début appearance of HWA Racelab with 2015 GP2 Series champion and former McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne and two-time Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Gary Paffett. BMW entered Formula E as a manufacturer team with partner Andretti Autosport, employing its development driver Alexander Sims and two-time Macau Grand Prix winner António Félix da Costa.^[10] Nissan entered the series to replace its strategic partner Renault in their partnership with racing team DAMS, retaining Sébastien Buemi and employing FIA Formula 2 Championship driver Oliver Rowland to fill in for Nico Prost.^[a][10][11]

Felipe Massa, the 2008 Formula One World Championship runner-up, made his series début with Venturi, partnering two-time Macau Grand Prix winner Edoardo Mortara; Massa took over from 2016 Formula V8 3.5 Series champion Tom Dillmann who in turn moved to NIO to replace the outgoing Luca Filippi.^[10] After spending the 2017–18 season out of Formula E, Audi factory driver Robin Frijns joined Virgin to replace Alex Lynn.^[12] The final change involved Nick Heidfeld moving to a reserve role at Mahindra as the team signed Jérôme d'Ambrosio (his Dragon car was driven by Formula 2's Maximilian Günther) and 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Pascal Wehrlein to be their drivers. Wehrlein was prohibited by his Mercedes-Benz contract to race for another team until 31 December 2018, so Felix Rosenqvist drove in his final event before going to the IndyCar Series in 2019.^[10] Defending series champion Jean-Éric Vergne stayed at DS Techeetah after his title-winning campaign and he was again joined by three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner André Lotterer.^[10]

The first meeting to discuss a potential Saudi Arabian Formula E race was held on 14 December 2017 with presentations and proposals discussed with series officials such as CEO Alejandro Agag.^[13] On 17 May 2018, it was officially announced the series was set to race its all-electric single seater racing cars in the kingdom's capital of Riyadh's Al Diriyah district.^[14] A 10-year contract was signed 12 days beforehand by its General Sports Authority and the Saudi Arabian Motor Federation to be the series' season-opening round.^[13][14] Saudi Arabian authorities were also granted permission to bar another Middle Eastern ePrix as part of its agreement with Formula E.^[13] It was officially confirmed as part of the 2018–19 Championship by the FIA World Motor Sport Council in October 2018 and took place on 15 December.^[15] The race is part of the Saudi Vision 2030 plan that seeks to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy away from oil exports and into developing public service sectors.^[16] Prior to the ePrix, the first in the Middle East, Riyadh hosted the 2018 Race of Champions, which former Formula One driver David Coulthard won.^[17]

The layout of the 21-turn 2.847 km (1.769 mi) Riyadh Street Circuit was unveiled in a public ceremony at the Diriyah Governorate on 25 September 2018.^[18] The track's design, overseen by contractor Samer Issa-El-Khour,^[19] features a number of flowing corners and high-speed turns and few 90-degrees corners atypical of Formula E street circuits.^[18] The existing road network was upgraded to comply with FIA standards, with construction performed in close collaboration with UNESCO and the Diriyah Gate Development Authority to ensure the area's heritage was conserved for future generations.^[19] D'Ambrosio spoke of his belief the track's sweeping corners would be the main objective to setting a fast lap time and the race would be about electrical energy management, "This is definitely not a classic Formula E track that we have used before, especially all the way from turn 1 to turn 14 which will be a lot of part-throttle and high speed for Formula E."^[20]

Following the initial announcement of its inauguration, the race was subject to criticism by Formula E members and outside observers in light of Saudi Arabia's human rights record regarding its treatment of women, minorities and migrant workers, its oil wealth and dependency, and other major geopolitical problems.^[21][22] In response to these concerns, Agag revealed the Saudi Arabian authorities requested women to participate in the weekend's racing activities and were granted dispensation to report on and spectate the race, "We are happy to be part of that change and we see Formula E as a force for good and in this case is a very specific place under very specific circumstances, but we think Formula E can make a contribution also for good in that country by doing this.”^[23]

After the assassination of The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in the Turkish capital of Istanbul in October 2018, Agag told the Associated Press the Ad Diriyah ePrix would proceed as scheduled and stated Formula E would monitor the situation, "Referring to the incident, we obviously have no comment to make. At this moment there are no plans to change the Formula E calendar this season."^[24]

The first in-season test session of the season was held at the circuit the day after the race. Teams were permitted six hours of running divided into two sessions and were allowed to field one or two cars. As part of an FIA Women in Motorsport initiative, teams were encouraged to field female drivers due to Saudi Arabia lifting its restriction on barring women from driving in the kingdom in June 2018.^[25][26] Nine women tested:^[27] Sauber's test driver Tatiana Calderón, Italian F4 Championship participant Amna Al Qubaisi, Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy's Katherine Legge, 2015 British GT4 champion Jamie Chadwick, IndyCar Series' Pippa Mann, BMW junior driver Beitske Visser, Supercars Championship competitor Simona de Silvestro, former GP3 Series participant Carmen Jordá,^[25][27] and GT racer Carrie Schreiner.^[28][b]

