Formula E, Audi, BMW, Porsche, LMdh, and the Future

In recent weeks there have been some responsibly written articles about the future of Formula E, but also some examples of areas of the press corps seizing on the announced departures of BMW and Audi from the series at the end of Season Seven (the 2021 season) to paint this as part of a wider malaise.

While at least one of these pieces uses as its basis an interview that former Dragon Formula E driver Loic Duval gave to the Motorsport Network, and old comments given by 1997 Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, it is worth taking a deeper dive into the issues affecting Formula E, to see if there is any credence in the issues being raised.

Thanks to its recent success in taking manufacturers who might otherwise be in other series, and its promotion of all-electric technology, Formula E and its proponents have found themselves in a kind of culture war with the sort of people who have numbers in their Twitter account names. The motorsport fan community has become as polarised as the political world, and it would be naive to think that some journalism wasn’t being produced to reflect that as much as to influence it.

As such, any retrenchment by Formula E seems to be gleefully seized-upon by some as a sign of its impending demise. Just as Formula E did not scream from the rooftops that it was superior to other forms of motorsport when it ended 2019 with the best grid it had ever had, so too it is a useful exercise to look at problems and potential solutions, and attempt a nuanced reaction to this latest bad news.

The manufacturers’ announcement was undoubtedly made worse for Formula E by the subsequent confirmation that, due to the continued spread of COVID-19, the opening race in Santiago in January would not take place, with the season starting instead in Diriyah in February. We’ll explore this later, but a global pandemic does make Formula E more vulnerable to change than most other series, given its entire reason for being is to take racing to the streets of cities, and to encourage mixing of people. A city street circuit behind closed doors doesn’t make any practical sense.

The hope is that COVID-19 will not be as much of a factor for later races, though given the current slow speed of vaccination (at the time of writing) in, say, the UK, there will likely be questions, again, over the London E-Prix which is not confirmed for this season, but is expected to close the season.

We’ll talk more about Formula E’s operating model. First, let’s deal with Duval’s quotes.

Is Formula E truly boring to drive in?

Part of the critique of Formula E rests on Duval having said, based on his knowledge of the original Spark chassis, that drivers only say they like racing there “because they are being paid” to do so. This is one of those statements that stands up purely on the fact that it is impossible to prove or disprove it. The only people who will ever criticise the handling of a Formula E car, and the quality of the racing, are disaffected or disgruntled former employees of teams, such as Duval, one of a long and distinguished list of drivers dismissed by Jay Penske over the years.

While many drivers have praised the exciting racing in Formula E, it is true to say that most people who have gone on record as enjoying driving the cars are currently on a team’s payroll. This is as much a result of Formula E being a young category, and not many drivers having actually left with substantial experience to draw upon, as anything. Felix Rosenqvist left Formula E for IndyCar at the end of 2018, but maintained a good relationship with the Mahindra team to the end, and seems to have nothing bad to say about his former series.

Felipe Massa, after he knew he would not be staying on at Venturi, railed against the category’s core tenet of energy management, citing that he felt it took away from the racing. Massa will, though, remember well that Formula One has had to resist charges that it is a tyre-management formula ever since Pirelli became the sole supplier, and that before that, it was said that fuel strategy made the racing boring.

Former Formula E driver Loic Duval caused controversy in a recent interview (photo under licence and copyright FIA Formula E)

There is no one motorsport formula that promises wall-to-wall thrills, but arguably Massa’s difficulties in Formula E were exacerbated by his difficulties moving from a non-contact aero formula to one where drivers go into races expecting to be rubbed, and where there are plenty of drivers who don’t mind intimidating others in a midfield scramble. He was beaten over two seasons by Edoardo Mortara, who is a veteran of series where broad shoulders and sharp elbows are needed, like DTM and Blancpain, but who pairs that resilience with great technical feedback and understanding.

So, let’s answer the question: is Formula E boring? It seems the majority of people who believe it to be are drivers like Massa, Villeneuve, and Duval, who made a name for themselves in other forms of racing and found themselves unable to fully adapt to the unique requirements of electric street racing, or who came into Formula E without the resources to challenge at the front. Hence it could be argued that Formula E’s supporters are largely paid to be nice, but equally it could be argued that the only people who express dislike for Formula E are those not paid to race in it.

