After Formula E's debut race in Beijing last September, I shared my first impressions of the all-electric series.
Fast-forward just over nine months and the championship’s inaugural season has come to an end, so I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the series and see if my thoughts have changed.
For anyone who missed the two London ePrix races last weekend, the first was won by Sebastien Buemi, with Sam Bird picking up the second victory after Stephane Sarrazin was penalised for running out of energy.
However, all eyes were on the battle in the midfield, with title contenders Buemi, Lucas di Grassi and Nelson Piquet Jr occupying positions six to eight in the order. There was some fantastic action in the final laps, but the order remained the same, giving Piquet Jr the Formula E drivers’ title.
The Drivers
In total 35 different drivers competed in the first Formula E season, with a mix of familiar faces and young stars. Plenty of ex-F1 drivers raced in the series and some great talent from feeder championships meant the quality of the grid was fairly high.
Of course, there were a few who failed to impress and we witnessed some questionable driving at times, but the racing was – in my view – largely good, close and enjoyable, even if some of the tracks were narrow and tricky to negotiate.
After Sunday’s finale in Battersea Park, I started to think about who my top three drivers of the season were. It was definitely a tough question to answer, but overall I think Piquet Jr, Buemi and di Grassi all impressed and adapted quickly to the new series. They may be obvious choices, but you don’t get to fight for a championship without putting together a very good campaign.
So what about the next season of Formula E? I’d love to see late additions to year one like Oliver Turvey, Simona de Silvestro, Scott Speed and Loic Duval race more in the series – they all showed lots of potential and promise for the future. However, I think it would be positive for the series to have a more stable line-up.
The main problem during the first season was that the races clashed with other racing championships. It is inevitable that some events will take place at the same time, but having so many driver changes for ever race weekend was confusing and certainly made things tougher for those following the series.
The Teams
It was no surprise that e.dams-Renault took the teams’ title in year one. The French outfit was quick from day one of testing and with a strong driver line-up, the championship was won by quite some margin. Dragon Racing and China Racing (NEXTEV TCR) both made big steps forward as the season progressed, while Audi Sport ABT also impressed.
I expected more of Andretti and Mahindra Racing, especially with two ex-F1 drivers racing for the latter. Venturi suffered some horrible bad luck and deserved better, while Trulli struggled. It was a big positive for the series to secure some big names from season one and overall it was a competitive first year of Formula E racing.
Things move up a level for season two, with the rules allowing manufacturers to produce their own powertrains and battery technology, meaning that cars will for the first time not be completely identical. I’m intrigued to see how the new regulations work out and how this will affect the racing, whether certain teams will have an advantage or whether it will make things even more competitive. It will also be important for the development of electrical innovation for the road car market.
The Racing
A lot has been said about the noise that the powertrains make, the strange switch to a second car mid-way through the race and odd features like the ‘EJ’ and FanBoost, but does that even matter that much when the racing is really good? I certainly don’t think so. We have witnessed close wheel-to-wheel action at every race and plenty of drama too.
The cars are clearly not easy to drive and I have loved seeing drivers really wrestling the cars around city streets, brushing the walls and sliding through chicanes. This is despite the electric machines being considerably slower compared to Formula 1 and IndyCar. At the start of the season I was worried that we would have a spread out field, with big gaps between cars and one or two dominant teams. However, that really wasn’t the case.
Sure, there is room for improvement and some races were tamer than others, but I really enjoyed the racing in Formula E. I am still not a fan of the car switch but fortunately other things like the slow warm-up lap and the regular background music were removed. This is just the beginning and the series has done an incredible job to put together such a successful first season. I’m looking forward to seeing how the racing develops in the future.
The Coverage
As I live in the United Kingdom, I watched Formula E on ITV4 – or, for the final two races in London, on ITV. I opted to watch the full race build-up for the first few rounds and enjoyed learning about the new technology and how the series worked. However, as the season progressed and I gained more knowledge about Formula E, I got a bit bored of the features and just tuned in for the final 10 minutes before the race.
Jennie Gow did a good job presenting the coverage when she was available, you could tell she was enthusiastic about Formula E and knew her stuff. The pundits were largely okay, although it would have been nice to have a more fixed line-up. Alex Brundle always provided interesting insight, so I hope he makes more appearances in season two.
I really liked the Formula E commentary team of Jack Nicholls and Dario Franchitti, you could tell they got on well and had done their homework. Nicki Shields was pit lane reporter for the series, which I am sure is a tough job. I felt she got off to a fairly underwhelming start, with some strange questions (like asking Bruno Senna in Malaysia if his car had any damage) but things improved towards the end of the season.
Conclusion
Year one of Formula E was always going to be a steep learning curve. There was plenty of scepticism ahead of its debut in Beijing, but I’d say it exceeded my expectations and I thought we were treated to some great racing, even on some very narrow tracks – like the Battersea Park circuit.
There is certainly plenty of room for improvement, but big steps forward were made during the first season of the series and this is clearly just the beginning. Formula E has built a great foundation for the future, a strong fan base and caught the eyes of both drivers and big companies. I’m really excited to cover the series more and see how it develops over the next few years.
Congratulations to e.dams-Renault and Nelson Piquet Jr on taking the first ever Formula E titles. What did you think of the all-electric championship’s first season? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
 |
| © FIA Formula E |
Fast-forward just over nine months and the championship’s inaugural season has come to an end, so I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the series and see if my thoughts have changed.
