Formula E - The Future of Racing

I have been a life long Formula 1 fan... literally. Thanks to a Mum who has loved and followed F1 from before I was born (supporting a certain Nelson Piquet Snr - now there was a real character of the sport who is often not lauded for his achievements in F1!) I inevitably grew up hearing the scream of F1 engines and the shouts of excitement and disappointment from a very young age. But I have three brothers and we were all exposed to the same Formula 1 loving environment but I seem to be the one that got bitten hardest by the F1 bug!

Even so, even passionate F1 fans such as myself can get disillusioned with a sport that seems to be so preoccupied with everything but actual close, hard fought racing. As such, I was very happy to find that from the very first race of the new Formula E series in Beijing, excitement and close racing appears to the constant order of the day. The driver line up as well is top notch with a number of ex-F1 drivers who were racing as recently as last season!

The excitement of the sport, particularly noting all the current bad press with regards to the level of dominance of Mercedes in the current turbo era of F1, has to be put down to the relative equality of all the cars. Same chassis, same electric motor and powertrain and also - something maybe F1 should take more note of - the same aero-package on every car. Despite the latter the cars still look futuristic and with the differing liveries of all the various teams, it is not immediately obvious that the cars are pretty much the same.

The inaugural season of the new FIA championship for electrically powered cars began on 13 September 2014 at Beijing in China and will finish on 28 June 2015 in London after eleven races. All races are undertaken on temporary, inner city race circuits which adds to the spectacle. I for one am looking forward to the last two events that will take place in the heart of London (well Battersea Park) - a feat that even Bernie Ecclestone has been unable to achieve with F1!

I highly recommend the watching of a Formula E race just for the sheer closeness of the racing - something that perhaps the new era of F1 could learn a thing or two from...