Formula E has certainly captured the attention of audiences worldwide, and the double header finalé held in London’s Battersea Park did not fail to deliver exciting and high octane drama.
London ePrix Review
Unique to the finalé, two races were held with race one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. This began with a rolling start due to the first corner being deemed “unsafe” with its narrowness and bumpy surface. Sebastién Buemi, second in the championship took a dominant win ahead of Jerome D’Ambrosio’s Dragon and Jean-Éric Vergne’s Andretti in third. While Lucas di Grassi, third in the championship came fourth with leader Nelson Piquet Jr tucked in behind in fifth. NEXTEV TCR debutant Oliver Turvey put in a good showing at his home ePrix finishing in the points while Andretti newcomer Simona de Silvestro came home in 11th. It was the perfect race as it set things up nicely for a three way fight between Piquet, Buemi and di Grassi for the title come race two.
Excellent work from the organisers saw the first corner resurfaced, allowing for a traditional standing start for the final ePrix of the 2014/15 season. Before the race however, qualifying saw rain hit half way through, leading to a mixed up grid and setting up for a spicy race. Stephane Sarrazin for Venturi found himself in pole position while Buemi was the highest placed championship contender in sixth. Lucas di Grassi was next in 11th while Piquet found himself in a lowly 16th. It wasn’t until the final few laps that things heated up. An earlier spin for Buemi saw Mahindra’s Bruno Senna slip past into fifth, and with Piquet up into ninth, Buemi would lose the championship to the Brazilian by one point. Desperate attempts from the Swiss driver to get past Senna resulted in a lot of “argy bargy” but Senna held on, almost getting past Dragon’s Loic Duval who found himself on 0% energy usage. Sarrazin held off a feisty Sam Bird till the finish but he too hit 0% and was given a drive through penalty which subsequently turned into a 49 second penalty, meaning everyone moved up one place. However, it was not enough for Buemi to win the championship as Piquet claimed the first ever FIA Formula E Drivers Championship as Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird won ahead of D’Ambrosio and Duval, allowing Dragon Racing to leap frog up to second in the constructors standings behind winners, e.Dams.
With the first season over and TV viewings peaking at 1.2 million across ITV during the London ePrix weekend, Formula E is certainly heading in the right direction. With Virgin CEO Richard Branson suggesting it would soon rise above Formula One. However, Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag played that down and simply stated that Formula E is looking to co-exist with F1, which, if the racing and driver talent continues on the way it is, can certainly be the case.
2015/16:
Drivers
Driver speculation is very hard at this point with new drivers appearing at almost every race this season. It doesn’t appear to have had a negative effect on the series, with new faces often winning the controversial FanBoost, which, at the moment, is set to stay. In fact, Agag even suggested he’d like it to remain open during the first few laps of the race before the winners are announced. The only drivers confirmed so far are the two Audi Abt racers, di Grassi and Daniel Abt, while Nelson Piquet is the only other man, racing for NEXTEV TCR.
Teams
In terms of teams, all ten are set to remain with a few name changes due to manufacturers entering the series to work on the powertrains. Over the weekend, Virgin announced it is to tie up with Citröen’s DS brand who will power them for the next few years and will be renamed DS Virgin Racing. Indeed, the he FIA announced back in February that eight manufacturers, of which five current teams – Abt, Andretti, Mahindra, Venturi and Virgin (through Citroën) – and three new manufacturers; Renault (e.Dams), Motomatica (Trulli) and NEXTEV (TCR) would produce components for the ten teams in the second season. The only teams yet to confirm their manufacturer are Dragon Racing and Amlin Aguri.
Rules
This year, all teams have raced with exactly the same equipment in terms of the Spark-Renault chassis, with teams having to find extra performance through different set ups. Next season, the rules are loosened slightly. Alejandro Agag has stated that the teams will have the opportunity to pursue their own in-house innovations which initially is limited to the powertrain. Specifically the e-motor, the inverter, the gearbox and the cooling system. All other parts on the cars will remain as they are, with the aim being to prevent costly aerodynamic developments. Innovations to the battery system will not be allowed during the 2015–16 season, but are expected to be allowed during the third season (2016–17) “with the objective being the use of a single car per driver during races from the fifth season.”
Calendar
Monaco is expected to be dropped from the calendar, however Formula E is not short of potential hosts with over 180 countries interested in hosting an event. However, the calendar is expected to expand to 12 cities. Paris is a strong bet while Formula E is also looking to race in Africa and India with interest sparking from the Mahindra team and Karun Chandhok. Japan holds the highest viewing figures for the series and as such a race their is also expected, with recent rumours suggesting an influx of interest from car manufacturers.
The next few years will make it clear if Formula E is here to stay, but from the first season, the outlook appears positive, and I think many will echo Alejandro Agag’s sentiments with regards to the final race of the season, “I couldn’t have dreamt of a better ending”.
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