Ex Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 driver Sebastien Buemi may have missed a certain victory in the Marrakesh Formula E race in January because he was unable to utilise Fanboost. Now Fanboost isn’t a resurrection of the famous Brabham BT 46B that won the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix and was subsequently withdraw before it was banned by the FIA. Fanboost in Formula E is when three drivers with the most votes from fans are awarded a significant burst of power, which they can deploy in a 5-second window during the second half of the race.
Buemi’s team discovered a problem with his water pump prior to the start of the race in Marrakesh and in order to give them time to find a solution, put Buemi into his ‘second’ car for the first part of the race. (Competitors have two cars as the battery life in each is not enough to last the race distance, hence a pit stop sees drivers jump out of one car into their ‘second’ car).
The problem for Buemi having led for most of the race was that his ‘second’ car had been programmed with the Fanboost that can only be used in the second half of the race. Having pitted and jumped into his now-fixed first car, he found himself without the much need extra power after rival Felix Rosenqvist passed him with a few laps remaining.
This highlights several problems with the Formula that has to question its credibility. What other mainstream sport allows a vote from fans to influence the outcome of the result. This does not happen in the Olympics, football, rugby, cricket, baseball, AFL, NBA, tennis, cycling and so on. Arguably it is no longer a pure contest when a competitor has an advantage because they have received more votes from fans.
Second, while there will be an evolution that will see a new battery utilised which will last for the whole race, the problem with electric vehicles is the ‘journey’ is all about them and not the journey.
David Linkwater, a Stuff motoring journalists highlights this in his 8 January 2018 article titled ‘The highs and lows of living with an electric vehicle’. One of the key points he makes is that the car becomes the focus of the trip and the question asked is ‘Do I have enough range’? In Formula E, the racing is all about the car and not about going as fast as they can without the confines of whether it will complete the ‘journey’. It is the driver’s conservatism that may create the biggest gains.
It would be all too easy to dismiss Formula E but there are good arguments for Kiwi fans to wait before making such a decision.
It has credibility because there are major car manufacturers either involved or getting involved – Jaguar, Mercedes, Porsche, Renault, Mahindra, Audi, and DS.
It has an increasing number of brands that are now connected to it, arguably more so than other FIA categories – ABB, Panasonic, Andretti.
The third argument is persuasive. Our own and successful driver Mitch Evans competes with the Jaguar Panasonic team. Evans has established a very good reputation as a single seater driver in TRS, GP3, GP2 and now is hunting for his first win for the Jaguar Team. Is dismissing Formula E dismissing the judgement of a credible Kiwi driver?
Evans faces seven more rounds in a 12 round season from September 2017 through to July this year. It’s a showcase category that takes in major cities such as New York, Zurich, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Mexico, and Hong Kong and is the exact recipe for electric vehicle manufacturers to promote their brand.
One can pause and wait to see what eventuates with Formula E, but as a renown F1 journalist recently said, ‘the viewer numbers are low and the cars are slow.’
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