The last time Formula E threw the green flag in in Miami, FIA’s electric racing car series came into town a child, just about to turn five races old.
Formula E returns for Saturday’s Miami E-Prix at Homestead-Miami Speedway, 10 seasons older, the series as different from its previous visit as a small child grown into a muscular teenager with money from a part-time job and realistic thoughts on college and career options.
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One thing that hasn’t changed: Formula E wants to be a good houseguest, in-and-out, one-day, no lingering. Saturday’s general admission $39 tickets allow fans to watch practice at 7:30 to 8:10 a.m., qualifying from 9:40 a.m. to 11:03 a.m., green flag for the race at 2:05 p.m., checkered flag by 3:30 p.m.
Great Britain’s Oliver Rowland, driving for Nissan Formula E Team, leads the standings with 68 points after winning two of the last three races. Countryman Taylor Barnard is at 51 points after guiding his NEOM McLaren car to two thirds and a second in the first four races.
As for the teams with U.S. roots, DS Automobiles Penske Autosport’s Maximillian Gunther (Germany) and Jean-Eric Vergne (France) are fourth and sixth in the driver standings. Andretti Formula E, in the series since the beginning and which will reveal special Miami livery Friday morning, have Swiss Nico Mueller (17th) and Great Britain’s Jake Dennis (ninth).
The cars of Cupra Kiro, the former ERT Formula E team now owned by Los Angeles company Forest Road, are driven by David Beckmann (Germany) and Dan Ticktum (Great Britain). Only Ticktum has scored points this season with an eighth in Brazil and a ninth in the second Saudi Arabia race.
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The name and the game — finish first — remain the same for Formula E, but little else does.
The Track
The 2015 race was on a downtown Miami street course that went along and behind what was then American Airlines Arena and down Biscayne Boulevard. When the cars passed beneath the high rises and folks watching from the balconies, the race gave off a travel poster-European street race vibe.
But, problems getting the course barriers set up that morning moved everything back by enough time to stretch the definition of “Miami time.” Also, the lack of pedestrian bridges meant it took some people almost 20 minutes to get across Biscayne.
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No such problems at Homestead, where the front straightaway, a part of the back straightaway and the road course will be part of a 15-turn, 2.2-mile/3.551-km track.
“I could not speak better about that particular location,” Formula E Co-Founder and Chief Championship Officer Alberto Longo said. “It’ll bring a lot of excitement and it’ll show to our type of racing, which is completely different than any other type of racing.”
(If you’re wondering why they don’t race on the same track around Hard Rock Stadium that the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix will be run on in three weeks, there are many reasons, but the most practical comes down to two words: Miami Open. As soon as the tennis tournament finishes in early April, it’s an all-out, wide-open construction race to get the stadium and surrounding area ready for F1 coming on May’s first weekend.)
The layout of Homestead-Miami Speedway, including fan zones, for Saturday’s Formula E qualifying and Miami E-Prix Race.
The Series
As you’d expect, a series breaking the basic technology barrier of being a worldwide electric car racing series might quickly look different.
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“Back then, we had cars that would go 200 km/h (124 mph),” Longo said. “Now, we are going up to 320 km/h which is 200 mph. obviously, back then, we had to use two cars to compelte a full race. now, the battery allows us to do a complete race with just one car.
“In the state of art car, 40% of the energy in it is produced in the car while it’s racing. As far as technology and innovation, I think we’re a completely different animal than what we were 10 years ago.”
Also, FIA, which oversees Formula E and Formula 1 among other series, claims the current Formula E cars get to zero to 60 in 1.82 seconds, faster than an F1 car.
Popularity
As much as each driver needed two cars, the series needed familiar names — longtime F1 driver Jarno Trulli, Nicolas Prost, son of four-time F1 world champion Alain Prost, won in Miami and Nelson Piquet Jr., son of the three-time F1 series champion, won the first Formula E season driver’s title.
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Now, the series stands on its own, claiming 490 million race viewers worldwide last year. Race broadcasts, carried in the United States by CBS Sports Network, go to 180 countries.
Using social media as a modern measure, Formula E’s Instagram account has 1.2 million followers and the X account has 324,500, fewer than NASCAR (3.5 million and 3.6 million) and more than IndyCar (708,000 and 498,400). Formula 1 reigns in motorsport, of course, with 33.7 million and 11 million.
“We are the fastest growing motorsport in the world with an average growth of 30% per year,” “Obviously, we’re still a baby. We are only 10 years old compared to other motorsports that have been there more than 70, 80, 100 years. But we are super proud, super happy of where we are today.”
