In the weeks leading up to the Cape Town E-Prix, Jaguar TCS Racing’s James Barclay pointed out that he’s team has noticed the slipstream affect coming into play with the new Gen3 car. 
PHOTO CREDIT: ABB FIA Formula E World Championship
Barclay explained: “Our driver qualified on pole position in Hyderabad (India). We were leading the race, then we had to drop Mitch [Evans] back into the pack quite soon because we were using more energy than those around us – basically breaking the air and towing the cars around us. The cars behind us had the “slipstream äffect”. They'll be utilizing less energy for the same lap time."
Having heard from James, it became apparent that the slipstream affect actually does influence the race, and the strategy. So, what is the slipstream affect, and how is it created? Basically, when a car is leading a pack. The car infront usually punches a whole in the air, whilst the car behind has a tow affect, which means they burn less energy than those around.
With that in mind - can the slipstream affect actually influence the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship title fight? Well, two-time World Champion Jean-Eric Vergne doesn’t believe that the slipstream affect “would impact anything.”
“It [only] changes slightly the way we race. Because there is not a lot of energy saving, and also whenever you start in the middle of the pack, you can basically do the race flat out from the start because you get the slipstream affect, which in the end means you are consuming less energy. I think in India we did a lof of lifting and regenerating,” the Frenchman said.
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