Formula E

[Lineker]

Formula E to feature driverless car racing as a support category from 2016-2017 season

[JasonM]

21 minutes ago, Lineker said:

Formula E to feature driverless car racing as a support category from 2016-2017 season

Which can either get super awesome or be a complete trainwreck...

So either way we're set with quality entertainment

[Benji]

That's not an either/or situation

[Chris2K]

The new season starts on Sunday and it starts with the news that Mercedes have taken up an option to join next season which should pretty much guarantee this series staying around for a while.

I'm going to try and be more interested than usual in this, all the races are live in the UK on Five in case you're interested too.

[JasonM]

Woo, Robin Frijns!

I feel the series still has his problems, but the action has become better and better in the first two seasons of the young sport. And seeing teams like Audi, BMW (Amlin-Andretti), Citroën, Jaguar, and Renault (and next year Merc) commit to the series makes me hopeful that the technology is going to get better and better as time progresses.

Additionally they've cut out a lot of the dud tracks from the first two seasons (China, and Moscow), and added major cities like Hong Kong, Montreal, New York, and Brussels. Whilst also returning back to Monaco again, to help with adding some prestige. Shame London lost their race, but Battersea was honestly a terrible track and hopefully they'll return with a better location.

Also Rosenqvist and JM Lopez joining the series will also be a huge boon to the talent level in general. Am especially excited for Lopez to see what he can do in a single seater.

Needless to say, I think this will be the best season to date, and I'm happy to see that the series is growing after a shaky start.

[MDK]

I might actually watch this. I'm sick of F1.

[Adam]

28 minutes ago, MDK said:

I might actually watch this. I'm sick of F1.

Same. F1 is utterly shambolic these days and Jaguar have a team in this

[Chris2K]

Also there's no Bruno Senna this year so they won't be trying to crowbar a Senna/Prost rivalry into every race.

[EddieG]

On 10/4/2016 at 23:09, Jasonmufc said:

Woo, Robin Frijns!

I feel the series still has his problems, but the action has become better and better in the first two seasons of the young sport. And seeing teams like Audi, BMW (Amlin-Andretti), Citroën, Jaguar, and Renault (and next year Merc) commit to the series makes me hopeful that the technology is going to get better and better as time progresses.

Additionally they've cut out a lot of the dud tracks from the first two seasons (China, and Moscow), and added major cities like Hong Kong, Montreal, New York, and Brussels. Whilst also returning back to Monaco again, to help with adding some prestige. Shame London lost their race, but Battersea was honestly a terrible track and hopefully they'll return with a better location.

Also Rosenqvist and JM Lopez joining the series will also be a huge boon to the talent level in general. Am especially excited for Lopez to see what he can do in a single seater.

Needless to say, I think this will be the best season to date, and I'm happy to see that the series is growing after a shaky start.

Brussels? Sounds like I might have to go for a road trip!

[JasonM]

15 minutes ago, EddieG said:

Brussels? Sounds like I might have to go for a road trip!

Clearly we need to have a 'Point to the Fanboost' get together 

Edited October 6, 2016 by Jasonmufc

[Katsuya]

My issue with Formula E is that it makes JEV look really, really bad on regular occasions.

[JasonM]

Attention, tomorrow is the season start of the Formula E as they race the very first Hong Kong E-Prix.

Seeing its an Asia race, that'll mean the race will start at 8AM UTC, 9AM English Time, 4AM EST. Or simply put, three hours after the start of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Some channels carry the action, but in some countries you can catch live streams on the FormulaE website itself.

Of course, since its early as fuck for all including our Aussie friends, the full race will no doubt end up on YouTube and the same goes for the recap packages.

I'll probably be posting race recaps from the official Formula E youtube, and ditto for full races the official FE youtube shares with the world. Full races from non-official sources, well you guys can find those easy enough on your own.

[EddieG]

If I wasn't working at noon, I'd have stayed up after work.  

[MDK]

What drivers should I be looking out for? Apart from Piquet Jr and little Nicky Prost, I don't think I know the drivers.

