Formula E’s 100 races and beyond

As the all-electric championship reached a milestone in Seoul, it’s worth looking back and assessing how far it’s come... and acknowledging the challenges that lie ahead

“The Gen2 car looked like nothing that had gone before, except in a Batman movie”

It’s the end of a generation in Formula E. As the chequered flag fell on the second Seoul E-prix last weekend, the all-electric series’100th race, it also marked the end of the Gen2 era that picked up a nascent championship and transformed it into something beyond. It brought a new visual style, more power and guided Formula E through a pandemic and a manufacturer exodus. The venerable warhorse is now being put out to pasture in anticipation of the faster, smaller and more sustainable Gen3 package.

Aside from not being able to complete a full race distance, if there was any criticism laid at the door of the original-generation Formula E car it was that it looked too much like an amalgamation of every other single-seater racer out there. The front end was very Formula 1 in intent, and the rear not dissimilar to Indycar. It suggested Formula E was there to compete with the established names, rather than complement them. The complete overhaul in bodywork for Gen2 evoked a very different image.

It looked like nothing that had been done before, except perhaps in a Batman movie. It was more than just a car, but an encapsulation of the progress that had been made since the first season of the championship, and a clean-sheet design that instead became something of a face and a marketing tool.

That’s not to knock everything that the Gen1 car did, as it was a means of getting the series off the ground. The clunky aesthetics and the clumsy car changes mid-race were also necessities in building a championship. People haven’t been racing electric cars for over 100 years as they have with internal combustion engines, and thus Formula E was placed in the unenviable position of having to do all its growing up in the social media age.

But the Gen2 car alleviated a few of the early concerns about Formula E. That the series got as far as the fifth season, in which the Gen2 car appeared, given the championship’s financially motivated brush with death as soon as it started, was no mean feat.

In its hunt for strategic variation, the Gen2 car was paired with an attack mode function to inject a tactical element into the races. Is it a gimmick? Well, sure. Clearly, the organisers had been playing a lot of Mario Kart in the little hours of the morning, but it’s again something that has (largely) worked.

Formula E stopped being where failed F1 drivers went to retire and became its own domain and destination in the motorsport sphere. It has accepted F1 cannot be stripped of its ever-increasing reputation, and has instead started to plough its own furrow.

Part of that change in strategy has been underpinned by the new qualifying system. Formula E did not need the added randomness of the four-group qualifying format that handed the drivers lower in the championship a huge advantage. A more meritocratic system was implemented, but without lifting an already triedand-tested format from another series. Instead, the field was split into two groups, and the top four of each would progress to a knockout system – and it’s been a huge success.

That Stoffel Vandoorne could piece together a championship with one win and a hatful of consistency is the best indicator of the new qualifying system’s success. The very idea was created to give a fairer chance to the faster drivers and teams to fight for victories, rather than try to rescue minor points from a lowly grid placing under the old set-up. Formula E still wants some degree of parity among the teams and it’s still possible for the little outfits to pick up a good result – but they’re not qualifying at the front just because track conditions proved better for the final group.

As ever, there’s an elephant in the room, especially in looking ahead to Gen3. Most automotive manufacturers today have at least one EV offering on the market, and Formula E ought to be the laboratory and the promoter of those cars – develop on Friday, win on Saturday (and maybe Sunday), and sell on Monday. That BMW, Mercedes and Audi have now all left suggested that Formula E isn’t the draw for the automakers that it expected to be. There were only seven takers for the initial run of Gen3 powertrains, and two of those – DS and Maserati – are expected to use similar technology given both are Stellantis brands.

Aesthetically, the Gen3 car is divisive as well, although the drivers have promised that the new machinery is a lot quicker, owing to its 350kw powertrain. The facts and figures behind the car are very impressive: 600kw of regenerative potential, recycled and natural materials used in the build, and 40% of energy used in a race will come from regeneration. But it’s about how Formula E can use those facts and stats to entice the next wave of manufacturers into the championship.

There may be more changes to the format coming – in-race pitstops, a switch back to lap-count races and fast charging have all been mooted – but nothing is yet concrete for next year’s Mexico opener. Formula E has to continue to build its appeal, working with manufacturers on how Gen4 should be shaped. Here’s to the next 100 races, and here’s to a future without Fanboost… please?