Formula E 2022 Preview

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! Formula E 2022 Thoughts and Preview

I’ve had a Yo-Yo style relationship with Formula E ever since it first debuted back in 2014. When it was announced and I found out who some of the drivers would be, I was intrigued and decided I’d take a look.

It was a brand-new motorsport series after all and was sold a bit on the premise that it would be an all-electric version of Formula 1. You didn’t have to say anything else to get me to watch at that point.

The first race took place in Beijing and I remember being pleasantly impressed.

Sure the swapping over from one car to another halfway through because they didn’t have enough battery power to make it to the end of the race was amusing and took me out of the race for a minute, but I was willing to forgive this given that this was a first of its kind motor racing series.

Lucas di Grassi won the first-ever race after Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost crashed out on the final corner of the race.

Image: Formula E

My eyeballs were glued to the screen and I decided to sign up for more. That first season alone saw seven different race winners as Formula E exclusively visited street circuits and saw Nelson Piquet Jr. crowned as the first-ever Formula E Champion in London.

I watched the entirety of that first season and the second which then saw Sebastien Buemi become the new Champion.

The races were good for the most part and the Championship battles were close in both seasons and was decided in the final race – exactly what we want from motorsport.

You could also see the technology they were using starting to improve and this was interesting to learn about too, even if I couldn’t explain it to you now.

But after this, for reasons I’m not entirely sure of myself so let’s just say it was one of those things, I missed the start of the third season of Formula E and by the time I remembered that it was on, I think the season was already halfway finished. At this point, you’re probably thinking I was annoyed at discovering this – but you’d be wrong.

Despite having all the elements necessary (bar the proper sound that I think racing cars need, like the old F1 V10 engines) I didn’t feel like I was missing out on much. For contrast, if this had been Formula 1 I’d forgotten about somehow, I would’ve been livid.

So as I missed the third season of Formula E, naturally, I also missed season four and season five too. I caught glimpses of it here and there and learned that the drivers no longer had to swap cars halfway through the race (at least the technology was progressing as planned) but I didn’t feel enticed to come back into the fold and dedicate my weekend mornings to it in the same way that I blindly do for Formula 1.

I did find this odd given that I’d enjoyed the first two seasons but for me, it was lacking that special sauce that something like Formula 1 has that regardless of the year, draws you to the sofa every race weekend and forces you to watch.

Then after season six of Formula E ended in 2020, I discovered the Formula E documentary “And We Go Green.” As there’s not as massive a collection of motorsport films and documentaries as there should be, I obviously gave it a watch.

I caught up on what I’d missed for the past few seasons and was fascinated by the improvements that the teams and sport had made with the powertrains and how this was impacting how the e-Prix themselves were run. In the same way that Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” reeled in a plethora of new racing fans from all across the globe, “And We Go Green” made me want to get back into Formula E.

Image: Formula E

With close racing on street circuits old and new and drivers like Sam Bird, Nyck de Vries, Andre Lotterer and Jean Eric Vergne all in the mix, I thought maybe I’d jumped ship too early and now was the perfect time to get back on board.

Annoyingly though, season seven of Formula E was scattered across a range of channels in the UK, appearing on BBC 2 one week then Channel 5 or Channel 4 the next before hiding in the obscurity that is the BBC Red Button.

With plenty of other things to be getting on within the rest of my life, as well as making sure the likes of Formulas 1, 2, 3 and W-Series were being watched, I only ended up catching a handful of races that season.

But from what I did see, I found myself having mixed reactions. The racing in Rome was good and the fiasco that was Valencia amused me greatly – even if it did rub a lot of other fans up the wrong way. But it was the New York e-Prix that firmly put me on the fence about Formula E in a few ways.

On the one hand, as I mentioned before, the sport has a great list of drivers competing in it and the Championship battle is always a closely contested one. However, a big part of Formula E’s brand is that they race on street circuits in landmark cities around the world that the likes of Formula 1 just can’t.

But I couldn’t help but not be impressed with New York’s venue for the e-Prix because whilst it was in New York, you could only really see the recognizable parts of the big apple in the background of some shots if you were lucky.

The rest of the time, it looked like they were just racing around an abandoned slab of concrete that gave the infamous Las Vegas Grand Prix a run for its money. The same could be said of the London e-Prix that year with its bizarre half inside half outside track layout. For me, if you’re going to be racing in these big cities and advertising your races as such, you should do it properly and just don’t bother.

The drivers taking part at least deserve this much, never mind the fans.

So when it came to the start of the 2022 season back in January, I had a decision to make. Helpfully, Channel 4 secured the rights to the entire season – as they should for F1 but that’s another article.

Image: Formula E

They’ve also only got four presenters but this isn’t a criticism. I like that they have a small number of them because then both old fans and new ones can get used to them and build a relationship of sorts with them with a fair amount of ease. I ended up watching both races in Riyadh and despite the tight nature of the track that suggested overtaking would be rare, there was more than I thought there would be and I ended up enjoying the races more than I’d predicted.

Now that’s not to say that I’ve rekindled my romance with Formula E but this combination of a consistent broadcasting channel and presenters plus some good racing has done enough for me to want to commit to watching the entire Formula E season this year. Moreover, with significantly fewer races than Formula 1 and finishing in August instead of November, it’s easier to dedicate time to it.

Nick de Vries looks set to defend his title but Eduardo Mortara, Jake Dennis and others all look set to try and prise it away from him – again exactly what we want to see from motorsport year in year out. It’s also awesome to see teams like Porsche, Mercedes, Jaguar and Audi all duking it out in the same motorsport category – something that will hopefully translate at least in part to F1 in the near future.

So just when I thought that I’d glimpse Formula E from afar then, whilst I maintained my focus on an electric racing series I’ve definitely fallen in love with, Extreme E, its instead managed to get its hooks back into me and make me want to give it another go.

So if like me, you’re on the fence about it and want the opinion of a fellow motorsport fan like myself, I’d say give it a go this year. I have a good feeling about the Formula E 2022 season. Now I just have to hope that I don’t regret saying that come August.

Author: Thiemo Albers-Daly