Formula E News and General Discussion Thread

[F1Brits_90]

15 races & ending in September

FE targeting record 15 races and fan attendance this season

www.motorsport.com

 

[RasputinLives]

Alfa Romeo considering Formula E switch - The Race

The likelihood of Alfa Romeo or Maserati joining the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship grid in the near future is growing

the-race.com

I know there was a panic with Audi and Porsche pulling out earlier but this news and the McLaren news are telling me that there are people behind the scenes who suspect, and are planning for, a Formula E and Formula 1 merge.

Some Formula 1 groups who previously shown no interest are suddenly making sure they are not caught out should it happen.

 

[Dartman]

Alfa Romeo or Maserati joining Formula E just means that Fiat are considering a Formula E entry, Alfa Romeo Sauber is just a Fiat sponsored Ferrari engined satellite team, bit of Fiat/Chrysler cash for Ferrari which may also be part of Haas.

 

[RasputinLives]

Ok. But Ferrari connected to Fiat, Fiat considering Formula E entry. Point still stands.

A satellite team for Formula E so they aren't completely in the dark if they need to use the tech. I thought I made that clear.

 

[Dartman]

An electric Ferrari, Enzo could cause an eruption from the grave but Aston are going down the electric route so not impossible

 

[RasputinLives]

Given the fact all cars will electric within the next 30 years I'm sure Enzo would be fine with it.

 

[RasputinLives]

BBC's half arsed coverage of Formula E to continue through 2021

Formula E renews BBC coverage deal for 2021

Formula E has renewed its TV deal with the BBC to broadcast live and free-to-air coverage of the electric championship in the UK during the 2021 season

www.autosport.com

(To be fair I usually end up watching it on iPlayer now days anyway so makes little difference to me personally whether they show it on one of the channels or not)

 

[F1Brits_90]

the BBC not great but there is no adverts & its still miles better than eurosport coverage, i remember watching 1 of their races expected the half hour build up with world feed & vernon kay. ended with some horrible Formula E explanion. you wouldve thought i was watching it on CITV

& also 1 of the issues with FE, is that there is hardly people queueing up to buy the rights

 

[F1Brits_90]

whose money on then next week

Formula E season preview: Enter the World Championship…

With the global COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic still in our midst and bringing with it the postponement of the planned opening

www.motorsportweek.com

 

[F1Brits_90]

reading this after finding it on twitter. i found this a fasinating read because it what many sportsman find the toughest thing. because when you achieve everything you been aiming at, how to do you find the motivation to go again. the greatest example is tyson fury, realising his dream of becoming world heavyweight champion. was funnily the worst thing that could happen as his life spiral out of control as he had nothing to aspire to. & had 1 of the great comebacks from depression & 28 stone to regaining the world heavyweight title

https://twitter.com/x/status/1364919249500782593

 

[F1Brits_90]

just caught up on last night Diriyah ePrix ahead of this afternoon at 4.30pm. it doesnt matter Formula 1 or Formula E. mercedes still win

but ive been a sam bird fan since F2, but i wish he would just have abit more patience. he so frustrating to watch at times. dont fully blame bird it was 60/40 lynn. because lynn squeezes him he's also got to turn in at some point but bird shouldve lifted off & noticed he was going into the wall. also T1 is too tight, he wasnt going to stick it around outside of T2

although i feel this attack zones needs moving to straight, as their turning into hindrance not help. as if your going to lose 1 or 2 places & drivers will try to avoid that. iot why it leads to too many drivers wasting them under safety cars

 

[F1Brits_90]

also terrifying incident in practice earlier. mortara throttle

https://twitter.com/x/status/1365640596665360390

 

[F1Brits_90]

I think the Alonso rule needs to be done more rigorously. because its too safe driving standards are dropping. drivers are almost being too dangerous lynn squeezing bird, wehrlein putting jake dennis in the wall & now evans putting lynn in the wall

like Jackie Stewart once said this never happened in his day. because you could kill them

https://twitter.com/x/status/1366002560889483266

 

[The Artist.....]

I think the Alonso rule needs to be done more rigorously. because its too safe driving standards are dropping. drivers are almost being too dangerous lynn squeezing bird, wehrlein putting jake dennis in the wall & now evans putting lynn in the wall

like Jackie Stewart once said this never happened in his day. because you could kill them

https://twitter.com/x/status/1366002560889483266

The driving standards in Formula E are, frankly, terrible. Every race, someone seems to be put into the wall by a competitor, just to prevent them overtaking. The ferocity of that accident wasn't caught by the TV cameras - and this just raises the question of why the stewards didn't immediately stop the race.

If this had happened in the 1970s, in F1, someone would have died.