Put it this way: plenty of drivers have gone to Nascar from single-seater formulae and been unable to get to grips with the handling characteristics of a heavy, low-downforce stock car, and yet there is a line out of the door and around the corner of drivers who would like to race there. Formula E is not Nascar, but there will always be people who want to race there. For goodness’ sake: Maximilan Günther and Nyck de Vries both put their principal focus on finding drives in Formula E rather than on securing a Formula One test and reserve deal, and both are arguably reaping the benefits of that now. Others will follow. This isn’t the main problem Formula E needs to worry about.

Manufacturers might have a problem

Audi and BMW are two very different corporations with vastly different aims and management styles, and it isn’t fair to group both of their departures together. Audi left top-level sportscar racing having won Le Mans 13 times, with the Dieselgate scandal forcing a reassessment of its racing activities. With hindsight, it was a perfect time to pull out of LMP1, having won everything there was to win, with statistics that the marketing people could dine out on for a few years hence. The focus was switched to Formula E, with the byword being electrification. Now Audi is returning to Le Mans, because it sees a chance to win again under the new LMDh regulations.

BMW entered Formula E as a factory team two seasons ago, at the start of the Gen2 era, and has been around in the series for a very short time compared to Audi, who provided technical support to Abt Sportsline right at the start. BMW’s problems, it could be argued, have not come from any particular engineering flaw, indeed, both Maximilian Günther and Alexander Sims took race wins last season, showing the pace of the package.

Possibly BMW will look back and wonder if the right choice was joining forces with a Formula E team, Andretti, which had no experience of being involved in a title fight. This will seem unfair on Andretti Autosport, an enormously successful organisation with a long motorsport history, but in both of BMW’s first two Formula E seasons, the car came roaring out of the box with early-race wins, before hitting inconsistency later on. When this happens, it can be for myriad reasons, but it is often because development does not go in the right, or optimal, direction.

BMW’s genuine hope for the driver’s title in Season Seven comes from Günther, a driver who has shown enormous promise and blinding speed, but has also shown rawness when battling in the pack, and who is still potentially a few years off his peak as a frontrunning driver. Still, BMW might leave Formula E as the reigning champions, if the cards fall in the right way.

The Munich manufacturer said in a press release to explain its decision, “When it comes to the development of e-drivetrains, BMW Group has essentially exhausted the opportunities for this form of technology transfer in the competitive environment of Formula E.” There is room for technological diversity in Formula E, though the background to BMW’s statement is worth looking at deeper.

BMW surprised many with their decision to withdraw at the end of 2021 (photo under licence and copyright FIA Formula E)

BMW may have been a little disingenuous. Its reasons for leaving Formula E can also be tied in with its retreat from DTM, and can be marked as related to the global pandemic, the ensuing recession, and the impossibility of selling premium luxury cars in the numbers required to satisfy the board. It is, by most indicators, a financial and safeguarding decision. BMW has, for some time, come across as quite a risk-averse organisation, having left Formula One at the end of 2009 due to the effects of the 2008 financial crisis.

In spite of Porsche being part of the VAG group with Audi, the Stuttgart firm actually left frontline sportscar racing under happier circumstances, on its way to Formula E. While Audi was thought to be in the middle of designing a new LMP1 machine when it withdrew, Porsche was able to retire its 919 hybrid in 2018 having won Le Mans three times, the WEC title three times, and taken the overall lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a special version of the car. Electrification of half of Porsche’s range by 2025 was cited as its rationale for moving to Formula E, it seemed, on balance, time to move on to a new challenge.

Porsche and Audi both committed to their future motorsport activities being in the name of promoting their emphasis on electric vehicles and green motoring. That was before the LMDh regulations were finalised, and it is indisputable that the new formula for sportscar racing is attractive for manufacturers - it gives them a chance to compete at all blue-riband sportscar events with the same car, which they can shape to share a family look with their roadgoing model range. A 500kW hybrid power unit ticks at least some of the green boxes for the two marques.

