LEGGE: Racing Formula E

I've raced a lot of open-wheel cars, including Atlantics, Champ Cars, Indy cars, and it's not until you take the bodywork off the Spark Formula E car that you notice a difference in the hardware. When you drive for the first time, you immediately notice the silence without an engine screaming just over your shoulders. It's a strange sensation, as hearing is one of the senses you rely on as a driver – the engine note for revs and gear changes in particular. You do get used it after a couple of laps, though.

The battery is heavy so the weight distribution is more rearward than you would normally run. This makes setup tricky and for tricky driving... It tends to have snap oversteer in the medium and faster corners, which then turns to exit understeer. You are always busy and to drive this car on the edge is not so easy, even though you have less power.

You also tend to adapt your driving style in the different engine maps we use. The qualifying map driving is different to save-as-much-power-as-possible driving in the race! There are different objectives between qualifying, where you have full power, and the race, where you have less and want to stretch the power you have a bit longer.

The braking is also tricky. You have a standard brake bias system on carbon brakes, but you have to compensate for the amount of braking regeneration you use to charge the battery as that alters how the rear of the car brakes. We still have five gears, and paddle shift... but no clutch, which is nice for the starts!

We try to trim the aerodynamics out as much as possible to get less drag, and to keep the momentum up as straight line speed is at a premium. That makes it difficult to handle in higher engine power maps but fine in the race modes we run... It's a constant compromise.

The motor has really great torque in the qualifying map and it is a very drivable delivery of power. Really the only place we are slower in a Formula E car is in a straight line, which means it's still a matter of skill in the corners. Also all of the testing has been done at the Donington road course, which is a great facility, but it has lots of long straights and we won't have this at the races as it is all street courses on our schedule. I think the level of torque the Formula E cars have will put on a really great show in downtown streets!

I am very impressed with the cars and how well put together the series and the cars are. I think it does everything really well at this stage. It's a very new technology and it's beyond what I expected at this point. It's a really great baseline to start from, and obviously everything will improve with time and development.

I would like ducted brakes to keep brake temp up and therefore consistency in the brakes, but apart from that I think as the teams develop the batteries they will get faster and more refined, but there are no big items I would change.

I am one of those people who likes big growly engines, and thought that you needed the noise to get the atmosphere. I've since changed my mind. They are quite noisy from the gearbox whirl but it is less obnoxious and you can actually have a conversation on the pit wall with the cars on track, which will be good for spectators and sponsors and all around more family friendly, I think.

You do have to be careful in pit lane not to get run over as you don't hear the cars coming! You hear a lot more wind noise and tire squeal while driving, but I'm not sure it tunes your other senses in better; I think you just adapt subconsciously.

Tuning the car from my perspective is something we continue to expand upon. I think some teams are playing with power delivery mapping, but we are not there yet. We are still running through the basics. Our main focus right now is car set-up alongside energy management. Understanding how the regeneration works on brakes, coast and pre-programmed modes to harvest energy. There is more time to be gained in running in a higher power engine map for longer and being able to regenerate as much as possible without over-heating. As a driver you are constantly turning switches and grabbing paddles and analyzing numbers to achieve top performance from the systems that comprise the Formula E car.

It's a different discipline for sure.

Electric motors are known for their torque output, and the power delivery they have mapped is really surprisingly good and drivable. I expected 100 percent torque straight away and that it would be difficult to modulate the throttle, but this isn't the case. I think on street course hairpins and slow corners, you will have to be careful with power delivery, but it's just as you would in an Indy car or other open-wheel cars. We also have the FanBoost option where Formula E fans can vote online for their favorite drivers. The three drivers with the most votes for each round will get an extra 40hp to use once in the race like a push-to-pass button works elsewhere.

It's the first time I've driven a treaded tire in anger and it's pretty much what I expected. It has a little less feel and feedback and it can move around on the tread a bit. New Michelin tires are worth a lot of lap time but degradation is pretty standard and manageable. They are not the fastest tires in the world but they are very well-constructed and we can make it through the whole race day with two sets. This fits well with Formula E's green and energy efficient ethos.

We don't run out of fuel as a normal engine would, and instead have energy loss to deal with when the battery gets to the end of its charge. There are different stages of de-tuning – or de-rating, as we refer to – it as the first stage is pretty gentle and it's just like you lost some power... but stage two is harsh – like, 'Oh no, now I'm really screwed and have to limp back at walking pace!'

You could get in the way of the other cars in that mode, for sure. It does mean that you can make it back to the pits, though, instead of being stranded on track – which is good, and safer for everyone. It is sort of a punishment for over usage!

The battery will run for about 25 minutes and our races will last about 45 minutes, so we have the added challenge of changing cars mid-race. This is one area where my sports car experience will help and has prepared me a bit for this unique aspect of Formula E races. It just adds another element of competition to it. It's not easy, but it's not difficult either; however, it is another area where you can make mistakes that will cost you dearly. I think it's more technique than athleticism, and it will be good for the fans to follow.

We're getting close to our first race, held this Saturday on the streets of Beijing, and I expect the competition to be very tough. The teams and drivers Formula E has attracted are world class, from F1 to IndyCar to NASCAR. The field is as strong as any other top-tier racing series in the world, and it's going to be a really competitive series. I think that having such big names is also good for interest in how Formula E does as a series.

Drivers are not renowned for their patience, and some are smarter than others. It will be interesting to see how everyone uses their energy, but I think that will be more down to the team working out strategy and the drivers ability to follow instruction. This isn't your usual racing series, and I think that's quite good. We need something fresh, something new, and we're ready to embark on this exciting journey.

For more info on Formula E:

Formula E "Fanboost" feature