Matt Kew: The Formula E Finale

In my first ever post for this website I stated that “this is going to be a solely Formula 1 based page”. And so here we are 5 months down the line writing in reflection of Round 11 and the last race of the Formula E season. I have followed the sport since its early conception, through testing and then round by round, so to attend the closing race to the inaugural season gave an insight into how the sport has developed in its short lifespan. And here are my lasting impressions.

e.Dams Renault- The 2015 Formula E Constructors Champions

The Structure

A championship decider, the final round and situated in one of the world’s largest cities. So make no mistake, the London ePrix is a headline event. However, from a fan’s perspective it appeared much less so. I appreciate that it is a city event and not a purpose built race track, but save a specially decked out bus and a couple of banners, Battersea Park was hardly a focal point to draw in spectators- which it absolutely should be for just £15 entrance.

Inside the park and the advertisement was no better. I could hear murmurs of discontented and ‘rained-on’ fans offloading their complaints to the trackside marshals. Away from the track and the infield was dominated by the media centre. Not attractions for the paying public. Around 60,000 people made their way to the race. They donned the track walls or small scaffolding stands. Perhaps as the sport grows so will the numbers. Formula E has deliberately scheduled itself not to clash with Formula 1, but the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the BTCC on the same weekend must have dented the estimated figures coming through the gates. In the future hopefully this can be avoided and as the sport grows, so will the following.

The Competition

Because Formula E is raced around street circuits, the entire event takes place in just one day to minimise disruption in some of the world’s biggest cities. This in-part dictates the breakdown of the sessions. For example, the Formula E qualifying format is poles apart from Formula 1. The 20 car field is broken down into 4 groups of 5 cars that qualify in their own time slot. This keeps the track fairly clear for flying laps. However, it also means that, as was the case on Sunday, the first group can be setting times in the dry and on a warm track where as everyone else can be lapping in the wet. Whilst this does have the potential to mix up the order, it can lead to an unfair outcome which can in itself decide the title outcome. I am almost tempted to liken it to the introduction of double points in F1. It should be a level playing field throughout the season and the uncontrollable variables eliminated. Just one man’s opinion, and something which is necessitated by the nature of the tracks Formula E races on but not a policy that should be adopted in other motor sports.

Television can often be deceptive. I remember my first time at Villa Park and Silverstone, the coverage had completely distorted the dimensions. Similarly, the Battersea Park was impossibly narrow. Even though we were only driving around in a small city EV, the crowing of the surface, the very close proximity of the concrete walls and the bumpy nature of the track where overwhelming. Although this did heighten the sense of speed achieved by the Spark-Renault SRT_01E, the opportunities for overtaking where never going to present themselves. Luckily for ITV the last 10 laps made for excellent viewing, failing that and the race would have been nothing more than mundane, hardly what is needed for a 29 lap show down for Formula E’s first ever Drivers Champion.

The narrow Battersea Park circuit

But if all this is the case then why do I follow the sport? The names are massive. Whether it be the drivers, manufactures or sponsors, the sport has attracted some of the motoring world’s biggest names. Senna, Prost, Piquet, Trulli and Heidfeld just to name a few. Any driver to have made the F1 setup is someone who clearly possesses great talent, so for 15 plus drivers who have raced this season to have F1 on their CV shows a field of immense quality. So when on the narrow city street the opportunity presents itself, the racing can be spectacular.

Some blurry but big names.
Top Left: Nico Prost, Carlos Ghosn & Alain Prost
Top Right: Emerson Fittipaldi
Bottom Left: Bruno Senna walks to take his place on the grid
Bottom Right: Jean Eric Vergne chats to his race engineer

Furthermore, as has often been mentioned on this page, one of the appeals of Formula 1 is celebrating the pioneering technology that it introduces. Similarly with Formula E it attracts many fans for its development of road EV technologies. The cars do look impressive in the flesh and with the future freeing up of design restrictions, the look and performance is set to improve.

The Future

With names such as Renault, Citroen, Audi, Virgin and Qualcomm now entrenched as pioneers in this new breed of motorsport, Formula E is guaranteed to have a future. Where successful or not, it will be here to stay for the near future until those names drop out. Or it will be forced to be successful as the companies attached will not risk the sport collapsing with their brand names plastered over every Armco barrier and body panel. Formula E will not share the same fate as Champ Car or A1 GP. What’s more it makes sense for more big name carmakers to join. When faced with questions over sustainability or carbon foot print, for a manufacturer to point to Formula E as a response may seem appealing. So the sport will grow and survive for the meantime at least. This also means that Formula E’s roots will be firmly grounded with technology being filtered down to road cars. In a world of ever tightening EU regulations, the growth in electric technology for the roads makes sense. Competition inspires fast paced development and as such Formula E makes for the ideal proving ground for road car tech. Again, a fairly certain indication that Formula E will survive if the right vision is adopted. Jean Todt’s reign as President of the FIA has also centred on improving the global image of motorsport and Formula E has been born under his guidance and very much matches his ethos. As he continues to lead, so will Formula E.

The new Andretti livery.

The races and the infrastructure will improve. It is a steep learning curve for the sport and the technicians, but an exciting one. Whether or not Branson has good enough foundation to claim that Formula E will be better than Formula 1 in 5 years seems unlikely. But for now it is here to stay and Formula E’s redeeming features give it immense potential over the coming seasons. With a winter to reflect over its first outing, Formula E will come back stronger so watch this space.