For anyone who missed the two London ePrix races last weekend, the first was won by Sebastien Buemi, with Sam Bird picking up the second victory after Stephane Sarrazin was penalised for running out of energy.
However, all eyes were on the battle in the midfield, with title contenders Buemi, Lucas di Grassi and Nelson Piquet Jr occupying positions six to eight in the order. There was some fantastic action in the final laps, but the order remained the same, giving Piquet Jr the Formula E drivers’ title.
The Drivers
In total 35 different drivers competed in the first Formula E season, with a mix of familiar faces and young stars. Plenty of ex-F1 drivers raced in the series and some great talent from feeder championships meant the quality of the grid was fairly high.
Of course, there were a few who failed to impress and we witnessed some questionable driving at times, but the racing was – in my view – largely good, close and enjoyable, even if some of the tracks were narrow and tricky to negotiate.
After Sunday’s finale in Battersea Park, I started to think about who my top three drivers of the season were. It was definitely a tough question to answer, but overall I think Piquet Jr, Buemi and di Grassi all impressed and adapted quickly to the new series. They may be obvious choices, but you don’t get to fight for a championship without putting together a very good campaign.
So what about the next season of Formula E? I’d love to see late additions to year one like Oliver Turvey, Simona de Silvestro, Scott Speed and Loic Duval race more in the series – they all showed lots of potential and promise for the future. However, I think it would be positive for the series to have a more stable line-up.
The main problem during the first season was that the races clashed with other racing championships. It is inevitable that some events will take place at the same time, but having so many driver changes for ever race weekend was confusing and certainly made things tougher for those following the series.
 |
| © FIA Formula E |
The Teams
It was no surprise that e.dams-Renault took the teams’ title in year one. The French outfit was quick from day one of testing and with a strong driver line-up, the championship was won by quite some margin. Dragon Racing and China Racing (NEXTEV TCR) both made big steps forward as the season progressed, while Audi Sport ABT also impressed.
I expected more of Andretti and Mahindra Racing, especially with two ex-F1 drivers racing for the latter. Venturi suffered some horrible bad luck and deserved better, while Trulli struggled. It was a big positive for the series to secure some big names from season one and overall it was a competitive first year of Formula E racing.
Things move up a level for season two, with the rules allowing manufacturers to produce their own powertrains and battery technology, meaning that cars will for the first time not be completely identical. I’m intrigued to see how the new regulations work out and how this will affect the racing, whether certain teams will have an advantage or whether it will make things even more competitive. It will also be important for the development of electrical innovation for the road car market.
The Racing
A lot has been said about the noise that the powertrains make, the strange switch to a second car mid-way through the race and odd features like the ‘EJ’ and FanBoost, but does that even matter that much when the racing is really good? I certainly don’t think so. We have witnessed close wheel-to-wheel action at every race and plenty of drama too.
The cars are clearly not easy to drive and I have loved seeing drivers really wrestling the cars around city streets, brushing the walls and sliding through chicanes. This is despite the electric machines being considerably slower compared to Formula 1 and IndyCar. At the start of the season I was worried that we would have a spread out field, with big gaps between cars and one or two dominant teams. However, that really wasn’t the case.
Sure, there is room for improvement and some races were tamer than others, but I really enjoyed the racing in Formula E. I am still not a fan of the car switch but fortunately other things like the slow warm-up lap and the regular background music were removed. This is just the beginning and the series has done an incredible job to put together such a successful first season. I’m looking forward to seeing how the racing develops in the future.
The Coverage
As I live in the United Kingdom, I watched Formula E on ITV4 – or, for the final two races in London, on ITV. I opted to watch the full race build-up for the first few rounds and enjoyed learning about the new technology and how the series worked. However, as the season progressed and I gained more knowledge about Formula E, I got a bit bored of the features and just tuned in for the final 10 minutes before the race.
 |
| © FIA Formula E |
Jennie Gow did a good job presenting the coverage when she was available, you could tell she was enthusiastic about Formula E and knew her stuff. The pundits were largely okay, although it would have been nice to have a more fixed line-up. Alex Brundle always provided interesting insight, so I hope he makes more appearances in season two.
I really liked the Formula E commentary team of Jack Nicholls and Dario Franchitti, you could tell they got on well and had done their homework. Nicki Shields was pit lane reporter for the series, which I am sure is a tough job. I felt she got off to a fairly underwhelming start, with some strange questions (like asking Bruno Senna in Malaysia if his car had any damage) but things improved towards the end of the season.
Conclusion
Year one of Formula E was always going to be a steep learning curve. There was plenty of scepticism ahead of its debut in Beijing, but I’d say it exceeded my expectations and I thought we were treated to some great racing, even on some very narrow tracks – like the Battersea Park circuit.
There is certainly plenty of room for improvement, but big steps forward were made during the first season of the series and this is clearly just the beginning. Formula E has built a great foundation for the future, a strong fan base and caught the eyes of both drivers and big companies. I’m really excited to cover the series more and see how it develops over the next few years.
Congratulations to e.dams-Renault and Nelson Piquet Jr on taking the first ever Formula E titles. What did you think of the all-electric championship’s first season? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
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