Why FE's coronavirus response is the example F1 had to follow

Formula 1 looked increasingly cumbersome as each hour passed following McLaren's withdrawal from the Australian Grand Prix. The absence of meaningful communication and proactivity in the lead up to the race's eventual cancellation sent social media into a tailspin. Commercial deals were presented as taking a higher priority than the health of spectators and team staff.

The silence from Liberty Media was deafening.

If there is any kind of defence to be made for how this situation was handled, it's on the grounds of how rapidly the COVID-19 situation has deteriorated. Responses from governments and sporting bodies have had to be fluid and subject to flux. Even so, F1 looked more outwitted than most.

Of course, it needn't have been that way. And Formula E has shown that.

Even the most ardent FE apologist must concede that it's far smaller than F1. Its fanbase, the number of people involved, the money at play - it all pales in comparison. In turn that makes it more flexible. Even still, pound-for-pound it reacted better than F1.

On Friday, FE formally announced that the 2019-20 season would take a two-month hiatus in light of the recently declared pandemic. That followed individual statements that the Sanya E-Prix, the Rome E-Prix and the inaugural Jakarta E-Prix had themselves been officially postponed.

Naturally, it still made for unwelcome news in each case. But, by making regular announcements, the series at least appeared to be ahead of the curve. So much so, the postponement of a return to Sanya made FE the first championship to delay a race owing to coronavirus.

Organisers were working with local authorities, not waiting for them to act first for the sake of saving face. FE established the news on its own terms to help limit the degree of speculation. F1 did not.

The nature of FE racing on street circuits did mean that its hand were tied to a degree. If the series had arrived in a city centre and caused the number of coronavirus cases to spike, the accountability would have been devastating. By racing in densely populated areas, the decision for FE to bin off races was easier by default.

That isn't to say, however, that the powers that be in FE had an over-eager trigger finger. Whether it came as a result of clashes with the World Endurance Championship, civil unrest in Hong Kong and so on, the FE calendar has frequently been made to look fragile as drivers and indeed entire cities couldn't make the timings work. Decimating the schedule once more in 2019-20 was not anyone's intention.

The very fact that FE had alternative options available and can potentially morph its remaining weekends into double-headers is to its credit

Yet, there's been clear evidence of FE making effort to put contingency plans in place. One option, that came within a hair's breadth of being signed off, was to keep the 4 April date of the Rome race available but to move the paddock to an alternative venue.

One rumour was that FE could have made a swift return to Marrakech, the site of its most recent round. Then all of the cars were freighted from Morocco to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. It was hoped that at least one race might have been able to take place at the pre-season testing venue. However, despite teams making logistical plans to travel to Spain, the developing situation and subsequent two-month suspension put paid to that route.

Another stand-in solution would be to transform some of the remaining destinations into double-header events. Season six has currently played host to five rounds, one shy of the six required in the FE sporting regulations for the campaign to qualifying as a championship. Tacking on only one extra race also feels like it would be something of a last resort.

In Antonio Felix da Costa and Mitch Evans, this season has the makings of an exciting title fight. Obviously, under the cloud of a pandemic, ensuring motorsport continues shouldn't be anywhere near the top of the agenda. But wouldn't it always be a mark against the eventual champion if they had only proved themselves over half of a normal campaign? By having a break, FE can take a more medium-term view to limiting the damage already done to the schedule.

The very fact that FE had alternative options available and can potentially morph its remaining weekends into double-headers is to its credit. They have all been on the table because the dialogue between teams and series organisers has been frequent. It's showed itself to be more malleable.

Incidentally, following the reveal of the facelifted Gen2 EVO car that will make its debut in the 2020-21 season (all being well), FIA president Jean Todt said: "Formula E must be comparable to no other category in motorsport. Some people ask if it could be a competitor to Formula 1 but it's completely different - it's in a class of its own."

For the championship's response to the outbreak of COVID-19, as it turns out, he wasn't too wide of the mark.