 

[F1Brits_90]

1) this weekend the driving standards were terrible, lynn putting bird into the wall, wehrlein putting jake dennis in the wall & then the icicedent with evans & lynn. they need to start giving the drivers racing room. how hopefully this is the wake up call they need. but i think even in F1 they are guilty of this. only need to look at grosjean history will be airbrushed but what has been forgotten is that it was his dangerous driving that started that chain of events that end with miraculous escape from the fireball

2) the cameras & replay were beyond terrible, they had some how managed to completely miss the bad incident. & i thought it was quite odd that this innocuous incident especially when the BMW drove away. caused 1 of the softest red flag. i can remember

its only later on that about 7pm, you realise that if they just kept the footage rolling for 4 seconds more then. we wouldve seen what happen. understood the red flag decision

 

[RasputinLives]

If they think a driver is seriously hurt then they don't show the reply. Been pretty standard across Motorsport for a long time now. Did you all complain about not seeing Bianchi go under a truck? Sheesh.

 

[RasputinLives]

Here are the driver ratings from the weekend for a bunch of drivers who are, apparently, awful. Hmmmmm.

Diriyah Formula E driver ratings - The Race

After two wildly different Formula E races to open the 2021 season in Diriyah, Sam Smith gives his verdict on all 24 drivers' performances

the-race.com

Here is one of the best overtakes you are ever likely to see:

'The best move of Formula E' - Mortara gets two places in one go

Watch as Edoardo Mortara pulls off "the best move of Formula E" after overtaking and gaining two places in one go at the 2021 season opener in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

www.bbc.co.uk

On the what I think Formula E looked a whole lot more professional this weekend. Far less wacky races than it's been but still competitive. They rub bumpers and sometimes take it a little to far but that's a combo of street circuits and close racing for 45 mins. You see it in touring cars and indy cars too. You don't see it in F1 because, frankly, they are not close enough to each other for long enough.

It was a good opening weekend that was tarnished by two things; the big crashes and the missile attack. The crashes are happening as, like as happened in many other sports, the speeds of the cars are ramping up and the tracks are not being adjusted for that. The missile attack happened because they should never be racing in Saudi Arabia in the first place. For a series which prides itself on its ethics it's truly a stupid decision.

 

[F1Brits_90]

If they think a driver is seriously hurt then they don't show the reply. Been pretty standard across Motorsport for a long time now. Did you all complain about not seeing Bianchi go under a truck? Sheesh.

to this day ive never seen bianchi footage & i dont intend to, but in japan the difference was we knew about bianchi even though we couldnt see him. all the viewers & seemingly vernon kay jack nicholls & dario franchitii cant have known considering it was never mentioned in post race. which is odd considering it why the race was stopped. as it wasnt even shown live all we had was that 1st clip. i knew something had happened because its common knowledge in motorsport circle red flag no replays its quite bad but also im thinking gunther in BMW drove away & ive seen F1 pick up bigger debris under double yellows,

but it wasnt until 7pm ish nearly hour & half after the accident that it we finally knew the truth

Here are the driver ratings from the weekend for a bunch of drivers who are, apparently, awful. Hmmmmm.

also i thought we had made enough distinction between driving quality & driving standards. quality is great ive said i think way back in season 2 & is more relevant now that because of the lack of pay drivers, i would argue F1 has better elite drivers but FE has more strength in depth. but on the driving something ive thought for a while. circuit racing as a whole has got to such point where it considered "too safe" so the driving standards have dropped significantly. they have no fear & you need a some fear taking far too many risks. because 1st thought now is its fine ill just walk away from this & try tomorrow. 20 years ago do the same move & you could put someone in hospital

on saudi we should be racing but as weve said before, well sport as whole has never had morals, the horse bolted from that in 1976 , i think most major sports has had some money issues. you look at IOC in salt lake city, FIFA in russia & qatar, F1 too many to name, Boxing & FE in saudi

 

[RasputinLives]

I agree that the commentary team were slow to update us (Franchitti did keep asking where Lynn was) but then on the day the news on Bianchi was slow to filter through as well - BBC didn't pick up on it for a good 40 mins - so yes some improvement there but I think TV director did the right thing with pictures.

I do think you're right and that Formula E, due to its nature, is going to have to have a big conversation about safety over next few years. I do think driver standards have improved though - I just think now the speeds have got higher and still racing on street circuits any incident has a bigger impact.

I think one of the things Formula E has going for it right now is that it's no longer a dumping ground for those that haven't made it in F1. It has its own driver pool and thats quite noticeable from the results this weekend. Pascal Werhelein is a good example of someone who thought they were going to come into Formula E and clean up but have found it's not that simple.

I think a Formula 1/Formula E merger is now inevitable and I'm really interested to see how they are going to bridge the gaps between both the driver pools and the fan base of both series. Hopefully best of both worlds rather than something that works for nobody.

 

[Titch]

Oh its bound to be something that works for nobody.