Now in its fifth season, Formula E has earned the reputation of being the cool guy of motorsport, taking the community by storm and shaking off the harsh scepticism that it initially picked up. This audience friendly, futuristic and promising series is still in its infancy but it has managed to provide millions of hungry petrolheads with the dramatic racing action that they have been craving for.
What makes Formula E so fiercely competitive?
This comes down to one primary factor: Formula E is partially a one-make series; the striking, bold bodywork, the tailor-made chassis and the battery pack just to name a few things are some parts that have identical twins in every garage of the Formula E pit lane. What’s different is the powertrains. The manufacturers bring in their sharpest brains to design the fastest and most efficient powertrains and these power units are then used in the manufacturer’s team and in some cases, even sold to customer teams. This means that the technology development rates in all spheres of automotives that Formula E teams aim to catalyse, primarily aerodynamics, is fairly limited. This has a plus side to it though; this provides Formula E, the world’s first ever all-electric single seater motorsport series with the asset of close competition.
Rising speed and audience numbers
Fans, including numerous Gen Z commoners new to the idea of grown men getting paid or sometimes even getting paying in order to race fast cars around circles, have started to take keen interest in the series and rightfully so. The cars have become much faster and the sheer competitiveness and lack of predictability in this creative and fresh racing series, which has made a bold step by going electric and upsetting countless motorsport traditionalists is remarkable and the figures back this up.
Just how competitive is it?
Upon analysing the data from the 2019 Marrakesh E-Prix, we found out that an absolutely mental figure of eight teams are within half a second of each other in terms of their average race pace per lap. That is a staggering sixteen out of the twenty two cars competing in the series; that is 73% of the entire Formula E grid, that is, to put it in simple words, phenomenal. There’s the Great Wall of China, there are the iconic Pyramids Of Giza and then, there’s this. In the world of practicality and realism, half a second means nothing. Half a second is around the same amount of time that it takes an average human to blink. The racing is so unpredictable that one might as well choose the winner out of a hat full of names; you just never know who may have an upper hand in the coming race.
To make things even spicier, this is just the pure race pace of all the teams excluding the first lap (which never gives a true representation of a car’s true pace) and any unusual incidents such as crashes, safety car periods and so on. Add this extra teaspoon of zest into the already hotly-contested races and you are ready with the recipe to success.
The home of entertainment?
Yes, the new cars may look slightly chunkier due to the increased bodywork intended to make the Gen 2 cars look more aggressive and one may not truly find the concept of ‘Attack Mode’ very appealing. In spite of this, it is undeniable that Formula E is happily catering to the cries of dramatic on-track action made by the fans. The racing in Formula E is not that of the purest sort and unlike Formula One; it isn’t a traditional racing series and that isn’t accepted by many. However, the numbers don’t lie and its hard to argue with Formula E’s immense arsenal of entertainment.
The figures from Marrakesh also show that Jean-Eric Vergne, the reigning series champion was the fastest over the course of the race, with the quickest average race pace of 1 minute and 23 seconds per lap. Vergne showed that he was vincible though, spinning out at Turn 1 on the opening lap, with this mistake effectively costing him the race win. Andre Lotter and Sebastien Buemi both had their legs on the leader, falling just 1 tenth of a second per lap behind Vergne in terms of their race pace. Race winner Jerome D’Ambrosio had a pace of 1:23.2 on an average in his new Mahindra and the two BMWs shared the same pace too.
Quite stunning isn’t it. Time on its own is quite an impressive phenomenon and Formula E immaculately complements it with its remarkable race pace figures. Such a high level of drama and competition is nothing short of brilliant and it is as good as a dream for all the ardent motorsport fans spectating from across the globe.
Formula E, ladies and gentlemen, is here to entertain.
Related:
External Links:
- Formula E: https://www.fiaformulae.com
- Mahindra Racing: https://www.mahindraracing.com
- FiA: https://www.fia.com
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