Formula E - what's all the buzz about?

Formula E made its debut in Beijing

So, Formula E.

We've just had round one of the first ever series of Formula E conclude around the streets of Beijing. I watched the entire race weekend, and throughout the practices, the qualifying, and the race, I made some observations keeping an open mind. The last corner incident was a real shame, though. Personally, I think it was Prost's fault because he knew Heidfeld was setting up the move and was going to attack. It may have been a panic move to cut him off but I think he should have left a little space. Some of the more generous amongst you might call it a racing incident, but I'm not too sure. And I'm not here to write about that, anyway.

For those of you who don't know what I'm going on about, Formula E is the world's first ever electric powered single seated car racing series. Since the inception of Formula E was announced, there has been widespread debate. Some of us have even said we'd rather stop watching racing all together if Formula One is dead some day rather than watch Formula E. Really? Would we? Or are we just saying that?

In this article, I'm going to attempt to reason with you lot. I'm going to share with you the observations I made this weekend and you can decide for yourselves. I'm going to write about the cons first and then the pros because I've been an F1 fan all my life and I would never let F1 go so easily.

CONS:

Formula E is pinned as the alternative to Formula 1. Already, we don't like the sound of that.

"You're going to replace Formula 1? How dare you?" That's what you're saying, yeah?

I get it. We've had the massive V12s, the V10s, the V8s, and now the V6s. Although we're not happy about the engines getting smaller and quieter, they're still big old racing engines! Anyone who's been to the GPs or even listened for the sounds on TV knows what I'm talking about. A big part of Formula One is the sound. I've been to BIC twice and I didn't care for the earplugs. The roaring of the engines down the straights was amazing. And the blast noises when the drives changed down gears arriving at a corner, dear god, man. And these were only V8s.

So, clearly, the purists are raging.

From what I saw in the FE race, there were some things I did not like.

Firstly, the qualifying plan

There are 20 cars on the grid and the way qualifying happens in FE is these 20 drivers are broken down into sets of five drivers chosen randomly via picking names out of a hat! And each set of 5 drivers get 10 minutes out on track to set a time. Excuse me? Ever heard of track evolution? What about the drivers that get sent out in the first batch? Even if they are extremely quick, the guys driving, say in the last batch, have a very nicely evolved track with loads of grip and heat in their tyres to set a faster lap. Equal opportunity, please?

Secondly, clearly the stupidest idea anyone has ever come up with: ‘The Fan Boost’

Fans get to vote for their favourite driver and the driver with the most number of votes gets an EXTRA BOOST OF ENERGY TO USE IN THE RACE. What? You spend months setting up the car, working hard in the simulator, mentally preparing yourself and your reactions, you're in the lead of the race about to win a grand prix and then, the famous bloke comes up behind you with his fan boost and see you later, should've been more famous.

I understand, you want to get the fans involved, which is nice, but come on guys, this is ridiculous.

Thirdly, during the course of the race, the batteries in each of the cars drain

So, you'd think the solution is do a pit stop and recharge. But that's not feasible. The solution they've come up with is, when you're running out of charge, come into the pits, jump out of your car, jump into another car we've got waiting for you with full charge, and drive off in that. How weird is that?

Lastly, the sound

It's dreadful. It might seem fun to listen to for a while because it's 'space-shippy', but it feels like a screechy chalk on a board throughout a grand prix.

PROS:

Environment friendly

Let's face it. There's not enough fuel. It's a harsh reality. We're going to run out of petrol, diesel, whatever. Hydrogen may be a solution but everyone is looking at electricity as the alternative. And we have to. It's daft to sit around hating electric powered cars for now whilst we actually do have fuel, but when we don't, where are we going to go? Road car companies have started producing electric cars. Shouldn't the racing industry even look into it?

Same battery unit for all cars

The one very good thing about Formula E is the fact that all cars on the grid run on the same battery unit. This means all cars have a chance of winning the race. That is what every fan wants to see, isn't it? It all comes down to what the driver can do. It's the essence of racing. Compare that to what's happening in F1 right now. Lewis and Nico are miles ahead in their Mercs with literally nobody to catch them.

They know, barring car failure, that every time they get into the car, they are going to be faster than anyone else. Also, everybody knows Jules Bianchi is a way better driver than say, Danil Kyvat. But Jules is in his Marussia and Danil is in a Toro Rosso. So, even if Jules is having the drive of his life in his inferior Marussia and Kyvat is having a bad day in his Toro Rosso, there's no chance of Jules finishing ahead. The sport has gotten too predictable.

Look, I'm not saying I'm a huge fan of Formula E already and we should all abandon Formula One and run away to the future clutching our battery packs. But, god forbid, if a day arrives when F1 just cannot happen due to the unavailability of fuel, I would rather work in/watch Formula E than leave racing for good.

It's a debate that will carry on, but Formula E cannot be ignored.