This is especially the case in the light of Porsche announcing, for example, that the 2024 version of their cornerstone 911 model will feature synthetic fuels, with potentially a hybrid motor on the way as an option, rather than going all-in on electric power and potentially alienating traditionalist customers. Both companies have followed up on their promise to take the sale of electric vehicles seriously, with, in particular, the Porsche Taycan being a blockbuster sales success.

At the moment, both sportscar racing and Formula E are crucial to Porsche’s brand values. If the Stuttgart top-brass reach a point, as with Audi, reach a point when they no longer need Formula E in order to promote their model range, then, yes, Formula E might have an issue. The same goes with Nissan, which was forced into a global board reshuffle last year, and Jaguar, whose parent company has been feeling the economic pinch for some time, and may suffer further due to Brexit.

The main difficulty, though, isn’t caused by Formula E, but by the fact that another code of racing - sportscar racing - has finally come up with a cost-saving formula that brings access to Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring. Saying “we won Le Mans” is still, being realistic, far more powerful for the majority of marketing professionals than saying “we won the Formula E title,” and it’ll take some time for that to change, particularly with a car culture war being fought online, and plenty of people still using ‘petrolhead’ as a term of endearment.

To be fair, with the exception of Formula One’s highest-profile prizes, nothing in motorsport has the profile of the Le Mans 24 Hours, and in several low points in the chequered history of sportscar racing, it has been the glue holding that part of the sport together. It’s still a hell of a draw for any team that wants to sell road cars off the back of what it’s doing.

What can Formula E do?

Porsche consider Formula E an important part of their marketing (photo under licence and copyright FIA Formula E)

The aforementioned issues for Formula E are pretty much exclusive to motorsport; very few sports have different sporting codes working in a competitive marketplace to attract whole teams and manufacturers to switch or share their involvement. Cricket, and contact sports like boxing, wrestling, and mixed martial arts, see individual competitors crossing over to adapt to new sets of rules and regulations, but motorsport sees entire corporate entities doing this, with regularity.

It has never been an easy ride for Formula E as it has tried to establish itself; the championship almost went out of business in Season One, and the Gen2 chassis, with its brake-by-wire systems bringing increased complexity, were questioned in some quarters, as doubters felt the new car was a bridge too far for the championship. Both seasons with the angular, unconventional-looking Gen2 have been ultra-competitive, dispelling some of the concerns, however the Gen2 era has also seen some of the smaller teams that underpinned Formula E’s early success, notably Dragon, NIO, and Venturi, struggle to keep pace with the better-resourced manufacturer teams.

This is, of course, the nature of meritocratic sport; the teams that can make the most out of their equipment, personnel, and circumstances will be the most successful, and it is highly unlikely that Formula E will ever go in for any kind of success ballast, beyond the pleasant shake-up of the order sometimes provided by the qualifying groups.

Formula E can still do more to encourage privateer teams to join, though. While a field of 24 is something that all of the teams have signed up for under the present commercial agreement, every organisation has a succession plan, and it is well worth scouting for potential new entrants in case the recession forces one or more entries from the grid (Andretti has pledged to look into ways it can stay on the grid for Season 8).

Is balance fairness?

If Formula E wants there to be keen interest in a future entry, it needs to prove that teams do not need to be global automakers in order to win and challenge for podiums. For various reasons, NIO333, Dragon, and Venturi looked nowhere near a win in Season Six, and Envision Virgin Racing, currently an independent Audi customer, saw its title challenge fizzle out after a strong start.

The former IndyCar champion driver-turned-team owner Bobby Rahal said that, although his team took part in the 2018-19 Jaguar I-Pace e-Trophy, he would not be pursuing initial interest in a Formula E entry (unfortunately eRacing365, which broke the story, has been taken down with archive stories removed), citing that all 12 franchise slots had been taken, and also that the time had passed when he felt it would be worthwhile entering.

The sad aspect of this is that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, as one of the most professional and dependable teams in North American racing, would be exactly the kind of organisation Formula E would benefit from having. It might be attractive for a future manufacturer tie-in with a major OEM like Hyundai, or a niche maker like Polestar. Meanwhile, up-and-coming EV manufacturers like Rivian have shown limited interest in a future Formula E entry, and Rimac boss Mate Rimac said, before Gen3 was announced (see below), he would prefer more of a push on technology in Formula E.

