Formula E sparked into life on Saturday, with the first ever ePrix taking place around the streets of Beijing.
Having covered quite a lot of the build-up to the new series on RumbleStripNews, I was naturally excited and intrigued to see how the race would go. Here are my first impressions.
Firstly, here is a quick summary of the Beijing ePrix for any of you who missed it. All of the action took placed on one day, with Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi topping the two morning practice sessions.
Nicolas Prost secured pole position a little while later, with the e.Dams-Renault driver setting the quickest time from all four 10-minute sessions.
On Saturday afternoon the race started, with Prost holding on to the lead into turn one despite front-row starter di Grassi being awarded the Fan Boost (Karun Chandhok and Katherine Legge were the other two to receive the boost in electric power).
There were plenty of battles up and down the field, with Senna being an early casualty on lap one after contact with another driver. Franck Montagny charged up the field and put in some bold overtakes. The pit stop and car swap phase saw Nick Heidfeld jump to second place, with Prost extending his lead.
However, the Venturi driver closed in on the Frenchman and made his move at the final corner on the last lap. The two collided (more on that later) with Heidfeld’s car being pitched into the air and the barriers, flipping over and landing upside down. It was a very scary crash but fortunately he managed to walk away from it unharmed, showing the strength of the new machines.
The Drivers
The Formula E grid for the inaugural 2014/2015 season is packed full of well-known names and familiar faces, which is great to see. Senna, di Grassi, Heidfeld and Jarno Trulli – as well as many others – have all previously competed in F1, while there are some talented youngsters and sports car stars in the mix too.
There were a few pre-season movements, with Oriol Servia replacing Mike Conway at Dragon Racing, Takuma Sato taking the place of Antonio Felix da Costa for the Beijing round and Charles Pic filling the final Andretti seat.
I am sure we will see more drivers enter the series but the grid is certainly impressive, and the quality really showed in most of the racing on Saturday afternoon.
The Teams
There are some big companies and famous names in the series. The likes of Andretti, DAMS and Audi Sport have all enjoyed success in other championships, while brands like Virgin have also got involved. It is great to see such an interest in the new all-electric championship and they all worked extremely professionally and did a great job on Saturday.
The Car
It is a beautiful looking machine, don’t you think? Watching the Spark-Renault SRT_01E around the streets of Beijing was amazing to see, especially considering the fact that it was not launched that long ago.
Yes, it isn’t the fastest single-seater in the world but it was never designed to be. It is still quick and it seems very challenging to drive, which is always good for those watching. The technology in each car is just mind-boggling and hugely impressive.
The Racing
I personally thought we saw some good and exciting racing during Saturday’s Beijing ePrix and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We saw some fantastic overtakes; some great wheel-to-wheel racing and it definitely exceeded my expectations - particularly with the track layout featuring some very tight chicanes and 90-degree corners.
I was excited for the launch of this new series, but I was worried that it would disappoint. Testing times had been spread out, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a much closer field of drivers.
I thought the start was great, seeing all of these brand new cars leaving the grid and heading to turn one for the first time. It was a great moment for motorsport. The warm-up lap was a bit too slow for my liking, as was the speed behind the safety car, but I am sure they will increase as the series develops.
The pit stops were a bit strange and I’m not a particular fan of the car swaps but again, as the Formula E continues the technology will improve. It is a shame there is a minimum time as a fast stop could really shake-up the race and the order.
Overall, though, I thought the racing was great. Apart from, that is, the final corner crash. It had me almost leaping from my seat, but following a few worrying seconds Heidfeld managed to get out of the car and run away from the scene of the accident – although the reaction from the marshals was a little slow.
In my view, Prost was in the wrong. A racing driver should never swerve like that in the braking zone, it was dangerous and he got off lightly with just a 10-place grid penalty. He admitted later that it was his own fault and rightly so, hopefully we don’t see anything driving like that again.
