How Formula 1 could learn some important lessons from the success of Formula E

Formula 1 is the established standard for motorsport as a whole. It has expanded far and wide since the first world championship race at Silverstone in 1950, demonstrated by the $4.6 billion that Liberty Media paid for it. Up until 5 years ago, Formula 1 was the only mainstream form of car racing, when Formula E was set up. As the name suggests, it is a fully electric version of Formula 1, with the cars racing for one hour around street circuits across the world. As it pauses midway through its sixth season, its popularity is shooting through the roof, with its viewership increasing by 61%, and total event attendance exceeding 400,000. Despite the rises, its cumulative TV audience of 411 million still pales at Formula 1’s 1.9 billion viewers. Although Formula E is not a competitor to the established dominance of Formula 1, if Formula 1 does not learn to adapt, it will be under threat of being surpassed by Formula E. Therefore, it needs to use some of the techniques that allow Formula E to produce tense and engaging racing.

Although there have been some exciting races in the recent F1 calendar, especially in the wet, like Hockenheim last year, they are few and far between. Mercedes have won the constructor’s championship for 5 years in a row. Many races just consist of Lewis Hamilton leading from pole to chequered flag and as he said himself, the racing should be a test of the drivers, not just a test of the engineers. Meanwhile, in Formula E, the first 5 races have had five different winners, and every race tends to be competitive. This is partly due to the chassis of the cars being the same, which is a step too far for the F1 purists, and also due to the rear diffusers, that allow the cars to race close to each other. Currently in Formula 1, when cars race close together, the trailing car loses 40% of their downforce due to the rear wings of the car creating turbulent air, and so the cars are not able to race behind eachother for extended periods of time. This is why Formula E is so much more exciting, and why the 2021 regulations, which attempt to solve this problem, must be passed. They are currently unpopular with the bigger teams, as the regulations also attempt to introduce a budget cap, which may end their dominance, and have been put on hold due to COVID-19. To attract more people to the sport, the dominance of the big teams must end, and so for the good of the sport must make a sacrifice.

 Formula 1 is still set up as it always has been, with very little involvement with the fans, outside of watching the race. In comparison Formula E is much more fan friendly, and it even lets the fans give certain drivers a power boost, called Fan Boost. Again, this would anger F1 purists, but it is things like this that bring young people flocking to Formula E. 72% of Formula E’s fans are under 35. It’s a huge number but is not really surprising when you consider how marketed it is towards younger individuals. People with less time, or attention span, do not want long drawn out races, decided by pit stops strategy, they want to see sharp, overtaking racing, that they can get involved with. It is also not as if there is no strategy in Formula E, with attack mode, something that you get once per race, that also grants you a power boost, as well as a battery that runs out pretty much as the race finishes, so it caters to everyone. As well as this, it is all on street circuits, which are much tighter than the F1 tracks, and make for better racing. Formula E is catered towards fans much more than Formula 1, and a fan boost could be applied easily, by granting DRS down straights even if you are not within the one second activation zone. Many people within the Formula 1 circuit believe that it should remain a pure battle, untarnished by any outside influence. But if they had their way, it would jeopardise the sport’s influence in the world.

Formula E is a great concept, and it could quite reasonably co-exist alongside Formula 1. There is the obvious question of how long Formula 1 will remain hybrid, but that will probably be some years down the road. What will happen then remains to be seen, but up until that point, Formula One needs to also adapt with the times, or risk being left behind by a more modern, more exciting, Formula E.