7 Races. 7 Winners. 7 Cars. Formula E is the hottest Championship around.

Just over a week ago, Mitch Evans produced a gladitorial display to fend off Andre Lotterer in the closing stages of the Rome ePrix to claim his, and Jaguar’s, first ever win in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship. In doing so he became the 7th different race winner this season from just 7 races. What’s more, Jaguar were the 7th different team to take honours at an ePrix this season.

1. Ad-Diriyah – Antonio Felix Da Costa (BMW i Andretti)
2. Marrakesh – Jerome d’Ambrosio (Mahindra)
3. Santiago – Sam Bird (Envision Virgin)
4. Mexico City – Lucas Di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler)
5. Hong Kong – Eduardo Mortara (Venturi)
6. Sanya – Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah)
7. Rome – Mitch Evans (Panasonic Jaguar)

The result saw Evans and Lotterer leapfrog up the Drivers standings into 4th and 3rd respectively. Only 4 points now cover the top 4 drivers and 21 points the entire top 10 with Jerome d’Ambrosio leading the Championship. A bad weekend for the top drivers in Paris could see Daniel Abt jump to the top of the standings from 10th place should he win the race.

This ultra-close style of a premier class championship is something that racing fans from around the world have been crying out for. Formula 1 for too long has seen nothing more than the same guys winning races for near enough 12 years now. I have the up-most respect for Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari but, their years of dominance have been permanently damaging too the sport.

When it was first introduced there was a lot of speculation and chatter that the ABB FIA Formula E Championship was just going to be a little gimmick series to appease the environmentalists and governments of the world. It would never amass to anything substantial or offer the same kind of excitement that ‘real’ motor racing could offer.

The reality is however: Formula E is one of the big boys.

So how has the Championship reached these heights?

Well the new Gen2 cars have been a phenomenal success for season 5. The old cars lay down a nice foundation for fun, action-packed racing in the first 4 seasons but always felt a bit, slow.
Now to watch these futuristic monsters whizzing around the streets of the worlds most iconic cities is a sight to behold. I still remember the excitement of watching the cars run nose-to-tail at great speed through from turn 5 down all the into turn 14 at the opening round in Ad-Diriyah. It’s great to see that the new cars haven’t made it anymore difficult to follow another car around on track. Losing this almost touring car esc style of racing would have certainly put Formula E back to square 1.

The ‘ATTACK MODE’ that is now available has also been absolutely fantastic. Motorsport Radio’s Nigel Chiu discussed just how successful Formula E’s newest feature the other day and I could not agree with him more.

Before the season started organisers claimed that teams and drivers wouldn’t be informed of how many ‘ATTACK MODE’s’ they would need to use per race and for how long they would last until 1 hour before the race started. For all 7 rounds there have been 2 ‘ATTACK MODE’s’ per race all lasting 4 minutes long. Really making the teams sweat there.

But otherwise, it’s impossible to argue against the system and how much more drama and excitement it adds to the spectacle.

So that’s the on-track excitement sorted. But how has Formula E created a championship that has so many drivers still in Championship contention?

Well that is down to a change in qualifying.

For season 5 the sporting regulations were altered to ensure that at every race the top 6 drivers in the championship would have to run on circuit first. Then the following groups would be filled up in descending championship order as they all aimed to set a time good enough to make it into ‘Super-Pole’. This means at every race, the championship leaders will have to run on the track when it has the least grip and the bottom 5 drivers get to set their laps when the track has the most grip.

For the best part this has ensured a consistently mixed up grid. No driver is yet to claim two pole positions this season.

This qualifying format has however come under a large amount of criticism from drivers. Di Grassi and Vergne, two former champions, have both spoken out about the difficulty it creates for teams to gain an advantage.

“Qualifying has always been a problem in FE. When I was in F1, no-one ever complained about the qualifying so I don’t think they can keep it this way for long. There are big manufacturers spending so much money and then having their weekend ruined by being in group one.

“I can understand that people like the lottery but when you spend so much money, our sport should not be a lottery.” – Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Techeetah.

Not every driver is completely against the current format however. Jerome d’Ambrosio recognises how it makes the series more engaging for the fans.

“I think you can for sure improve it, you could do something. But on the other hand, it’s good for the show.

“It’s frustrating and it is not the fairest thing, but at the same time, it produces an amazing show. So if I speak as Jerome I think it’s unfair, but if I speak as a fan of Formula E I think it makes things quite exciting.” – Jerome d’Ambrosio, Mahindra

In my opinion the order in which the cars do their qualifying run should stay the same. I would just switch from 4 groups to 3 and allow each driver to do two laps per group session. Super-Pole doesn’t need changing.

With the Championship now over the half-way mark and still no decisive group of drivers breaking away at the top you have to believe that we are in for a titanic title scrap. I would bet my non-existent house that we will not see a Champion crowned until the flag has fallen on the final race in New York.

Like many motor racing fans, I love Formula 1, always have done, but the series no longer offers any opportunities for variety or upsets. So many drivers can very easily spend many a year racing in the midfield teams, never getting a top drive and therefore never really getting a sniff of even a podium. It’s not exciting to hear over half the field getting excited over 7th place.

Formula E is the cure to this problem and as long as Alejandro Agag continues to keep a sensible head and stays at the helm of the championship; Formula E will just keep getting bigger and better.

Who do you think will be the Season 5 ABB FIA Formula E Champion?

Next ePrix – Paris 27/04/19