[Chris2K]

There's other ex F1 drivers in the defending champion Sebastian Buemi, Jerome D'Ambrosio, Lucas Di Grassi and Jean-Eric Vergne, but the most famous is probably Nick Heidfeld.

Robin Frijns is someone who has always deserved an F1 seat but never got one, from a UK perspective Sam Bird is probably a better driver than Joleon Palmer but doesn't have the name or the money to get a seat, Antonio Felix da Costa was always Red Bull's next prodigy but keeps being over-looked, and Jose Maria Lopez is an excellent driver that never got a break.

[JasonM]

1 minute ago, Chris2K said:

Jose Maria Lopez is an excellent driver that never got a break.

Well, he's a two time WTCC (World touringcar) Champion, and he's clinched his third in a row with only one racing weekend left. So he really is one of the best racing drivers in the world, if you'd look beyond F1 and Single seaters

[MDK]

3 minutes ago, Chris2K said:

There's other ex F1 drivers in the defending champion Sebastian Buemi, Jerome D'Ambrosio, Lucas Di Grassi and Jean-Eric Vergne, but the most famous is probably Nick Heidfeld.

Robin Frijns is someone who has always deserved an F1 seat but never got one, from a UK perspective Sam Bird is probably a better driver than Joleon Palmer but doesn't have the name or the money to get a seat, Antonio Felix da Costa was always Red Bull's next prodigy but keeps being over-looked, and Jose Maria Lopez is an excellent driver that never got a break.

I think all those ex F1 drivers I've never heard of because I stopped watching it during that time.

[JasonM]

Heidfeld drove in F1 between 2000 and 2011, getting 13 podiums and 259 points in that time. He's easily the most famous guy on the grid, and at the same time had the most famous crash in Formula E history, which was at the very first race ever. With Nico Prost, who interestingly is his Le Mans teammate and will also line up this year.

Sebastian Buemi has finished second and first in the first two seasons, and is the current champion. He drove three years for Scuderia Toro Rosso between 2009 and 2011. Additionally he's the 2014 World Endurance Champion.

JM Lopez I spoke of earlier. Three* time WTCC champion who is coming into his first FE season.

Nico Prost, son of Alain. A bit of a wanker, Le Mans winner in 2014.

Jerome D'Ambrosio drove for Marussia in 2011, but that's really everything to be said...

Nelson Piquet, Jr. Son of Nelson (obv), inaugeral Formula E champion, had a shit year last season. Drove for Renault F1 in 2008 and 2009, best known for being the crashing driver in the Crashgate scandal at the 2008 Singapore GP.

Lucas di Grassi drove 1 year for Virgin Racing in 2010. Was decent in GP2, and is part of the Audi WEC team.

Jean-Eric Vergne drove three years for Toro Rosso between 2012 and 2014, and is also the current test and reserve driver for Ferrari F1 since 2015.

Sam Bird (LMP2 champ in 2015), Oliver Turvey (Le Mans LMP2 winner), Stephane Sarrazin (drove a single F1 race in 1999! for Minardi), Loic Duval (2013 Le Mans and WEC LMP1 champion)

And some younger drivers that are in the system, or never got their shot... Robin Frijns, Mitch Evans (2012 GP3 champ), Daniel Abt (2012 GP3 runner up, daddy owns the team), Felix Rosenqvist (2015 F3 champ).

 

Tl;Dr - Beyond a few outliers, the field is comprised of a good balance between older veterans, stars from WEC/WTCC, Red Bull Academy rejects, and up and comers.

[Lineker]

Formula E returns this weekend, with coverage from Argentina available on Spike and Channel 5.

[Katsuya]

So things are getting very interesting for Formula E in the past couple of days, just ahead of the season finale this weekend (which Buemi should win again, given he's pretty much won every single race he's been in this season).

Mercedes have confirmed they'll be joining in 2018-19, and now Porsche have confirmed they'll be joining in that year too. BMW are getting involved too that year with Andretti's team. That's also the season hat the cars will be able to do a whole race without changes, which is going to help the show 100% I think. Should help give it a real push in to the mainstream!