Formula E debuted in a country that will help determine how much it grows in the future
The good news about Formula E so far is that it’s unpredictable to a fair degree. Five different drivers from four teams have won the first five rounds of the inaugural season after Nicolas Prost of e.dams took the chequered flag at the most recent Miami ePrix.
The bad news, or at least one that is cause for impatience, is that it won’t be until the third or fourth season that we are expected to see a significant jump in performance in the cars, which will include the drivers being able to complete a race distance in just one car.
THE ROAD AHEAD
So that means the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons will be when where teams are expected to source their own motor, gearbox, electronics and then their own batteries. Until then the championship is mainly an exercise in energy usage, something that Mahindra Racing’s Karun Chandhok claims is what e.dams and Abt are doing better than others.
The two are sitting pretty in first and second place in the teams’ championship while their drivers fill the top two spots in the drivers’ standings.
Prost’s win has taken him seven points clear of Abt’s Lucas di Grassi with five rounds and six races left (the London round is a double header).
Eight points adrift of di Grassi is Sam Bird and just nine points separate him from Nelson Piquet Jr. and Sebastien Buemi.
THE ENERGY EQUATION
Chandhok, who spoke to autoX prior to the Miami ePrix regarding the challenge of energy usage fell foul of issues regarding it at the Biscayne Boulevard venue where he was penalized for infringing on energy usage limits in qualifying.
It earned him a grid penalty after which he ultimately finished 14th while Mahindra teammate Bruno Senna retired with suspension failure. With just 36 points in the team standings and e.dams leading with 110, Mahindra will consider this as a learning year in which they will learn from the collective pool of information that teams and drivers use to try and improve the show.
For motorsport fans who are normally used to circuit racing disciplines like F1 and MotoGP, one of the immediate requirements would be enough of an increase in speed for the cars.
Say what you will about it but commercial interest in Formula E is growing and it has added rounds in Russia and plans to run in Switzerland too soon. All that’s needed now is for the cars’ speed to match the championship’s ambition.
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