A half an hour shakedown session was held on Friday afternoon to allow teams to check the efficiency and reliability of their cars at reduced speed.^[29] Sam Bird and Massa stopped during the session; Bird continued and Massa pulled over to the side of the circuit to end his session early.^[30] After shakedown, several drivers praised the circuit's challenge. Paffett explained its elevation changes were greater than had been expected from pre-race simulations, Dillmann compared it to the Suzuka Circuit.^[31] and Rosenqvist likened it to the Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR, "Just surviving the track is going to be an achievement itself."^[31] Félix da Costa opined the most likely areas for overtakes on the narrow circuit away from turn 18 were the final and first corners.^[31]

Concerns were raised about the attack mode activation zone positioned on the track's right-hand side leaving turn 17, which required drivers to take a tighter line than normal and reduce their speed on the racing line in order to enter the area and drive near the barrier.^[32] Vergne spoke of his feeling the zone was too close to the corner's exit,^[32] while Jaguar's Mitch Evans argued it should have been placed 50 m (160 ft) further along the track.^[30] Dillmann argued drivers could lose up to two seconds of time and they would activate the system under safety car conditions. Félix da Costa said he felt the differing speed within the racing line was dangerous.^[32] Despite the criticism, the FIA did not initially consider altering or moving the zone because of a perceived limit of alternative areas.^[30]

Two practice sessions—both on Saturday morning—were scheduled to be held before the late afternoon race. The first session was scheduled to run for 45 minutes and the second was due to last half an hour.^[29] Torrential rain fell in Riyadh overnight and returned when the first practice session was about to begin. The FIA delayed and later cancelled first practice 20 minutes after its commencement because the weather did not improve and track marshals had too much standing water to clear and pump away.^[33] Particular water drainage problems emerged at turns eight, ten, eleven and seventeen due to the temporary erection of barriers, which created a lack of drainage and caused rivers to collate across the circuit due to the natural undulations in those areas.^[34][35] To compensate for the loss of on-track driving,^[36] the FIA planned for the second practice session to last for an hour from 08:35 to 09:35 Arabia Standard Time (UTC+03:00) rather than the scheduled half an hour to provide drivers with an opportunity for track familiarisation before qualifying.^[37]

However, heavy rain continued to fall and the FIA delayed second practice before cancelling it 25 minutes after its planned start because the clearing of deep standing water with course vehicles capable of pumping water failed to improve track conditions.^[38] Bird accompanied FIA race director Scot Elkins in a course car for a reconnaissance lap and a track inspection.^[39] When the two returned to the pit lane, several drivers, including Vergne, Audi's Lucas di Grassi and Buemi congregated to discuss the situation and its impact on the race.^[38] Vergne proposed a hybrid-practice session where drivers would simultaneously set laps with the maximum amount of available power reduced from 250 kW (340 hp) to determine the starting order. Other drivers supported Vergne's proposal because of a lack of preparation in the changeable weather.^[38][39] It was also suggested the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy cars circulate the track to dry it because of the sport utility vehicle's increased ride height compared to Formula E machinery.^[39]

A 35-minute practice period was followed soon after by a two-group qualifying session. Most drivers remained in the garage bar Vergne who ventured outside to observe the weather.^[40] Drivers then spent five minutes (three laps) at reduced speed behind the safety car to gather knowledge on how the Spark SRT05e handled on a saturated circuit before green flag conditions.^[41][42][43] Frijns set a benchmark lap,^[41] before a 17-minute red flag was necessitated as a brake-by-wire problem sent Mortara into the turn one TecPro energy absorbing barrier.^[35][44] The session resumed with ten minutes to go and lap times lowered.^[44] Vergne, Bird, Rowland and Evans all led until Vandoorne set the overall fastest lap of 1 minute, 18.868 seconds, followed by Bird, Buemi, Rowland, Evans, Vergne, Sims, Félix da Costa, Günther and Audi's Daniel Abt.^[41] With more than a minute left, Rosenqvist made an error and hit the turn one wall at low speed with damage to his car's nose cone. Massa drove straight to avoid hitting him. One of Rosenqvist's wheel arches detached on the main straight linking turns 17 and 18 on the way back to the pit lane.^[41][44]

Saturday morning's half an hour qualifying session was divided into two groups of eleven cars rather than the customary four of either five or six. Each group was permitted 15 minutes of on-track activity and all drivers were limited to a single timed lap at 250 kW (340 hp). The starting order was determined by the combined fastest overall lap times from both groups.^[39][41] The driver and team who recorded the pole position lap time were awarded three points towards their respective championships.^[29] Félix da Costa took the first pole position of his career with a 1-minute, 17.728 seconds lap.^[c][46] Dillmann was the first driver to circulate the track;^[47] he spent the first ten minutes recording multiple lap times at 200 kW (270 hp) of power and set the second-fastest time. He was investigated for completing more qualifying laps than permitted due to the amended schedule confusing his team.^[45][48] Dragon's José María López was the second driver to record a lap time with five minutes left of group one; he could not better Dillmann's effort and was in provisional third.^[49][50] Buemi took fourth and the highest-placed rookie Vandoorne in fifth was the sole driver in group two to qualify in the top ten.^[46] Bird was sixth.^[51] Vergne, seventh, complained of car problems.^[46] Frijns, d'Ambrosio and Lotterer completed the top ten provisional qualifiers with Lotterer 11⁄2 seconds slower than Félix da Costa.^[51]

