Formula E burst into life for the first time ten years ago next month, with the 2014 Beijing E-Prix. Arguably, the incident between Nico Prost and Nick Heidfeld on the final lap remains the championship’s most iconic moment.
Since then, the series has crowned nine different Drivers’ Champions, with the series evolving year-on-year. Mandatory car swaps have disappeared, and Attack Mode has replaced Fanboost. More importantly, the electric machinery is significantly faster now thanks to improvements in battery technology.
Off-track on the broadcasting front, the series has faced hurdles both domestically in the UK and abroad. So, what lies ahead for the championship? We explored the paddock and went behind the scenes during the London E-Prix season finale…
The 12th team
Aurora Media Worldwide and Whisper are responsible for production of Formula E’s television feed. Aurora produces the Track Feed on location, while Whisper handles the English language programme (ELP) from WestWorks in London.
Whisper’s feed comes with different ‘opt in’ and ‘opt out’ points, allowing broadcasters to join the build-up at different stages. Some territories take the race itself without pre- and post-race amble while others take Whisper’s ‘full fat’ programme.
Supporting Formula E with the technical aspects of the broadcast are companies including Gravity Media, Tata, and Timeline TV.
Season 10 was Formula E’s first primarily behind a pay wall in the UK, the series airing on TNT Sports. Only the season finale in London aired for free via Quest, Discovery’s free-to-air outlet.
Over the past decade, the championship has exhausted all other free-to-air partners, never finding the right home. ITV, BBC, Channel 4, and Channel 5 all came and fell by the wayside. What the series has long yearned for is channel consistency, something that TNT Sports and Discovery+ provides.
Despite the change, sources suggest that Formula E are happy with the audience figures. The series is likely analysing the overall reach across all of Discovery’s platforms, rather than a single channel in isolation.
Whisper won the contract to produce the English feed for season 10, bringing some recognisable faces with them. The likes of Billy Monger, David Coulthard and Karun Chandhok joined Formula E mainstays Nicki Shields and Dario Franchitti on-air. Tom Brooks remained lead commentator, a role he started in 2023.
Vernon Kay’s decision to leave Formula E and focus on his radio commitments meant Whisper needed a new presenter. The team opted to bring in ex-footballer and now presenter of BBC’s The One Show Jermaine Jenas. Jenas has improved since the start of the season, helping to explain basic concepts to new viewers.
Harry Allen, who leads Whisper’s Formula E production, was complimentary of Jenas and the way everyone has “embraced” the team.
“Since we’ve been at the centre of it, it’s been an amazing experience,” Allen says. “We’ve really enjoyed working with all the drivers and the teams on the grid. We feel that the programming has done the series justice. It’s been fun telling those stories and getting stuck into what is an intriguing and fast-growing sport.”
“We knew coming in that there was an opportunity to bring in a new face in to anchor the series. Formula E loved having somebody from outside the sport to lead the presentation, and they wanted to continue that.”
“Jermaine is somebody we’ve worked with for years and we were happy to bring him on board. His intrinsic understanding of sport, plus having someone with the mindset of somebody who plays elite sport has been good.”
“He brings people along with him who maybe aren’t motor sport experts. I think that’s what we need to concentrate on if we’re going to capture audiences,” Allen believes.
Allen cited Jaguar’s issues during the London weekend as one example where Jenas asked the key questions. In Allen’s view, Jenas helped put into context the “things that the rest of us take for granted.”
Inside the commentary booth
We jumped into the commentary booth on Sunday morning in London to see the set up during qualifying. Commentary box fridges aside (a topic for another outlet!), it was fascinating seeing Brooks, Chandhok, and Allan McNish first hand doing what they do best.
The trio during qualifying were a well-oiled machine, to the betterment of the product. It reminded me that a three-person team works better than two, Whisper moving in that direction for Formula E.
Brooks, Chandhok and McNish have not have worked together much on-air, but there was clear rapport between the three. Always animated when describing the action, the trio gestured to one another when they wanted to contribute on-air.
For a commentator of any sport, the job does not stop when the live microphones go off. Instead, they are in constant dialogue with the production team. During qualifying, the trio relayed information back to WestWorks, requesting that the team replayed key moments on the broadcast.
Seven different commentators joined Brooks on race day during season 10. Chandhok and Monger led the way, with the line-up rotating from race-to-race.
The lack of consistency is suboptimal, leaving fans guessing as to who they will hear race-by-race. The crowded motor sport calendar makes this a challenging area for the series to fix.
In my view, it is essential for Formula E to have a consistent commentary line-up. Jack Nicholls and Dario Franchitti were consistently together from 2014 to 2023, and became a staple of the series. Formula E need to try to replicate their success story with the same pairing in the booth across every race.