The need for a close formula that allows smaller teams to challenge is potential antithetical to the things major OEMs like BMW want from Formula E. As Motion E wrote two seasons ago, Nissan were forced by a teams’ vote to change their unique twin-motor powertrain of Season 5 for a single-motor unit which was in line with other teams’ cars. They did this without public complaint, understanding it was for the greater good. The Nissan edams entries had been phenomenally quick in qualifying that season, and there was concern that a successful major variation in powertrain technology might lead to an arms race. In an attempt to keep costs down for all teams, Formula E stepped in when needed to prevent this.

While this was great for the smaller teams, and for those who protested Nissan’s powertrain, seeing it as an advantage, it has led to the reason, or the excuse (depending on your perspective) behind BMW’s pull-out at the end of the 2021 season.

Technology transfer or marketing tool?

It’s part of a tightrope Formula E has always walked: become too much about road-relevant technology transfer at the expense of the racing, and the sport runs the risk of becoming boring, with big gaps between the innovators and the followers; do the opposite, and manufacturers have less to sell their boards on when it comes to continued participation if they’re not winning.

It seemed, right up until COVID-19 became a global pandemic, like Formula E had taken the right option by deciding to major on the marketing side. Manufacturers were flocking to Formula E to be able to promote their winning electric technology to the world, and the lower-cost option of setting up a Formula E street circuit for a weekend appealed to venues that could not hope to afford a Formula One race. Now, with most of the world’s population (at the time of writing) unvaccinated, and travel into cities a week-to-week question, and with manufacturers under pressure from their senior management to cut costs where possible, alarm bells are, if not ringing, then at least being eyed nervously.

As mentioned, LMDh did not exist when the current slate of Formula E teams signed up for their franchise slots. It may also be that manufacturers who once saw Formula E as the natural pathway for their marketing now feel that the majority of fans on the street do not make a car-buying decision based on whether they see a team winning with a 100% electric powertrain or a fossil-fuel-electric hybrid power unit. If this is so, LMDh, which offers greater styling variations, starts to look appealing.

What’s the future for Formula E?

Mahindra have committed to the Gen3 Formula E era (photo under licence and copyright FIA Formula E)

The Gen3 Formula E car is now locked in all but minor details, and Mahindra has already signed up, becoming the only one of Formula E’s present teams to officially do so, though with others expected to follow. Lucas di Grassi was one of few drivers willing to put his neck on the block and criticise the new design direction, though the points he makes are moot at this stage.

What Formula E needs to hope is that the ambitious step forward from Gen2 is both far-reaching enough to keep OEMs interested, while also being a comfortable enough move for less well-funded teams, or that replacements will come in if anyone decides to leave.

Formula E has always closely guarded its car styling, believing it is better to keep a common look for all entries - it is not meant to be an aero formula, something that also explains the relatively small wings and the reliance on the diffuser for downforce. However, with those LMDh concept renderings causing quite a stir on social media, might it be an option for Formula E to allow some cosmetic alterations to the outside of the car? This would allow for teams to style their cars to keep some resemblance with road cars.

The problem with this, of course, is that there will always be someone who takes advantage of any rule liberalisation to bring in a styling change that becomes aerodynamically advantageous. It’s the balancing act motorsport has always struggled with.

Ultimately, Formula E can change to become more attractive to its existing and prospective manufacturers, but it’s damned if it does, damned if it doesn’t. The sea-changes affecting global motorsport are not Formula E’s fault, and perhaps the best thing for the championship to do is stick to its strategy, weather the storm, but have contingency plans.

We may have a situation in the future where there are fewer OEMs in Formula E, and if this comes to pass, it may revert to being predominantly a sport for niche entries, as it was in its early years. These are unexpectedly difficult times for all-electric racing, and the decisions the organisers and participants make in the coming year will seal its future, but that doesn’t mean the outcome is decided either way, much as the “bring back V12s” brigade might be trying to call this result.

Does Formula E have a Problem Around the Corner?