Robin Frijns has predicted that the Gen2 Formula E cars will be pushed to their limit around the new layout for the Mexico City ePrix.
After complaints about the tight chicane that sat in the middle of the Peraltada in previous races there, organisers have chosen to take it out for this year.
It means that the famous sweeping right hander will now be driven in full by the Formula E field this weekend.
And given the length of the turn and the straight following it, Frijns says that Envision Virgin Racing team data shows that the cars could reach speeds approaching 150mph.
The Dutchman said, “I think it’s extremely important and a wise decision to remove the chicane from this circuit layout as we’ve seen some bad incidents here in the past.
“It should also make the racing much more exciting and I believe there could be more overtaking opportunities this time round.
“From our time spent on our simulator, the data has shown that we could be approaching our fastest speeds around the Peraltada bend which means we’re going to be really on the limit.”
The Peraltada corner isn’t drive in full in Formula 1 due to the much higher top speeds of the cars causing a safety risk due to the lack of run off.
But even with the slower speeds Frijns’ team-mate Sam Bird believes that the new layout will cause problems with tyre temperatures.
Bird said, “We’ve spent a lot of time in the simulator, as the track has seen some significant changes that could allow overtaking to be easier but we may also have to deal with tyre degradation as the track temperatures rise in the afternoon, so there’s a lot to manage come race day.”
