TEAM SITES Store Follow Sign up Tickets EN LATEST RACES WATCH RESULTS TEAMS & DRIVERS GAMING FAN ZONE MORE 25 Nov 21 What happens at pre-season testing, and why is it so important for teams and drivers? FEATURE RACING VALENCIA TEST Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Whatsapp Formula E's 11 teams and 22 drivers have three days at their disposal in Valencia to rack up the mileage and acquaint themselves with their 2021/22 cars. How do they go about it, and what are they looking to achieve? Formula E's official pre-season test at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo offers up the opportunity for teams to run their cars at will over the course of three days and five sessions, between 28 November-2 December - with 5-6,000 laps likely to be racked up between them over their time in Spain. Formula E Unplugged: Watch the unfiltered, inside story of Season 7 now Each of the championship's 11 outfits has been flat-out since Season 7 drew to a close in Berlin and Valencia is the perfect opportunity to trial that hard work and development, whilst bedding in new, and returning drivers, with track-time - key given it's the only official pre-season test on offer in Formula E, and the only time all 22 cars will be on-track at the same time outside of a race weekend. Real-world reference With changes made to everything from software to setup, and countless hours spent on dynos, rigs and test benches and pounding the virtual miles on simulators, it's vital that teams have a real-world benchmark. Getting on-track enables engineers to tally whether what they've seen in theory transpires in practice at a race circuit. Teams devise intricate testing programmes in a bid to prove their thinking and direction as well as their new powertrains and cars. Raw pace and lap times are rarely the priority, explains Mark Preston. "You can do all the simulations and the calculations in the world but nothing beats actually going to a real race track to validate everything." Mark Preston, DS TECHEETAH "When you test things on rigs or dynos or in simulators, you don’t always find the differences that can happen on the track," says the team principal behind DS TECHEETAH's Teams' title double and Drivers' hat-trick. "The running can validate your concepts and ideas you’ve developed and it comes together at the track. "There’s three days and a reasonable amount of time. These cars are really reliable and the powertrains last the year, so it’s not like the old days of Formula 1 with a load of breakdowns. "The engineers have the scope to run one thing on one car, and one on another. So, if something works really well, it might validate something that opens up other avenues." So, there's the room to try things that might be too costly to trial over a race weekend, given the tight timescales. Preston says its all part of equipping an engineer's armoury, and having "the tools in the toolbox" to cover off any eventuality that Formula E can throw up at any given event - even if Valencia is a different prospect to the street circuits that comprise the majority of the series' calendar. "Both drivers have a list of things they have to work through but there’s scope to try some new hypotheses," continues the Australian. "We can test it here, and justify that by saying ‘we think it will work on a street circuit because…’ whilst knowing our tests here won’t translate directly to a street circuit. "The track in Valencia is more of a traditional race circuit, so it’s maybe not completely representative but you can judge yourself against other teams. It’s nothing definitive, and it won’t tell you for sure if you’re fastest, but it could show you if a change you have made has made you faster, relative to others and your own benchmark. "Having the ‘tools in your toolbox’ - the setups in hand for all situations if it’s raining, for example - is the aim. One of the keys to engineering is exploring these hypotheses and knowing what we’ve got to prove to get them to work on a race weekend at one of the tracks on Formula E's calendar." Driver's Eye "The goal is obviously to learn as much as possible," said Maximilian Guenther last time out in Valencia. "Everybody has their own programme of software and setup development that they want to try. "It’s very structured for all teams, with run plans to follow for each of the three days. If you don’t have issues, you follow it strictly. On a day like Saturday (with the rain, and subsequently drying track surface), you react a bit and change things with the track surface changing throughout the day. I know what our plans are for each day before we start. READ MORE: Guenther makes Nissan e.dams switch for Season 8 "We’re trying things in all directions. There are smaller things to tune and optimise but there are bigger things that I would never try on a race weekend that we can try here." Guenther, like Preston, feels that times are not the object of testing. His focus is on driving development forward - equipping himself and the team with a car best placed to deliver results come lights out at the season-opener in Diriyah. "There are some people that look to the timesheets and want to be on top of the times but for us, it’s important to learn – it’s not just this weekend," continues the German. "You look at the times at the end of the day but it’s not the most important thing. "The track’s different to the usual circuits we race on but it’s still a useful opportunity with three days of testing to keep tuning the car from the team’s side and from the driver’s side to explore different things with qualifying and race simulations, too. "The focus is on extracting the most possible. We focus on ourselves and this philosophy, collecting as many points as possible per weekend and to keep learning and keep improving. I’ve been this way through F4 and F3 and that’s what I’m here to do. "The most important thing is that the car is as quick as possible. You focus on beating everybody from there, as well as your teammate but until then you work as a team together to share ideas, share everything to make the car as competitive as possible." LATEST NEWS Fresh livery and backroom reshuffle as DS TECHEETAH targets titles RACING Susie Wolff becomes ROKiT Venturi Racing CEO in management restructure NEWS Dan Ticktum joins Oliver Turvey at NIO 333 for Season 8 NEWS American Oliver Askew completes Avalanche Andretti Season 8 driver line-up SEE MORE Title Partner Global Partner Technical Partner TEAMS & DRIVERS RACE CALENDAR FAN ZONE WATCH SUSTAINABILITY GAMING POSITIVELY CHARGED STORE TICKETS RESULTS Race Results Driver Standings Team Standings MORE Contacts Careers Modern Slavery Statement UK Tax Strategy Terms & Conditions Ticketing FAQs Media Accreditation Media Area FOLLOW US Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube NEWSLETTER Subscribe yourself to the Formula E newsletter to get all the latest updates, exclusive interviews, videos and more Access to exclusive features 10% off your next merchandise order Behind the scenes with the drivers SUBSCRIBE © FIA 2013-2021 All content subject to FIA approval By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyse site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies