Motoring
Why everybody's making tracks to Formula E
With major manufacturers lining up to join and a star cast of drivers, just why is Formula E so hot right now?
With a fourth season fast approaching, Formula E is the hottest property in motor racing. Most fledgling racing series don't usually get this far, but with a strong plan and endless ambition, Formula E is in it for the long haul. So what makes the series stand out from the crowd? Here’s a few ideas…
Street racing in the heart of the city
2017 FIA Formula E Championship: Paris E Prix
© Steven Tee/LAT Images / Formula E via Getty Images
A cornerstone of Formula E is racing on street circuits in the heart of the world’s great cities. This is part marketing exercise and part… a different sort of marketing exercise. Compared with other elite motorsport series, Formula E is painfully slow. Racing Formula E cars on a purpose-built circuit racing would only cast the difference in pace in a worse light. Instead, Formula E turns a problem into a virtue: by racing on temporary street circuits, which tend to be slower than permanent tracks anyway, and with perimeter walls and the grandstands up close, makes the cars look faster. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Green lights all the way
Zero emission!
© Alistair Staley/LAT Images/Formula E via Getty Images
Formula E’s green credentials are impeccable: zero emissions, (reasonably) quiet vehicles and racing in locations where other forms of motorsport just wouldn't be allowed. But it goes much further just racing electric cars. Formula E limits its freight and cuts down on its waste to reduce its impact. Cleaner, greener racing in the middle of a city also bolsters its credibility: if we have tighter controls on pollution, then the middle of a city is the first place you’ll feel the benefits
A new audience
Formula E Grand Prix Of Marrakech
© LAT Photographic/Formula E via Getty Images
While motorsport fans are not yet convinced by Formula E, that demographic is ageing rapidly and series like F1, WRC and even MotoGP are working harder and harder to connect with a younger audience. Formula E, on the other hand, speaks to a younger audience that is more environmentally responsible, more open to marketing and more excited by green technology. They also appreciate the speed of the programme and the short races. Formula E is to normal motorsport what 20/20 is to Test Match Cricket – but without the brightly coloured pyjamas.
...and like that, it’s gone
Paddock is smaller than F1
© Pascal Della Zuana/Icon Sport
The Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore is a colossal undertaking: the heart of the city is disrupted for months and work to build the track for a race held in mid-September begins in May. Formula E, by contrast, tends to be in and out in a week. The series is designed for that. Because the cars are slow, they don’t require the catch fencing or the huge run-off areas. The paddock can be squeezed into a much smaller space because there’s much less equipment. If a city wants to host a major international racing event but is put off by the disruption, costs and high likelihood of the population hating the city council or government responsible, then FE ticks all the right boxes.
Great drivers
Ready to start the season
© LAT Images / Formula E via Getty Images
FE has arguably the best driver line-up of any series in the world. Fans of other series may snort at that but FE doesn’t particularly suffer from the politics and commercial considerations that shape the roster elsewhere. Teams want drivers that can win – and they get them. Practically everyone on the FE grid is a champion with a bulging trophy cabinet back home. Whatever FE is, it isn’t a retirement home and final payday for has-beens.
It's sooo quirky
The car change has to be very, very fast
© Andrew Ferraro/LAT Images/Jaguar Racing via Getty Images
Formula E is quirky. Sometimes through necessity (changing cars halfway through the race), sometimes through practicality (one tyre compound for all conditions) and sometimes because it just is. By forming strong links with gaming, and embracing social media with a passion, it sets itself away from the run-of-the-mill. Not everything will work, not every gimmick will last, but no one can accuse FE of not thinking outside the box.
Cheap at twice the price
Formula E expenditure is much lower than F1
© LAT Photographic/Formula E via Getty Images
NASA spent millions developing a pen that can write in space. The Russians gave their cosmonauts a pencil*. In this, Formula E is the pencil. Running a Formula E team is cheap. Or rather, it isn’t, but compared to F1, WRC, MotoGP or WEC, it’s a bargain. F1 is scornful of Formula E because it spends more on catering that FE spends on cars. Formula E is scornful of F1 because it spends less on its cars than F1 spends on catering.
*This never actually happened – but the true story isn’t as good for illustrating this story.
Great marques
Major manufacturers are interested in Formula E
© Hector Vivas/LatinContent/Getty Images
It's perhaps the low costs that have attracted so many car manufacturers to turn to FE. They can pay for an FE campaign out of petty cash. Mercedes recently announced they will leave DTM to concentrate on F1 and a new FE entry. The most successful manufacturer in Le Mans, Porsche has turned its back on WEC with a view to entering FE (and, potentially, building an F1 engine).
New technology
FE does have massive technological potential
© John Lamparski/Getty Images
Of course, the manufacturers are also in the series because of its technological potential. And FE does have massive technological potential, and seems to be hitting its straps at just the right time, with much of the automotive world laying out their own electrified version of the future. While there isn’t a magic battery-powered fairy able to wave her wand and suddenly increase range and decrease recharge time, there are massive gains to be made in power electronics, recovery systems and materials technology. Motorsport is a brilliant place to develop new technology because competition makes innovation happen quicker.
Continuous improvement
Formula E sounds very exciting
© William Volcov/Brazil Photo Press/LatinContent/Getty Images
Put all of those things together and Formula E sounds very exciting. It has a new audience, new locations, new technologies and, if everyone continues to play nicely, the potential to deliver exciting racing that will get better every year. While other series are moribund and struggling for relevance, Formula E has a plan and a course to steer by. It’s going to get bigger.
You can see Formula E cars up close and meet drivers Sébastien Buemi, Lukas Di Grassi and Daniel Abt at the eMobility Play Days at the Red Bull Ring later this month. The event is a celebration of the latest innovations in motoring technology that looks at what will drive the cars of the future.
