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1-_W6I1486 — 2017/2018 FIA Formula E Championship. Round 3 - Marrakesh ePrix. Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan, Marrakesh, Morocco. Saturday 13 January 2018.Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), Mahindra Racing, Mahindra M4Electro, celebrates after winning the race as he returns to parc ferme with Sebastien Buemi (SUI), Renault e.Dams, Renault Z.E 17. Photo: Sam Bloxham/LAT/Formula E ref: Digital Image _W6I1486

Formula E Santiago preview: The series lands in Chile for the first time

01/02/2018

This weekend, ABB FIA Formula E arrives to Chile for the first time ever, on what will the first new round of the season, the Santiago ePrix. After a flawless race in Marrakech, Felix Rosenqvist is the driver everybody speaks about, and seems to be the strongest candidate to win the title. But nothing can be taken for granted on this series, and there are many drivers behind the Swedish man looking to take the lead away from him.

Formula E has caught the attention of the media recently due to the presentation of the new car, which will be used to race from season five. However, this Saturday, the 3rd of February, there is an ePrix to be held, and the action comes back to the tracks. We are living a thrilling season beginning a new race on the schedule, like the upcoming Santiago ePrix, is always a bit more interesting.

The track

The Santiago Street Circuit, which was especifically designed for this event, is a 2.46 km track consisting of 12 corners.

“Stretching 1.53miles through the city centre, drivers will line up on the grid along Avenue Santa Maria before crossing the river Mapocho. Once across, they’ll navigate their way around Plazza Baquedano before cutting through Forestal Park to return to the start/finish line.” – Track description at FIA Formula E official website.

Except there is any last minute unscheduled change, every team will line-up the same pair of drivers they did in Marrakech, which means that there will be no new faces on the grid this Saturday.

With three races already contested, some conclussions can already be extracted and some drivers have clearly stood out. Drivers such as Felix Rosenqvist, who has won the last two races and is currently leading the championship, Sam Bird or Jean-Éric Vergne will be some of the favorite drivers to win, but not the only ones. After a disastrous weekend in Hong Kong, everything seemed to come back to normality in Marrakech for Sébastien Buemi, who fought for the win in the last race but will have to push like he has ever done to recover the points he lost in Hong Kong. Rosenqvist‘s team mate, Nick Heidfeld; or the Jaguar cars, whose improvement since last season is clearly visible; should not be ignored.

This same thing can not be said about the other e.Dams driver, Nico Prost, who had a worse race in Marrakech than in Hong Kong and finished outside the points. Something similar happened to the Venturis, which looked promising in Hong Kong but struggled with reliability in Marrakech and were also unable to score points.

But the biggest negative surprise of this season so far is the Audi Sport ABT season. After a Hong Kong ePrix with more downs than ups, the suffered a lot in Morocco. Daniel Abt completed a poor race with a tenth place and Lucas Di Grassi retired again due to mechanical issues. The current champion is still yet to score a point and seems already that he will not be able to regain his title.