Nick Cassidy's first win in Formula E was marred by a crash of gigantic proportions that ended the race due to rain and lack of runoff on the circuit. Once again, race management delays in taking decisions and puts drivers at risk
The FIA was strongly criticized by the Formula 1 public during the Monaco GP last May for delaying the start for safety reasons.At the time, it was raining heavily in Monte Carlo and the race directors thought that the accumulation of water on the track would be an invitation to accidents. Regardless of whether it was right or wrong, the entity had another opportunity to do the right thing at the eP in New York, this Saturday (16), for Formula E. And it didn't.
The rain started to fall with just over ten minutes to go before the end of race 1 of this weekend in Brooklyn. The circuit was quickly filled with water - in a downpour that lasted no more than a few minutes - and several drivers began to complain about the conditions on the track.
A few laps later, it was said and done: almost half of the grid crashed due to aquaplaning. The leaders went straight into the tire barrier after not even being able to slow down, in a group that included Nick Cassidy, Lucas Di Grassi, Stoffel Vandoorne, Sébastien Buemi, Edoardo Mortara, among others.
Besides them, others such as Sam Bird, for example, hit the wall due to the poor control conditions of the car and caused further collisions. Pascal Wehrlein practically stopped in the middle of the track, which also created a mess and caused at least two cars to hit his rear end consecutively.
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Finally, chaos took over the race, which was of course closed due to the lack of conditions to fix the circuit and provide a safe environment for the drivers. After the result was confirmed, Di Grassi said it was "the worst crash of his career in Formula E" and revealed he felt pain all over his body, in an impact that the Brazilian estimated at around 50G.
The scary accident revived a real nightmare that the Formula E race management - led by Scot Elkins - has been facing this season: the extreme difficulty to make quick decisions. As in the championship debut, when it was possible to see the cars running on the track under a yellow flag with the presence of a crane on the track, again the management failed to anticipate a mess and put their competitors at risk.
Besides the obvious lack of visibility, drivers were already complaining of aquaplaning before the widespread accident, which by the force and manner in which it occurred, could indeed have ended in tragedy - as pointed out by Di Grassi, who did not even celebrate his second place on the podium and warned that his Venturi car is "in pieces" before Sunday's race.
The race should have been stopped at least two laps before Cassidy hit the barrier, at which point it was possible to see several puddles on the circuit's track and several cars having great difficulty maintaining steering. In addition, the runoff on the track proved to be null and void - blame that needs to be divided between the organizers of the event and once again, the FIA, which has the obligation to inspect the venues in advance and detect possible flaws in the structure that could threaten the safety of anyone present in the paddock.
After the accident, more delay: Race director Scot Elkins' first indication was that the race would resume when the track repair was completed, which caused several drivers - those who survived the massacre - to stay inside their cars waiting for the green light to restart.
A few minutes later, however, the rain began to fall lightly on the circuit again, and aware that the runoff is not enough to prevent puddles from forming on the track, the FIA director turned back and opted to end the race, making the result of the last lap official before the red flag came out.
It was not only the mistakes at Diriyah and New York that made clear the difficulty of race management in making decisions quickly in Formula E: Mortara was investigated for a possible breach of the pit-lane speed limit even before the start of race 1 in Berlin, but the verdict came - quite some time - after the race was over.
As the Swiss Venturi driver won the race, the podium ceremony was a real uneasy moment - as the driver did not know if he could celebrate, already aware that he was being investigated for something that happened even before the race. He was not punished in the end, and the celebration was held up by the FIA's delay in defining the result.
This Saturday was another opportunity for the Formula E race management to prove that it has learned from the mistakes of 2022, especially the difficulty of making decisions quickly, and once again the team led by Elkins failed miserably in its function. The safety of the drivers was once again threatened, decisions in the category are made only after a long time of analysis, and it remains to be seen whether this time will not end up causing a problem of unprecedented proportions at some point in the future.