London ePrix: Through the eyes of a Formula E convert

When I went to my first British Grand Prix in 2013 and watched a Ferrari doing a practice start, when it was half past seven in the morning, I’d been travelling for hours and it was freezing cold – the first thing that got me was the noise. Hearing that V8 for the first time, a sound that you don’t just hear but you feel too, is a moment that will be forever ingrained into my memory and a sound which, to me, is inescapably synonymous to motorsport.

Perhaps it’s no great surprise, therefore, that when an all-electric motor racing series was announced by the FIA, I wasn’t exactly its biggest advocate.

“It’ll be too quiet!” “It looks so fake!” “It’s like a real life version of Mario Kart!” – I’ll readily admit that I threw all of these accusations at the inaugural Formula E season and yet I’m sat writing this now as somewhat of an electric racing convert. After a rather last minute decision, I managed to attend the final round of the championship in Battersea Park yesterday and, on the most part, I really did like what I saw (and yes, heard!).

It wouldn’t have been a stereotypically British summertime trip if it hadn’t rained from the moment we stepped out of Victoria Coach Station until we set foot in Battersea Park, though that isn’t the reason I have to start my review of the day negatively. All weekend there were comments on social media about the poor organisation of the event and unfortunately we did fall victim to this as soon as we arrived. No-one manning the gates appeared to have any idea of what was going on and we were directed from one gate to another with only the very vague instructions of “just keep walking down the road.” Once the elusive Gate 2 had eventually been found, it was then another lengthy walk to find the e-Village which was actually closer to the first gate we’d gone to and thus the two laps of the park did feel a little pointless.

Having missed the drivers signing as a result of the exploration of Battersea, which was a spectacular place to hold the championship decider in spite of all the needless trekking, we did manage to find a brilliant spot directly in front of the podium from which to watch the race on the big screen. By this time the sun had come out and there was such a great, almost party-like, atmosphere as everyone geared up for the race to start. The “FormulaEJ” was also a brilliant feature and probably did quite a lot to soothe my qualms about the eerily quiet Scalectrix-esque engines...

The racing was incredible. It was exciting, it was wheel to wheel and you didn’t want to take your eyes of screen for a minute in case you missed that overtake that meant the title. Looking at the list of drivers, so many of whom are F1 alumni who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time for their shot at the “pinnacle of motorsport” – it was so refreshing to see them get their chance to prove their talent. When Sam Bird finally won, the feeling wasn’t really any different to when Lewis Hamilton won at Silverstone last year. The e-Village erupted in cheers, there was a mad rush to be at the front for the podium ceremony, and to be there to proudly see a new national sporting hero hailed as the anthem played. I was totally swept up in it all.

Formula E isn’t Formula 1 and I don’t think it should try to be. Yesterday’s race didn’t make me feel like I did when I heard those engines for the first time at Silverstone, it’s probably not a race I’ll remember every detail of in forty years time and Formula E probably isn’t a series that will rival my passion for F1 – but in the length of just one season, its first ever season, Formula E has most definitely ensured I’ll be tuning in for season two.

#formulae #formula1