The crash also once again highlighted the problem with these sausage kerbs. We saw it in GP3 practice at Spa, with one of the Trident drivers getting some serious air. It is concerning and had it not been there, Heidfeld’s accident would have been much safer.
The Sound
I personally like the sound of the cars, or what I could hear from through the TV speakers. It is so futuristic and I imagine the volume is a lot better trackside – especially at the start.
During the warm-up lap, start and safety car period music was played in the background by the DJ – or, as he is now called in Formula E, the ‘EJ’ – and I saw a lot of people complaining about this on Twitter. I don’t really mind it, it didn’t get in the way of the action and drown out the commentators, and I think they used just the right amount during the race.
The Coverage
As I live in the UK, I tuned in to ITV4’s coverage of Formula E. It was nice to have a one-hour build-up beforehand, I expect this may decrease at future races as obviously Beijing was the first ever round, to introduce the series and I thought Jennie Gow largely did a great job as the main presenter.
Audi Sport Team Joest race engineer Kyle Wilson-Clarke provided some interesting insight and I particularly liked Jann Mardenborough’s Spark-Renault SRT_01E feature, were he got to sample the car at Donington Park.
However, the GP3 driver did seem to be very nervous. I’m not saying I wouldn’t be, I’d be petrified, but it was a little awkward to watch at times. His comments were largely good though and he seemed to get more comfortable as the show progressed.
ITV used the world feed commentary of Jack Nichols and Dario Franchitti, which I thought worked really well. I particularly enjoyed Franchitti’s insight and I think he is a great addition to the team.
Conclusion
Overall, I think Formula E has got off to a good start. We saw some – mostly – good racing and there weren’t too many hiccups. Sure, it wasn’t perfect and there is still plenty of room for improvement, but we have to remember that this is the first ever race in a brand new championship.
The series has established a good base and everyone involved should be really proud of what they have achieved so far. I’m now even more excited about Formula E and can’t wait to not only see the next race, but also what the future holds for the series.
What did you think of the all-electric championship’s first ePrix? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
 |
| © FIA Formula E |
Firstly, here is a quick summary of the Beijing ePrix for any of you who missed it. All of the action took placed on one day, with Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi topping the two morning practice sessions.
Nicolas Prost secured pole position a little while later, with the e.Dams-Renault driver setting the quickest time from all four 10-minute sessions.
On Saturday afternoon the race started, with Prost holding on to the lead into turn one despite front-row starter di Grassi being awarded the Fan Boost (Karun Chandhok and Katherine Legge were the other two to receive the boost in electric power).
There were plenty of battles up and down the field, with Senna being an early casualty on lap one after contact with another driver. Franck Montagny charged up the field and put in some bold overtakes. The pit stop and car swap phase saw Nick Heidfeld jump to second place, with Prost extending his lead.
However, the Venturi driver closed in on the Frenchman and made his move at the final corner on the last lap. The two collided (more on that later) with Heidfeld’s car being pitched into the air and the barriers, flipping over and landing upside down. It was a very scary crash but fortunately he managed to walk away from it unharmed, showing the strength of the new machines.
 |
| © FIA Formula E |
The Formula E grid for the inaugural 2014/2015 season is packed full of well-known names and familiar faces, which is great to see. Senna, di Grassi, Heidfeld and Jarno Trulli – as well as many others – have all previously competed in F1, while there are some talented youngsters and sports car stars in the mix too.
There were a few pre-season movements, with Oriol Servia replacing Mike Conway at Dragon Racing, Takuma Sato taking the place of Antonio Felix da Costa for the Beijing round and Charles Pic filling the final Andretti seat.
I am sure we will see more drivers enter the series but the grid is certainly impressive, and the quality really showed in most of the racing on Saturday afternoon.
The Teams
There are some big companies and famous names in the series. The likes of Andretti, DAMS and Audi Sport have all enjoyed success in other championships, while brands like Virgin have also got involved. It is great to see such an interest in the new all-electric championship and they all worked extremely professionally and did a great job on Saturday.
