Why FE shouldn’t fear comparison in abandoning its DNA

'Unprecedented times that are changing on a daily basis'. These are the words many are sick to the back teeth of hearing as they diligently adhere to lockdown restrictions, awaiting news from governments that some semblance of normality is on its way back.

How fast is the situation changing? On Friday, the double-headed Formula E season finale at the London ExCeL was cancelled. Although there's yet to be an official announcement from the series, this news was confirmed to Autosport by an FE spokesperson.

Then on Monday, the temporary Nightingale Hospital set up at the Docklands exhibition centre was due to be placed on standby. Despite the care facility opening with 4000 beds, according to BBC figures fewer than 20 patients are currently receiving treatment there.

Even with this development, the time taken to dismantle the two wards, clean the ExCeL site and then bring in the infrastructure to build a circuit and stage a race means FE will not make its long-awaited return to the English capital this season.

The current calendar is one shy of meeting the sporting regulations' minimum criteria of six events to make up a championship. As it stands, with New York cancelled also, there are no more scheduled rounds this season.

To bolster the campaign, FE CEO Jamie Reigle (below right) has suggested that Berlin might re-enter the frame with a meeting at Tempelhof Airport. In addition, due to the quick reactions of the South Korean government that rapidly quashed the coronavirus threat, a maiden race in Seoul is also a possibility.

But the more interesting sticking plaster comes from FE's discussions with permanent circuits, meaning the series stands a good chance of racing at bona fide venues such as Silverstone, Donington Park (where the Gen1 car tested, below) or Brands Hatch. Imagine for a moment that Brands comes to pass - the 24-car grid descending through Paddock Hill Bend and then trying to navigate the Druids hairpin would be some sight.

As part of FE's mission statement to promote electric vehicle technology to the masses, it has predominantly raced on street circuits in landmark cities up to now. The open expanses of Tempelhof, the ferry terminal access roads of New York and a bespoke layout at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez - site of the Mexican Grand Prix - are the current notable exceptions.

Given that England's chief medical officer Chris Witty said social distancing measures in this country could remain in place until next year, it's wholly reasonable to expect FE to abandon city-centre racing for some time. In the first instance, if FE was to dock in, race and then depart from a country and cause the number of coronavirus cases to surge again the accountability would be devastating. But the legacy of the pandemic will last longer.

"As long as it's not completely safe to race in cities, we will not race in cities" Alejandro Agag

It's reasonable to expect the public to retain a sense of unease about mass gatherings, and so the idea of a 1000-strong paddock flying in from across the globe to gratuitously (as those apathetic to motorsport might see it) race on the citizens' doorstep will undoubtedly face resistance. FE has previous for rubbing locals up the wrong way, too. Battersea Park, Zurich and Bern all fell off the calendar for upsetting nearby residents.

As FE co-founder and chairman Alejandro Agag tells Autosport: "The truth is that we have to put first the health of the people and the health of the citizens in every city and so on. So as long as it's not completely safe to race in cities, we will not race in cities.

"But as long as we can race, we will race. So even if the DNA will not change - Formula E is for the city - as long as there are health reasons, everybody understands that we have to make an exception. That exception may last two months, hopefully. But it may last six months, it may last a year. It may last two years, it may last three years."

Let's entertain that scenario: that FE cannot race in cities for another three years as the fallout continues on. While the championship does indeed promote environmentally conscious technology, the narrow street circuits with nearby walls - aided by clever camera work - also help mask that FE cars are fundamentally slow by any top-tier single-seater measure.

Even the Gen2 machine with an uprated 330bhp wouldn't see which way a Super Formula or IndyCar had gone, let alone the Formula 1 thoroughbreds. That said, the series has come a long way from the machines breaking down on the start line or crashing on the way back to the paddock after pre-season test races at Donington Park in 2014 - incidentally behind closed doors - when all the cars had 270bhp.

The risk is that by allowing FE to race on conventional race circuits, the stopwatch will show the series up. If double champion Jean-Eric Vergne qualifies on pole for a hypothetical Silverstone National E-Prix but is only marginally quicker than the best of the British Touring Car Championship, the attention isn't good.

One solution might be to stick in a few temporary chicanes to muddy the water and to mimic the narrow confines of a street track. That would help in more ways than one, by providing heavy stopping zones so the cars can harvest enough energy through regenerative braking.

In the same way that statistics alone have never fully resolved the debate as to which driver is the best of all time, however, the stopwatch isn't the be-all and end-all of what makes a good championship.

FE has its unapologetic diehard fans, but there's just as many who can't look, or hear, past the quieter all-electric powertrain. For every FE story Autosport publishes just now, the Twitter and forum comments attract those who hope the current pandemic will kill the series off completely...

Motorsport is so often about the spectacle, though. The current breed of F1 cars are the quickest in history. As impressive as this feat is, when the rain comes and the grip conditions are massively reduced the excitement goes up. It doesn't matter that the lap time has fallen off a cliff.

There's also many who long for the return of yawing cars in F1. As tyre and aero technologically has improved, long gone are the opposite-lock antics of James Hunt and co from the 1970s. In single-seater terms, FE provides the nearest thing. With the bulk of the weight over the rear axle, combined with the lower grip treaded Michelin tyres, in FE the cars do slide around in such a way. Even if the lap times are poor, come rain or shine, FE is frequently fun to watch.

By racing on narrow and bumpy city courses, FE has so far managed to avoid the comparison with other series at the timing line - aided by the FIA wanting to keep the series off the full Monaco Grand Prix layout (with added costs for the teams also a factor in that decision).

If permanent circuits come to populate future calendars, the series might not be afforded such protection. But should that lap time matter beyond a surface level? It doesn't stop Formula Ford from being brilliant to watch.

If, as Agag says, the avoidance of city tracks last for three years in a worst-case scenario, then there might be something of a late fix. With no delay yet signed off for the Gen3 car, it's expected to make its debut for the 2022-23 season. Those machines will be 120kg lighter and will receive a marked jump to 470bhp, which should help address some of the lost time anyway.

There is an opportunity that awaits when the championship temporarily abandons one of its core values

The 'DNA' of a motorsport series is a faux phrase anyway - grand prix cars have been closed-wheel and four-wheel-drive on unorthodox occasions. But part of FE's bodily structure since day dot has been racing on street circuits, where electric cars make the most sense for commuting consumers.

It also helps FE's business model, which can survive with zero ticketing revenue because massive sponsors get prime advertising real estate in some of the most high-profile locations. Moving away from city tracks might draw resistance from those blue-chip sponsors and the plethora of OEMs competing in FE, but the series looks hamstrung by the current global situation, with a move to permanent circuits seemingly inevitable.

When that happens and title protagonists Antonio Felix da Costa and Mitch Evans are battling wheel-to-wheel through the Craner Curves, the lap times shouldn't have to matter. So long as the racing is exciting, FE needn't be afraid of unfavourable comparisons about speed.

Here is an opportunity that awaits when the championship temporarily abandons one of its core values.