Alejandro Agag confident in the future development of Formula E
Even though the Formula E championship is brand new, its boss, Alejandro Agag, has expressed confidence about the development of the discipline in the coming years, with the construction of batteries, engines, the addition of new destinations to the calendar, and potentially new teams.
Alejandro Agag, the boss of Formula E, answered questions from fans on the official site of the discipline. He particularly discussed the appeal of the championship and the reception of this new discipline by spectators worldwide, which he considers good.
« The fans’ response has been fantastic, I think it has been even better than expected. Our site couldn’t handle more visits on race day. Millions of views on YouTube, millions of viewers in front of the television. It’s hard to sell. In fact, all the reactions have really been positive. The cars don’t make that much noise, go slower than other race cars, why would people watch? They watch because it’s the future, it’s a new technology, it’s exciting and so on, but people need that and I think the response has been fantastic, » Agag stated on the official Formula E site.
He also commented on the rule that imposes a minimum pit stop time for drivers when changing cars during the race: « I agree [that minimum pit stop times take away excitement], I wouldn’t impose any minimum time for stops but for safety reasons, we have to do it. I know the drivers are frustrated by this as well. But when we have a big accident like Nick’s [Heidfeld in Beijing, Editor’s note], if he hadn’t been properly strapped in, he probably would have been ejected from his cockpit so I think it’s necessary for the drivers to take their time to strap in properly. »
Agag also stated that the teams would have more freedom in the design and construction of batteries and engines for the second year of the championship and hopes they will take advantage of it: « In the second year, they [the teams] will be able to build their own batteries and their own engines. They can build their own race car entirely if they wish. But the regulations are quite strict and do not allow much development in terms of aerodynamics, but they allow for the development of the engine and battery. I hope we can have three or four different manufacturers of engines and batteries in the championship for the second year. »
The Spanish businessman also stated that the goal was to develop the Formula E championship, which for the first season includes 10 races, and to bring it to a number of cities around the world: « There are plans to visit more than 10 cities. Next year, we will probably have 12, and we want to continue to gradually increase this number until we reach about 18 races per year. We are in discussions with several cities, after Beijing [and the first ePrix] we received requests from between 40 and 50 cities worldwide to host a race, which is really positive. »
Formula E could also welcome new teams in the future if technology development goes in the right direction: « The number of entries is 20 because we race with two cars per driver, so traveling with 40 cars worldwide is already huge. But I think that when we have only one car per race, when the batteries can last a long time and can last during that period [of the race], I think we can add two more teams, so we would have a total of 24 drivers. »