The Car
It is a beautiful looking machine, don’t you think? Watching the Spark-Renault SRT_01E around the streets of Beijing was amazing to see, especially considering the fact that it was not launched that long ago.
Yes, it isn’t the fastest single-seater in the world but it was never designed to be. It is still quick and it seems very challenging to drive, which is always good for those watching. The technology in each car is just mind-boggling and hugely impressive.
 |
| © FIA Formula E |
I personally thought we saw some good and exciting racing during Saturday’s Beijing ePrix and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We saw some fantastic overtakes; some great wheel-to-wheel racing and it definitely exceeded my expectations - particularly with the track layout featuring some very tight chicanes and 90-degree corners.
I was excited for the launch of this new series, but I was worried that it would disappoint. Testing times had been spread out, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a much closer field of drivers.
I thought the start was great, seeing all of these brand new cars leaving the grid and heading to turn one for the first time. It was a great moment for motorsport. The warm-up lap was a bit too slow for my liking, as was the speed behind the safety car, but I am sure they will increase as the series develops.
The pit stops were a bit strange and I’m not a particular fan of the car swaps but again, as the Formula E continues the technology will improve. It is a shame there is a minimum time as a fast stop could really shake-up the race and the order.
Overall, though, I thought the racing was great. Apart from, that is, the final corner crash. It had me almost leaping from my seat, but following a few worrying seconds Heidfeld managed to get out of the car and run away from the scene of the accident – although the reaction from the marshals was a little slow.
In my view, Prost was in the wrong. A racing driver should never swerve like that in the braking zone, it was dangerous and he got off lightly with just a 10-place grid penalty. He admitted later that it was his own fault and rightly so, hopefully we don’t see anything driving like that again.
The crash also once again highlighted the problem with these sausage kerbs. We saw it in GP3 practice at Spa, with one of the Trident drivers getting some serious air. It is concerning and had it not been there, Heidfeld’s accident would have been much safer.
 |
| © FIA Formula E |
I personally like the sound of the cars, or what I could hear from through the TV speakers. It is so futuristic and I imagine the volume is a lot better trackside – especially at the start.
During the warm-up lap, start and safety car period music was played in the background by the DJ – or, as he is now called in Formula E, the ‘EJ’ – and I saw a lot of people complaining about this on Twitter. I don’t really mind it, it didn’t get in the way of the action and drown out the commentators, and I think they used just the right amount during the race.
The Coverage
As I live in the UK, I tuned in to ITV4’s coverage of Formula E. It was nice to have a one-hour build-up beforehand, I expect this may decrease at future races as obviously Beijing was the first ever round, to introduce the series and I thought Jennie Gow largely did a great job as the main presenter.
Audi Sport Team Joest race engineer Kyle Wilson-Clarke provided some interesting insight and I particularly liked Jann Mardenborough’s Spark-Renault SRT_01E feature, were he got to sample the car at Donington Park.
However, the GP3 driver did seem to be very nervous. I’m not saying I wouldn’t be, I’d be petrified, but it was a little awkward to watch at times. His comments were largely good though and he seemed to get more comfortable as the show progressed.
ITV used the world feed commentary of Jack Nichols and Dario Franchitti, which I thought worked really well. I particularly enjoyed Franchitti’s insight and I think he is a great addition to the team.
Conclusion
Overall, I think Formula E has got off to a good start. We saw some – mostly – good racing and there weren’t too many hiccups. Sure, it wasn’t perfect and there is still plenty of room for improvement, but we have to remember that this is the first ever race in a brand new championship.
The series has established a good base and everyone involved should be really proud of what they have achieved so far. I’m now even more excited about Formula E and can’t wait to not only see the next race, but also what the future holds for the series.
What did you think of the all-electric championship’s first ePrix? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
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