Is Formula E still on the rise? We buckle into its harder, faster GenBeta prototype and send Ollie Kew for a spin...
WORDS OLLIE KEW PHOTOGRAPHY JOHN WYCHERLEY & OLGUN KORDAL
How is Formula E not the biggest sport on the face of the planet? By now it ought to have amassed the wealth and global audience to make LIV golf, Saudi Pro League footie and Formula One look about as powerful as a village lawn bowls club.
Next season will be Formula E’s 10th. The recipe ticks every box a manufacturer, driver, broadcaster and spectator could ask for. Carmakers like the afterglow of competition pedigree, but only if it gels with their electrified ambitions. Drivers (publicly) want broadly comparable cars that let their talent – not wind tunnel wizardry – propel them to the top. Viewers want close racing, overtaking and the potential for carbon fibre to go flying every so often. And if that’s guaranteed, the broadcasters will keep signing on for next season. Holding the races in cities means the series is also accessible to folks who wouldn’t trek to Silverstone or Spa. It wouldn’t even get clobbered by the ULEZ.
Formula E says all the metrics point in the right direction, with audience share swelling, sold-out grandstands and fanbase feedback overtaking NASCAR and MotoGP. But thanks to Netflix, it’s Formula One that’s been catapulted from a nerdy purgatory into a worldwide phenomenon of memes and heartthrobs. So you probably hadn’t noticed that this year’s Portland ePrix had 403 overtakes. And that ahead of this season’s penultimate round, any one of four FE drivers had a title shout. F1 hasn’t enjoyed such a wide open season climax in a decade.
Meanwhile, Formula E cars themselves aren’t what they used to be. Remember 2014, when the gangly newbies mustered less power than a Boxster and their batteries couldn’t last an entire race? Forget fresh tyres, the drivers literally had to pit for a whole car halfway through each event, clumsily unbuckling themselves and sprinting across the garage to be belted into a freshly charged twin.
That unedifying spectacle was purged in 2018 when the Gen2 cars arrived, teaming a Dallara chassis with a McLaren engineered battery. Those cars were again superseded in 2023 with this Gen3 car. Part stealth bomber, part Christmas tree. Now developing up to 469bhp and capable of six times more regen than the early cars (explaining the 10p pieces behind the front wheels and the total absence of rear brakes), a Gen3 racer is good for in excess of 200mph
