Formula E cancels opening practice due to communication issues

The first practice session for the Formula E season opener in Sao Paulo has been called off due to technical difficulties with radio communications.

The session was due to begin at 4:30pm local time but was delayed first by 30 minutes, then by 15 minutes three times before being canceled entirely.

With three rookies and five drivers at new teams in the 20-car field, FP1 at the opening round is vital to prepare not just for the weekend ahead, but for the whole season. Speaking on the Formula E world feed broadcast, Sam Bird – the fifth-most-experienced Formula E driver in terms of race starts and current Nissan reserve driver – pointed out the downside of the missed session, with just one 40-minute session on Saturday morning currently planned before the event moves into its competitive phase.

“It is very very tricky for them, all these rookies or people changing teams because now they’ve got two attempts going into Turn 1 at 350(kW) to adjust and pick their brake point, five attempts at 300 (kW), that’s all, just five push laps before they go and qualify,” he said.

Antonio Felix da Costa, who moved to Jaguar TCS Racing from Porsche ahead of this season, suggested that the schedule could be altered to accommodate a pair of 30-minute practice sessions instead of a sole 40-minute one, which is currently scheduled for 7:30am local time on Saturday.

“Not ideal at all, especially when you have a new car and a new team, every lap counts,” he told Formula E’s TV pit lane reporter Alexa Rendell.

“Hopefully we can still work a little bit around the schedule tomorrow morning and fit two practice sessions in there, even if they’re a little bit shorter. For me that would be good so yeah, pushing for that.”

However, at 18:37 local time, the FIA issued a bulletin confirming that Saturday’s Free Practice 2 would be extended from its usual 40 minutes to 60 minutes as a result of the FP1 cancellation.

“The Stewards inform all Competitors that due to force majeure, Free Practice 1 has been canceled and Free Practice 2 will be extended by 20 minutes,” read the bulletin.

The update means that while a whole practice session remains scrubbed from the weekend schedule, drivers are only set to lose out on 20 minutes of track time.

FP2 will begin at 7:10AM local time on Saturday.