Allen noted that having a range of voices on the broadcast allows for different “perspectives on things.” He cited Andre Lotterer as someone who “can speak to the drivers on a different level.” The German has six years of electric experience, and is “Porsche’s reserve driver so has that relationship with them.”
Watching the season finale from the Track Feed gallery
Later, we watched the team direct the Track Feed live for the season finale. The team, like millions watching at home, wondered if Pascal Wehrlein, Mitch Evans, or Nick Cassidy would become Drivers’ Champion.
From the outside, it is easy to criticise the TV direction, sometimes overly so, sometimes for good reason. But watching the team direct the race live brought me an appreciation to broadcasting that I did not have before.
I have always acknowledged the effort involved, but seeing it unfold made me appreciate it much more. A strange confession for someone writing about motor sport broadcasting for 12 years, admittedly…
During a race, every Formula E team and driver strategizes, wondering when the best opportunity is to take Attack Mode. The same applies on the broadcasting side, the gallery none the wiser as to how the race will unfold. The team use the timing pages and Team Radio as a guide, but they are just that: a guide.
In the Track Feed gallery, we hear the director calling the action, focusing on the championship battle. ‘Top 3’ and ‘top 4’ are regular shouts, instructing each camera operator to focus on the leading cars.
Likewise, we hear calls for augmented reality shots (“AR on Drivers’ Standings at 16”), around 15 seconds before they air.
But how does the Track Feed produced by Aurora differ from Whisper’s English language programme feed referenced earlier? The Track Feed is a ‘dirty’ feed consisting of the cameras dotted around each circuit, overlaid with the TV graphics.
At WestWorks, the team adds other aspects to form the English language programme feed. These include replays, on-board camera angles and wrap-around coverage.
With 10 on-board cameras on each Formula E car, the team have up to 220 on-board angles at their disposal. They can select up to 52 of these from 13 cars, the whittling down of angles also done from WestWorks.
Formula E’s on-site presence was much greater when we last went behind the scenes with them (see here and here). “One of the key targets for Formula E is net zero. It’s something that we’re challenged on regularly by the organisation,” Allen says.
“Thankfully, it’s something that Whisper are strong on as well. When you think about where we’re flying around the world, it becomes important that we keep the footprint small.”
“The technology at our disposal means that we can produce the show at WestWorks, regardless of where the race is. We’re working with Gravity and Timeline as the technical partners, with all the feeds fed back.”
On-track successes and struggles
From the test event in Donington to the season 10 finale in London, the series has been on a journey.
COVID halted Formula E’s growth over its first five seasons, which the series has attempted to bounce back from since.
The machinery is faster than what it was a decade ago, with the championship arguably beginning to outgrow street racing. Holding races in cities has been in Formula E’s DNA since day 1, allowing fans to travel using public transport.
The qualifying format has been a big success in recent years. Allen says that the head-to-head Duels format for the last eight cars, is “fantastic” from a TV perspective. “I personally believe that the format that Formula E have hit upon is fantastic for a TV audience,” Allen believes.
“It’s full of jeopardy and you don’t get second chances in the same way you do elsewhere, which helps.”
Another key element of Formula E racing, as highlighted earlier, is Attack Mode. Love or loathe it, it is critical that the commentators can explain the tactics behind every decision made.
“Attack Mode is something unique to Formula E,” Allen says. “If you see that in the context of the London race, you can see how much drama you can create.”
“Mitch Evans missed two Attack Mode activations, and the commentary helped simplify what that meant from a race perspective.” (Evans would either run out of time if he missed again, or get disqualified)
Whisper, who also produce Channel 4’s F1 offering, sought to highlight Formula E’s “uniqueness” throughout their coverage.
“As a production company, we don’t really have much control over what happens [in sport]. But, as a production team, you then start to understand what the unique elements that sell the sport to fans.”
“For Formula E, it’s the access to drivers. It’s the qualifying format, it’s the fact that the races are unpredictable and the fact you have different winners.”
From this fan’s vantage point, there is improvement required on and off-track for Formula E, namely the peloton racing. In my view, the peloton style needs to disappear for season 11.
For readers unfamiliar, drivers start the race half a dozen seconds off the pace. Imagine driving on the M25 in rush-hour, but Formula E style. Eventually, half way into the race, the drivers finally hit the accelerator, spreading the pack out.
The peloton style allows the series to post outlandish overtaking statistics across social media, but is ultimately unsatisfying to watch.
A perennial problem remains the calendar structure, which remains lopsided. The upcoming 2024-25 season tentatively has 17 races across 11 locations and 8 months, which is great for the series. But, the first 5 races take place across 13 weeks, with the remaining 12 races squeezed into 15 weeks.
Of the 13 weekends in the F1 off-season, only 3 of them feature a Formula E race. Formula E becomes lost in the shuffle when F
Source link
