Formula E drivers walk Monaco's streets ahead of race weekend
By Laurent Duval, MonacoViews Editorial
Mahindra Racing's Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries joined engineers on a trackwalk through Monaco on Friday 15 May, the day before the first race of the Formula E weekend.
On Friday 15 May, with the circuit not yet closed to traffic, Formula E drivers and their engineering teams took to the streets of Monaco on foot for the traditional pre-race trackwalk. The exercise gives drivers a ground-level read of the surface before they strap in: kerb profiles, camber changes, braking points and the exact line through each corner are all assessed at walking pace in a way no simulator can replicate.
Among those pacing the route were Mahindra Racing's Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries. Mortara, a Monaco resident, knows these streets intimately, but the trackwalk remains a ritual even for him: circuit conditions shift from season to season, and the all-electric machinery demands its own specific set-up logic through the tight sequence of corners from Sainte-Dévote up to the Casino and back down through Portier.
The Formula E Monaco round is one of the most demanding events on the calendar for both man and machine. The narrow street circuit offers almost no room for error, and with regenerative braking strategies playing a larger role than in conventional motorsport, the engineers walking alongside the drivers are gathering information that will directly shape energy deployment plans for race day.