The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team is heading to New York City for the sixth race weekend of the 2020/21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. While the team will be contesting an E-Prix on the streets of New York for the first time, this will be the fourth appearance in Brooklyn, New York City, for the all-electric racing series.
Three double headers have taken place in New York City since its debut in Season 3 (2016/17) and there have been five different winners in the six Formula E races held there so far. The New York City E-Prix was cancelled in 2020 because of the worldwide pandemic, but Formula E will be returning to the United States of America later this week.
Formula E – Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team, Stoffel Vandoorne
While the 1.44 mile street circuit may be new to Nyck de Vries, Stoffel Vandoorne is already familiar with it from the finale to Season 5. The track runs through the district of Red Hook, has 14 turns and is relatively unchanged since the last E-Prix in 2019. What is new, though, is where the activation zone for Attack Mode is now positioned. It has been relocated this year from the exit at Turn 5 to the outside of Turn 10. This may sound like a minor detail, but optimising Attack Mode has proven to be crucial at previous races this season.
Exciting events to the biggest and most relevant cities around the globe
Once again, the New York City E-Prix will be a double header with one race taking place on Saturday and then another on Sunday. Saturday’s (July 10) first race will get underway at 4:34pm EST while Round 2 will kick off at 1:34pm EST on Sunday (July 11).
Comments ahead of the New York City E-Prix 2021
Ian James, Team Principal:
“I’m excited to see the New York E-Prix back on the calendar for the first time since 2019. New York is one of the locations that reminds you what Formula E is all about: bringing exciting events to the biggest and most relevant cities around the globe. The global situation last year meant we couldn’t visit the cities we’d ideally wanted to and seeing us return to New York this weekend does give a sense of what is to come – albeit a visit under still slightly restricted circumstances. This will be the first race for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team in New York. That is challenging, but also very exciting. We have now passed the halfway point in the season. With the knowledge of how close the field is, and how little difference there is in points in both the team’ and drivers’ championship standings, the coming weeks and months are going to be crucial. Apart from being as clean as we can be in our delivery, we also need to realise how unique the challenge is we are facing, and how special an opportunity we have to fight for a championship with this amazing team.
After the Puebla E-Prix, I said the result mostly hurt knowing we had the potential to do better. Those words weren’t empty; they were echoed by the whole team. We know our potential and have delivered on that potential on several occasions already this season. That knowledge hurts, but most of all, it keeps us motivated to keep doing what we do, and keep fighting for all the championship points we can possibly score in the last three events of the season.”
Formula E – Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team, Nyck de Vries
Nyck de Vries:
”In all honesty, in a championship like Formula E it’s very difficult to have any expectations heading into a race weekend, as the field is so evenly matched and is always good for a surprise or two. Of course, I’m really looking forward to going racing again. We were competitive during the last race weekend in Mexico and had a strong package, so I hope that this New York weekend will favour us more, that we’ll be able to deliver two strong races and come away with a good haul of points. I feel very positive about the race weekend and am really looking forward to it.”
Stoffel Vandoorne:
“I’m really pleased to be heading back to New York. It’s been a while since we last raced there. Last time was in Season 5, but I can still remember having a good qualifying and race. New York is a typical Formula E circuit, very winding, extremely narrow and the walls are very close, so quite different to last time out at Puebla, but still, I think it may be one that suits us more. I’ll be in Group 2 for qualifying on Saturday, which I hope will give me a little bit of an advantage. In any case, I’m excited to be back out on track. We’ve shown that we’ve got a competitive car and package. We’ll be contenders if we can put all the pieces together. As you would expect, the target is to try and score as many points as possible in New York this weekend.”
