It’s incredibly ironic that in the wake of a dull Azerbaijan Grand Prix that left most Formula 1 fans craving more overtaking, many of those same people will be poised to criticise Formula E this weekend - but for the exact opposite reason.
For while overtaking might be at a premium in F1, the same certainly can’t be said for the all-electric single-seater championship which resumes this weekend in Monaco to commence the second half of the season.
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The stats don’t lie. The number of overtakes recorded during the first Berlin E-Prix race at last month’s previous round hit 190 in total. 23 of those were changes for the lead – mind-blowing numbers for any race, let alone one which lasted under an hour.
The championship’s detractors believe this to be too unpredictable, however. And to be fair, they have a point to some extent. All motorsport fans wish to see exciting racing, but record-breaking numbers like these are somewhat manipulated, due to drivers going offline to activate two Attack Modes during the race, which drops them down the order.
But the vast majority of the passing was a consequence of the new-for-2023 Gen3 cars, which are noticeably draggier than their predecessors, making the effect of the slipstream that much more powerful. Slipstreaming is nothing new in motorsport and there are plenty of instances, notably oval racing, where drivers sit behind their rivals in an effort to save fuel. Or, in Formula E’s case, electric energy.
This gives rise to a style of racing more akin to cycling, where riders rotate through the pack in order to save their strength while sheltered from the wind, compared with those at the head of the field who have to make the hole in the air. But while the general nature of cycling and oval racing allows competitors to shuffle up and down the pack, the same can’t be said for the street courses which are the mainstay of the Formula E calendar.
Drivers lift off earlier into braking zones to save energy, creating a greater closing speed for the cars behind. This led reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne to state that there “were some instances where it was quite dangerous” in Sao Paulo. Specifically, his attempts at coming off the throttle earlier and earlier to try and let others take the lead.
Source: Autosport