No game can flourish without fanbase and awareness, after making debut in Hyderabad, the Formula E World Championship is facing tough challenges to get a boost.
Formula E venue situated in the heart of Hyderabad, close to the Secretariat and Hussain Sagar Lake, the Formula E event will take place. It just has a 2.83-km-long course.
On February 11 in Hyderabad, the Formula E will make its debut in the country. The race’s organisers anticipate growing their fan following after the competition, especially given the participation of two Indian teams (one in a matter of speaking). The major event has so far had trouble attracting a fan following. When will that occur?
But first, let’s define Formula E. As the name would imply, it is a racing series in which teams compete with electric vehicles. The idea for the series was first developed over dinner in 2011 by Alejandro Agag, a Spanish billionaire, and Jean Todt, the FIA’s then president, to highlight a clear shift in the global automotive industry from internal combustion engines to electric propulsion. Agag needed a few years to convince the series, as well as teams, manufacturers, to join the cause.
Since the series was designed from the ground up, Agag and his collaborators were able to sidestep some of Formula 1’s drawbacks, particularly managing development expenses. Each team use the identical vehicle chassis, battery, and other components associated hardware. While the teams are allowed to make adjustments to their suspension and vehicle set-up, by keeping costs under control, Formula E wanted to bring in new players into the sport. One of those ‘new’ players was India’s Mahindra Racing, which has been part of the series from the very first season in 2014-15.
Race venue at city centre
The Formula E race in Hyderabad will take place in the middle of the city, near the Secretariat and Hussain Sagar Lake. The circuit is just 2.83-km long, compared to the 5.125-km long Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida, which has hosted Formula 1 races in the past. While the road surface has been spruced up and manhole covers secured, so that the downforce from the cars do not suck them up, a cursory look at the Hyderabad circuit, or any Formula E circuit belies the nature of the racing.
Sharp turns and short straights do not make for speedy racing, but because the racing is in the middle of the city, Formula E wants to make it easy for spectators to come and watch a race, the BIC for example is almost 50 km from Central Delhi. Hussain Sagar Lake is pretty much in the middle of Hyderabad.
Why the craze lacking?
Since Formula E began, it has seen a revolving door of global manufacturers come and go; Mahindra Racing being one of the few constant competitors. Manufacturers such as the German big three Audi, BMW and Mercedes have all taken part in the competition. In fact the Mercedes-EQ won the last two championships 2020-21 and 2021-22.
And while the series has managed to attract new entrants such as the Tata Motors-owned Jaguar racing team, sports car manufacturer Porsche, Japanese manufacturer Nissan as well as the famous McLaren motorsports outfit, this lack of consistent teams has led to difficulties in building up a support base for the racing series among all but a small but hardcore fanbase. Alongside that, other than the season-ending double-headers in Rome and London, the racing series has also moved around the world with few permanent homes.
Part of the reason is that while electric cars are gradually becoming a reality with more consumer choice, Formula E’s nature of using similar hardware and tight city-center circuits doesn’t really lend itself to exciting racing. In the initial years of racing when battery technology both in chemistry and energy management was developing, the drivers had to physically swap cars in the middle of the race.
In addition, there was something called ‘FanBoost’ where fans could vote for their favorite driver and give them a few seconds of extra power. In fact, unlike any other major racing series in the world, Formula E’s race authorities can physically adjust the amount of power available to a car ‘over the air’. But despite some of these gimmicks, the racing was just not all that exciting for the casual fan.
Sure, you can have barnstorming races and the overall equality of the hardware makes the drivers’ abilities shine through much more than say Formula 1 where there can be massive differences in the cars between a top-team. Say between a Red Bull Racing and a mid-tier team like Aston-Martin Racing. This led to the Formula E series trying gimmicks such as ‘Fan Boost’ where fans could vote for their favourite drivers on the grid to give them a ‘boost’ of power.
While the series helps the best drivers rise to the top, the first few years of Formula E saw drivers who, for one reason or another, had not made it to the top in Formula 1. But this is changing in no small part thanks to the fact that Formula E’s attempt to schedule its ePrix differently from both Formula 1 and other major racing series such as the World Endurance Championship (WEC). This has helped them acquire talent such as Dutch driver Nick De Vries, who was a Formula 1 reserve for the Mercedes-AMG race team. And this year, he will make his Formula 1 debut for the Alpha Tauri team.
Worth Watchable?
Herein lies another problem for the ABB Formula E racing series. While it is available on Disney+ Hotstar in India, the same OTT content service that has Formula 1, it is not being broadcast on a satellite channel. Also, Liberty Media, the rights holders to Formula 1, has managed to drive a whole new fanbase to the sport thanks to the Netflix series Drive To Survive. Despite electric vehicles clearly being the future of the global automotive industry, Formula E has not managed to garner the attention it could possibly generate.
A quicker and more technologically advanced racing series fashioned after Formula 1 might benefit Formula E in the future as battery technology advances and consumer electric cars themselves become significantly more capable. But because Formula 1 is always changing, the series must exercise caution. Modern turbo-hybrid engines with sophisticated energy recovery systems are used in today’s automobiles. Formula 1 itself may switch to electrified racing in the future.
All of us can plan to attend the race weekend in Hyderabad and am hoping to enjoy watching it. #hydnews #khabarlive #hydlive
