Formula E Saudi Arabian E-Prix

[sobriety]

I'm looking forward to the race, but yeah, Saudi Arabia, the only country I've visited that I have no desire to return to.

 

[RasputinLives]

For those of you with Virgin I've just discovered the Red Button is channel 981 and will allow you to set series link on programmes and watch em of your TVO box without having to use iPlayer. Means it will record all the Formula E without me having to think about it.

 

[RasputinLives]

Just because they love too drivers are already moaning about Attack Mode. One of the moans is that you they will lose time and places to go through it......I think that's the point. The bigger one is that on this track you have to break to nearly a stand still on the racing line to get through it.

Formula E Ad Diriyah attack mode track layout concerns drivers

 

[F1Brits_90]

Interesting qualifying bmw living up to the hype ex red bull driver Felix da Costa with pole & vandoorne taking a leaf out of his ex teammate book by outqualifying his new teammate by a second. Although he might have a nose bleed being that high up the grid

 

[F1Brits_90]

Just watching the coverage & dont have BT so cant comment but the 15 mins (bbc) & 30 mins (eurosport) build up was absolute carcrash you wouldve thought that with multiple channels could get 1 right. Eurosport were a car crash.
"Lets go down to nicki shields whose got ..."
<adverts>

"This a great circuit, lets have a look at it"
<adverts>

BBC i cant complain because for beginner the newcomer. The 15 min VT im sure was useful but for the "experts" like us it was a bit tedious

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Background noise during the race is pretty irritating. Sounds like a thunderstorm.

 

[Il_leone]

Here is how the BBC will cover Formula E - they are clearly not going to run people's lunchtimes watching cooking programmes

Once again the BBC fail to disappoint especially with Barbara Slater in charge

Follow all the action from every race of the new ABB FIA Formula E Championship across the BBC.

The opening event of the season takes place at the Ad Diriyah E-Prix in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, 15 December.

Live coverage will be available to watch on the BBC Red Button, Connected TV, BBC Sport website, mobile app and the BBC iPlayer.

The championship consists of 11 teams and 22 drivers, with 12 cities visited over a seven-month race calendar.

 

[RasputinLives]

Il_leone - I'm very confused about what your trying to say. How the BBC was covering Formula E was covered multiple times across this and another thread.

Enjoyed the first race of Gen 2 - still a lot of kinks in the format but the consistent wheel banging and overtakes shows the series has real potential.

All Felix Da Costa has needed is a good car so not surprised he's jumped at the opportunity Having said that the speed and aggression of Vergne and Lotterer is going to be hard to contain - great driving from both. Big props to D'ambrosio too as he was really on to get that podium.

Jag in their usual 4th place. Vandoorne sunk faster than a fat bloke holding a brick and the Audi's once again mess up begining of the season. Di Grassi and Piquet's argy bargy was funny though.

Oh and F1Brits_90 the Eurosport coverage has always been shocking - the Beeb just showed the Formula E feed (no original content) and that will do for me. It's basic so as not to alienate new watchers

 

[Chasz]

Was a fairly good race. Not watched FE before and was positively surprised about the level of contact without damage!

JEV still looks odds on for this year too

 

[FB]

Really enjoyed that, lots of events and incidents.

 

[The Artist.....]

There are a few things I still don't understand in FE...

1. With the "manufacturers" - how are they manufacturer team - is this a single make series, or what...
2. How do you tell the drivers apart; because of the number of almost identical liveries (and identical cars), I struggle to differentiate between drivers and cars
3. Why do they insist on racing on shortened street courses? We know that street courses do not always generate good racing - I suppose that this might be a) so that they aren't compared with F1 in terms of speed, and b) because Bernie had tied a lot of circuits to exclusivity when it came to top-line single seaters.

(Many others as well, but these are the first that come to mind

 

[RasputinLives]

Well number one is quite easily answered. Formula E was a single make series in its very first season but since then various different elements have been opened up to be built by the teams every year since. The cars may look similar but actually the powertrains are really quite diverse. From twin powered motors, different weight distribution and different gear set ups (DS have only 1 gear, Nissan have 2, others have more.). There really is lot of trial where tech is concerned but Formula E are keeping it reigned so as the field spread is not huge. Still more diverse than most Motorsport series.

As for the second one. Well. I guess you have to watch it reg and figure it out. I agree some livery's are similar but they are in F1 too. You could try looking at the helmets and numbers? Usually very good identifying marks.

3 - the concept was environmentally friendly races in city centres where fans can come in on public transport to see the races thus lowering the carbon footprint. But yes some of it was probably to do with the speeds. The cars are up to 180mph now but I still think they will stick to the street circuit thing as their whole concept is 'bringing of closer to the fans'. It's not like it's restricting overtaking so to me (at the moment) it's an added element of excitement.

 

[F1Brits_90]

yes I dont mind the street circuit because outside paris you get plenty of overtaking because of cars not creating dirty air. so can get close. but street circuit is to reduce costs & have the least disruption to a city as possible. the differential to drivers is the same in every series. learn as you go. I thought it was a fun face entertaining. not a fan of attack mode I dont think its needed. now thats far too artificial makes a DRS look normal. Vergne proving me hugely wrong that car looks the class of field

RasputinLives I watch a lot of cycling + dakar / le mans 24 on eurosport & it usually quite professional but then I dont watch it too much. but that was so amateurish

 

[RasputinLives]

If the DS is that good in the Techeetah do we have to re-evaluate how good the Virgin team have been doing for first 5 years? Maybe that's why they left.

 

[F1Brits_90]

maybe yes, maybe this is McLaren honda all over again. because sam bird was in title contendion without really getting close as he does most years. but they were flying if it wasnt for the drive through they wouldve won by 5-10 secs

 

[RasputinLives]

Having said that Bird used to dominate at certaing tracks (Hong Kong, New York) so maybe this one suited the DS. I can't believe Audi are really that far behind.

 

[Bill Boddy]

....The bigger one is that on this track you have to brake to nearly a stand still on the racing line to get through it.....

Wasn't the difference in the speeds of the car thought to have been part of the problem in the big Le Mans crash? I hope that it was just a mistake at this one circuit.

 

[Il_leone]

Someone suggested Formula E was a bit Mario Kart like especially watching one of the drivers keep missing the beam to get the boost down the straight

 

[Il_leone]

You know that having 1 day to do the practice and racing is probably something F1 could not do and/or the big teams would never allow it otherwise that would limit their dominance