FIA, Formula E teams address roadmap discord

Motorsport.com has learned that the eight designated manufacturers all meet with delegates from the FIA, and representatives from Spark, McLaren Electronics and Williams Advanced Engineering.

The meeting of the group, which was formed last December, and meets every three months, will discuss recommendations for the continued vision of the championship's five-year roadmap plan.

The FIA has continued to exert pressure on different aspects of the nascent championship since the end of the successful first season last June.

The Technical Working Group works on a far-sighted agenda that discusses and actions policies on where the championship is going technically and how it will get there.

"Previous meetings have seen some serious differences of opinion on what the FIA would like to see from the championship and what the teams want to pursue," one attendee of the meeting told Motorsport.com today.

"The economic realities of running in a global FIA Championship have come to the forefront of the previous discussions that have been held. Generally they have been sensible talks, despite them (the FIA) wanting see an acceleration of the technology.

"The realisation that OEMs are not coming on-board as quickly as everyone anticipated means the original ambitions have to be tempered slightly."

Last month Motorsport.com uncovered the complex negotiations and disagreements that took place regarding the alteration in spec to the Williams Advanced Engineering made battery spec.

The matter was resolved via detailed discussions between the FIA, FEH and WAE in July whereby the 170kW race power directive was granted, but under specific conditions written in to the recently completed sporting regulations which are yet to be made public.

Potentially, strict guidelines within the agreement are believed to cover potential cost implications if the agreed conditions of (power) use are breached.

Despite this flashpoint Motorsport.com understands that a softening of the FIA's standpoint on several issues have been felt recently, including a mooted acceleration of technical development to ensure a one car per driver set-up ahead of the season five target.