Just a matter of days after finishing the Monaco ePrix in sixth place, Felix Rosenqvist will be back in Formula E action this weekend as the all-electric championship reaches its halfway point at the Circuit des Invalides in downtown Paris.
The French capital is set to stage the sixth race out of 12 on the 2016-17 calendar, and marks the final single-race event of the campaign before a trio of double-headers in Berlin, New York and Montreal.
Rosenqvist sits seventh in the standings heading into Paris, and while last Saturday’s Monaco round means a hectic turnaround, it’s nothing new to the Mahindra Racing Swede – who has been racing practically flat out in all corners of the world over the last 18 months.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last two seasons, it’s how to move on from one race to the next,” says Felix Rosenqvist. “To that end, I don’t think Paris will be an extra challenge at all; it’s really the kind of schedule I’m used to, so if anything it should be to my advantage. I love to drive racing cars and the competition is the best part of it.”
With the Paris ePrix having made its Formula E debut last season, however, Rosenqvist concedes that the tight agenda might still leave him at a potential handicap this weekend, as it limits preparation time at a track where most of his rivals have already raced.
“The back-to-back weekends inevitably mean that Paris will be a little bit compromised,” Rosenqvist concludes. “Normally we have a couple of weeks to analyse the data from the previous race and take those learnings into the next ePrix, but with only a couple of days between races you can only do so much.
“I think that might hurt us rookies a little bit, because it sort of exacerbates the effect of not having been to the track before. It’s going to be hard on everyone, but I’m still confident of another strong finish.”
Last year’s Paris ePrix was one of the coldest Formula E races run to date, and weather forecasts for the 2017 edition – which takes place on Saturday – predict a significant likelihood of rain. Three seasons into its existence, Formula E is still to stage a wet race.
TIME TABLE
FIA Formula E Championship
Rd. 6 – Paris ePrix
All times local (GMT+02:00)
Saturday 20 May
Free Practice 1: 08.00-08.45
Qualifying group lottery: 10.00
Free Practice 2: 10.30-11.00
Qualifying: 12.00-13.00
Race: 16.00
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (top five)
FIA Formula E Championship
After 5/12 races
1: Sébastien Buemi (SUI), 104 p.
2: Lucas di Grassi (BRA), 89 p.
3: Nicolas Prost (FRA), 47 p.
4: Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA), 40 p.
5: Sam Bird (GBR), 34 p.
—
7: Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), 28 p.