Di Grassi was the fastest driver not to set a top ten lap;^[48] he described his car as "undriveable".^[46] Evans was the faster of the two Jaguars in 12th.^[48] 13th-placed Rowland was an early second group pace setter but he made minor contact with the turn one barrier during his maximum power lap,^[49][52] and Oliver Turvey of NIO was 14th-quickest.^[49] An error on his best lap put Paffett 15th.^[46][49] Following him on the provisional starting grid were Mortara, Sims, Abt, Massa and Nelson Piquet Jr. of Jaguar.^[51] 21st-placed Günther scraped a barrier lining the track with the left-front of his car and qualifying was stopped with four minutes left in the second group after he parked at turn seven and had to be extricated by a recovery vehicle.^[47][49][50] Rosenqvist was slowest overall because he lost control of his car and struck the outside barrier at the edge of turn 21 at high speed.^[49][51] With Rosenqvist stranded, a track marshal created confusion by waving a red flag; race control did not officially deploy it.^[45][49]

Following deliberation in the pre-race driver meeting, the attack mode activation zone was moved 23 m (75 ft) closer to the start line and painted white lines indicating the zone's beginning and exit points were enlarged for improved visibility.^[53] Seven drivers received grid penalties: Dillmann had all of his qualifying laps invalidated for exceeding the maximum amount of permitted laps and his car lacked a data logger sensor.^[52] His teammate Turvey also had all of his timed laps cancelled for having no data logger sensor.^[53] The two Virgin teammates of Frijns and Bird, di Grassi and Rowland had all of their fastest qualifying times deleted for exceeding 250 kW (340 hp) due to a power overshoot from hitting a trackside bump.^[52][53] Mortara was issued a three-place grid penalty because Venturi had transgressed Formula E's 2018–19 Championship battery software implementation guide.^[52] Hence, the grid lined up after penalties as Félix da Costa, López, Buemi, Vandoorne, Vergne, d'Ambrosio, Lotterer, Evans, Paffett, Sims, Abt, Massa, Mortara, Rowland, Piquet, Günther, Rosenqvist, di Grassi, Bird, Frijns, Turvey and Dillmann.^[1]

Final qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
1	28	António Félix da Costa	Andretti-BMW	1:17.728	—	1
2	7	José María López	Dragon-Penske	1:18.113	+0.385	2
3	23	Sébastien Buemi	e.dams-Nissan	1:18.269	+0.541	3
4	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	HWA-Venturi	1:18.490	+0.762	4
5	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-DS	1:18.571	+0.843	5
6	64	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Mahindra	1:19.077	+1.349	6
7	36	André Lotterer	Techeetah-DS	1:19.317	+1.589	7
8	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	1:19.712	+1.984	8
9	17	Gary Paffett	HWA-Venturi	1:19.929	+2.201	9
10	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	1:20.330	+2.602	134
11	27	Alexander Sims	Andretti-BMW	1:20.367	+2.639	10
12	66	Daniel Abt	Audi	1:20.385	+2.657	11
13	19	Felipe Massa	Venturi	1:20.407	+2.679	12
14	22	Oliver Rowland	e.dams-Nissan	1:20.8493	+3.121	14
15	3	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Jaguar	1:21.489	+3.761	15
16	6	Maximilian Günther	Dragon-Penske	1:21.883	+4.155	16
17	94	Felix Rosenqvist	Mahindra	1:23.037	+5.309	17
18	11	Lucas di Grassi	Audi	1:25.1043	+7.376	18
19	2	Sam Bird	Virgin-Audi	1:29.6253	+11.897	19
20	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin-Audi	1:31.5663	+13.838	20
21	16	Oliver Turvey	NIO	ㄧ2	一	21
22	8	Tom Dillmann	NIO	一1,2	一	22
Source:[1]

Notes

• ^1  — Tom Dillmann had all of his lap times deleted because he exceeded the maximum amount of permitted qualifying laps ^[52][53]
• ^2  — Oliver Turvey and Tom Dillmann's lap times were invalidated for a missing data logger sensor.^[53]
• ^3  — Robin Frijns, Sam Bird, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Rowland's best lap times were deleted for exceeding 250 kW (340 hp) of power.^[52][53]
• ^4  — Edoardo Mortara incurred a three-place grid penalty after his team Venturi transgressed Formula E's 2018–19 Championship battery software implementation guide.^[52]