“As it gains popularity and as the calendar increases, new teams and new manufacturers will be crucial. “Formula E is just beginning, and it is necessary to carefully examine the first season to see what works and what does not work,” he said. But Todt expects the learning process will quickly give way to growth and interest from more car manufacturers. Inevitably with so many new elements at work there will be glitches to iron out – not least of which recharging the power-thirsty chassis, which caused several problems during testing. For safety reasons a minimum time will be imposed for the change-over. They will also stop off in Monaco for a dose of F1-style glamour two weeks before next year’s grand prix.ĭrivers will have to make one mandatory pit stop during the race and will change more than just their tyres – they’ll switch cars. The planned ten-round schedule will maximise its exposure to the watching world with events in California, Miami, Buenos Aires and the scene of this weekend’s race – Beijing. That is partly because the calendar will exclusively visit circuits on city streets.

The event format is a departure from convention, with all the competitive action taking place on one day, including qualifying and the race. The Michelin rubber also marks a departure from other racing series as instead of racing slicks the cars will use grooved tyres which are designed to work in wet or dry weather conditions.Īnd it’s not just the cars which are novel.

Williams supply the all-important batteries which provide 200 kilowatts of juice, and the electronics which controls it all comes from McLaren. The ten teams all have the same hardware for this season, but from next year the rules will be relaxed to open up avenues for development.įIA president Jean Todt believes technology transfer to F1 will eventually be possible and some teams already have a hand in the technology. The FIA hopes that in a few years’ time we could be talking about this championship as the electric-powered equivalent of Formula One. It’s not hard to find reasons to be cynical about a new racing series – especially one which is developed around the concept of environmentally-friendly motoring.īut Formula E, the FIA’s new single seater championship which holds its first event this weekend in China, is ground-breaking in more ways than one.

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