Formula E 2019

[svensktoppen]

Yep! Five second penalty for Bird, dropped him to sixth, everyone else moved up.

Still left him series leader so that's something.

It's anything can happen season in formula E, no dominating teams or drivers.

 

[mn5587]

I had a wee watch of this today, I found it more interesting than F1 as of late. It's a good look into the future of racing as well as all that EV technology filtering down to normal cars.

They said on the show that the aero of the cars is designed so they can run very close to each other and it shows!

 

[Paddy_R]

Just starting on the BBC Red Button channel on Sky, Ch981, if anyone want to watch.

 

[Wild Thing]

with the likes of wsb, moto gp, formula e and btcc, formula one will really need to up its game, it might be the premier motorsport but its just so damn boring, the scandal around it is better craic to follow

 

[svensktoppen]

They said on the show that the aero of the cars is designed so they can run very close to each other and it shows!

Yes, similar to endurance, GT, Indy, etc. Can sit right up each other's gear boxes all day long, flat out.

The endurance racers are at least as quick as an F1 car, but they do that in the wake of slow traffic, etc. Indy sit as close as you like at 200mph all day long.

F1 really is becoming a dinosaur very quickly.

 

[impact]

Another great race.
Tough on Lotterer, I'm sure he's gutted but I see Bird was penalised after.

 

[MagicRat]

I watched some highlights last night on Quest just because of where the race was as I'm off to Hong Kong in a few weeks time. I thought the cars looked good and the onboard footage was impressive, you can see the drivers really trying to overtake and they race hard. A couple of things I didn't like because I thought they were unnecessarily gimmicky were the fan boost and the power boost the drivers got by driving slowly over some chevrons at the side of the track.

I watched the London race a couple of years ago and it was sh1t. They changed cars half way through the race and the circuit was awful, narrow and bumpy. The technology is moving on quickly and the cars can now race for 45 minutes and with major car manufacturers involved it will continue to improve quickly. I'll watch it again.

 

[impact]

The power boost thing after watching a few races seems to work OK as it adds a bit of extra strategy to a race to mix things up.
The fan boost just seems daft and unfair but I can only presume it makes teams extend their social media reach in order to attract votes and helps promote the sport. I would say once it becomes established enough it should go.

 

[svensktoppen]

Agree the fan boost is gimmicky and random.

But after watching a few races the power boost actually adds to things. Yes, it is a bit Mario Cart, lol, but it's worked out as a proper strategic tool and the organisers have got it pretty much spot on so far.

 

[Wild Thing]

Feck i feel stuuupid, i thought fan boost was like a cooling fan to aid performance. That vote thing is even more stuuuuuuupid than me

 

[Dave..]

I just can’t get past the noise, it is awful. The racing is way more exciting than F1.

 

[svensktoppen]

Another round in China today, both full race and highlights on iPlayer.

All kicked off in the last ten minutes again. Great dive by Vergne, superb result for Rowland, not so great for Sim, lol.

And change of guards at the top of the leader board yet again

 

[svensktoppen]

Decent race in Rome at the weekend. A bit slow at the start but really kicked off with the rain, lol - carnage

And as usual balls out at the front in the last ten minutes.

 

[Paddy_R]

Great race in Monaco. Was like bumper cars at various points and some epic overtakes. This really is great racing.

 

[svensktoppen]

Much better than F1 in Monaco, lol

Good result for Vergne too!

 

[svensktoppen]

Bigger and wider track in Berlin yesterday than usual.

As always really kicks off in last 10-15 minutes, beats F1 again for racing, lol.

You know they're doing it right when any of the top seven drivers could end up leading the championship at the end of the race!

 

[Paddy_R]

Have to say I really dislike the street circuits. Always have even in F1, I'd love to see them on a proper circuit like Spa or similar. Having said that the Formula E cars always put on a great race and when they can get the races to last longer than 45 mins at full tilt then F1 will start to have a serious competitor to worry about.

The Berlin race was a decent one but there is to much 'bump and run' style tactics for my liking.

 

[svensktoppen]

The Formula E cars are specifically designed for tight short street circuits though. Can follow closely, pass easily, and are relatively slow. They basically use road tyres too.

Batteries wouldn't last a single lap of a long high speed circuit like Spa. Even Monaco is a cut down version in Formula E.

Full electric won't bother Formula 1 for outright performance.

But the racing is far far better.

If they can loose the "lift and coast" phase then it would really be something. I doubt they can though, managing energy is an inherent part of going electric. Use it all at the start, or the end, or spread it out a bit. There's an optimal pattern for every circuit, and it's basically the same for everyone. You can't "design" it out.

 

[Paddy_R]

New season of this kicked off today. Its currently on the BBC red button (or Channel 981 on Sky). Should be interesting with a host of new manufacturers and top drivers.

 

[svensktoppen]

A bit early to start a new season?

Have they changed the cars anything this time?

This year was much better than before, big step up. Still a lot of "coasting though", most of the action kicking off in the last ten minutes. But usually really good at that point!

Another step like that would be great, less "coasting".

 

[Crow555]

I decided some time ago to give this more attention this year. I was actually pleasantly surprised that there is no more car swapping which did make a mockery of the sport a bit.

Yesterday's race was great. I was hoping the Porsche team would do well on their debut and Lotterer did a great job getting the 2nd spot on the podium.

The thing that has really struck me is how accessible the sport is - BBC Red Button, sport app, iplayer, YouTube, Facebook etc. OK the draw is probably a bit smaller than other established motorsports but it's great there are so many ways to watch it.

 

[Paddy_R]

With the likes of Porsche and Mercedes Benz joining the grid in Formula E and Volkswagen announching yesterday that they are withdrawing from all non electric motorsports (Volkswagen ends all non-electric motor sport activity) it shows that the manufacturers believe this is the future.

 

[svensktoppen]

The thing that has really struck me is how accessible the sport is - BBC Red Button, sport app, iplayer, YouTube, Facebook etc. OK the draw is probably a bit smaller than other established motorsports but it's great there are so many ways to watch it.

Agree with this. In a way they've had to, like you say, to grow the sport. But it's still good and a big step up from other motorsport confined to pay TV.

I like the way they try to engage the audience too. Some of it can be a bit gimmicky, like the driver bonus from a Facebook vote, lol. But other bits that tie in with gaming, like the bonus zones on track, have worked really well as tactical tools.

 

[Crow555]

The round 2 race was very eventful but not as enjoyable as round 1. The incidents and penalties made it quite stop-start. I don't think I picked up why Lotterer was demoted out of the points from 6th, I assume it must have been passing before the safety car line, lots seem to have been caught out with that today. There's still a bit of race control fine tuning to be done I think.