Formula E

[Lineker]

Mercedes ditching DTM for FE is huge.

[Lineker]

 

[Katsuya]

JEV is 40 points clear now in the standings. It's also crazy to think he's only 28. 

[JasonM]

On 21/05/2018 at 21:01, Katsuya said:

JEV is 40 points clear now in the standings. It's also crazy to think he's only 28. 

At this point i'd rather see Haas drop RoGro and take a chance on giving JEV a second chance in F1. But then again, there are a few others i'd also want to see get a shot in F1, so yeah.

[Lineker]

Quote

The ABB FIA Formula E Championship will be shown on the BBC for the very first time, with the British public broadcaster bringing fans every race of the new season on its live events platform.

Starting on Dec. 15 with the opening round of Season Five, the Saudia Ad Diriyah E-Prix, the new partnership will see Formula E aired live across the BBC in the UK with all races available to watch via the BBC Sport website, BBC iPlayer and BBC red button.

Alongside the comprehensive online and digital coverage of the electric street racing series, one E-Prix will also be transmitted live on BBC network television this coming season.

“The ABB FIA Formula E Championship will continue to be broadcast to the masses and across a variety of platforms in the UK,” said Formula E media and business development director Ali Russell.

“It’s imperative that Formula E remained on a free-to-air network in such an important territory and key market for motorsport.

“What better place to showcase some of the best and most competitive racing than on the BBC.

“We’re fully-charged and ready for the new season on the streets of the most recognisable cities – and this year promises to be more intense and unpredictable than ever.”

BBC Sport director Barbra Slater added: “It’s great news that live motorsport is returning to our screens at the BBC.

“I’ve no doubt the upcoming season will bring with it some exciting wheel-to-wheel moments and we can’t wait for it to begin.”

E-racing365 initially reported during the Valencia pre-season test that Formula E was in talks with BBC for a 2018-19 broadcast deal.

[Chris2K]

Try and watch the last two laps of the Mexico City E-Prix from today, just absolute madness.

[Lineker]

Yesterday's Paris race was nuts. The race director seemed happy to let them go green flag racing in a torrential hail storm! Every fucker was spinning. 

[LUKIE]

Has anyone watched any full Formula-E races? I watched the highlights from this years races and it seems like loads of fun.

[Chris2K]

I've watched several, they can be a bit of a grind at times because the layout of the circuits really doesn't help overtaking, but then you get mad finishes and any crash usually results in a multi-car pile-up due to the lack of space.

I'd watch more if there was ever any proper advertising for them, I assume because the races are spread over so many channels (BT, EuroSport, BBC and another one I've forgotten) that they don't promote the races very often and I never know what weekend they're running and which channel the race is going to be on.

 

[Lineker]

Quest, isn't it?

[LUKIE]

The two opening Formula E races were really good.

[Chris2K]

I was willing to give this a watch this season, but then they scheduled their opening race of the season for 12pm on a Friday, so I didn't.

I have no idea why anyone thought that was a good decision.

[Chris2K]

Formula E given World Championship status from 2020-21 onwards

F1 is currently the only recognised World Championship, which means Formula E will be recognised as being at the same level. Which, you know, it isn't.

[The Lusophone]

There are Rally, Rallycross and Endurance events recognised as World Championships currently.

[Adam]

I believe F1 is the only other single-seater format that has World Championship status, not the only motorsport overall.

[JasonM]

10 minutes ago, Adam said:

I believe F1 is the only other single-seater format that has World Championship status, not the only motorsport overall.

Correct.

And this ruling for Formula E is basically to indicate that All-Electric racing is its own motorsport category now, just like Rally, Rallycross, Endurance, and conventional open wheeler racing.

Whether or not the actual quality is there, it's clear the sport is making a very rapid ascent, thanks to companies like Porsche, Mercedes, Nissan, BMW, and so forth investing heavily into being part of Formula E.

It's the premier FEV racing league, and I'm also thinking making them a world championship is the FIA taking steps to create a feeder pyramid for FEV racing.

Ultimately, other than it being open wheel and there being former F1 drivers competing, that's where most comparisons end.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Jasonmufc

[Chris2K]

So Daniel Abt got caught hiring a professional sim racing driver to replace him in the official Formula E eSports race at the weekend, which earned him a €10,000 fine. Now Audi have dropped him from racing in the actual, real-life event, claiming a breach of contract.

To me this seems unreasonably harsh, and given what other issues the drivers have had doing the online races during the lockdown I can't see an upside to them taking part.

[Adam]

I think he got what he deserves, personally. This whole thing has been set up as a proper, officially organised event to bring people sporting entertainment during this time and he's completely flown in the face of it by cheating.

Basically he was rubbish at it and couldn't handle that so decided to sneakily draft a ringer in, and got caught.

[Chris2K]

I can't help but disagree I'm afraid, I can understand sponsors or the team being upset that he lied, but to let something that happens in an online race determine someone's employment status for an actual race team seems completely out of sync with reality.

The way I look at it is that he was running at the back of the online races, thus damaging his reputation as a driver of cars in real life because people are taking these online races far too seriously given the lack of any actual racing going on, and so got someone in to replace him. I think Formula E are putting undue pressure on their drivers to take part in online races, in a way that F1 aren't hassling Hamilton, Vettel, Ricciardo etc. to do the same, and if you're not good at the sim game then you get put in the position Abt found himself in. Yes, the decisions he made were pretty stupid and incredibly easy to work out, but I do sympathise with why he felt the need to do it.

[Adam]

From what I understand the Race At Home Challenge has been set up tied to sponsors and also to raise money for charity, so when those stakes are added then him cheating is more serious. Esports is pretty serious business these days and Abt has gone into something set up to help people get through this awful time and spoiled the integrity of it.

He's blatantly cheated because he was crap at it, probably (and yes this is only my assumption) thought he would get away with it whatever because his family's name is literally in the team name, then got caught and punished. This thing has clearly been taking place as a proper thing for the past several weeks and he treated it with contempt.