F1 or Formula e?

[GroupC]

F1 has started this weekend. Formula e started their season a while ago.

So which do you prefer, based on personal preferences / desires etc etc?

Simple as that!

[RailGooner]

For me, the noise of the motor is an essential component of any motor sport. Try watching F1 with the sound muted. Now try watching FE with the sound cranked all the way up to 11. Can you tell the difference? I can't.

[GroupC]

... which one of the reasons why I still prefer GT / sportscar racing as their cars (LMP1 hybrids excepted) sound like cars, which F1 cars do not and Fe cars definitely do not! But I digress.

[GroupC]

... oh and another reason why I prefer GT to formula racing generally is that at the Silverstone round of the WEC last year the "number of overtakes" count on the TV feed was 1600+ (yes, that is one thousand six hundred overtaking manoeuvres), and that was only a third of the way through the race. I obviously know the race contained multiple classes of cars of vastly different performance and is therefore a different animal to F1 etc but each overtake adds an element of chance (viz Brendan Hartley in his Porsche a couple of years ago).

But I digress again, this is a simple case of F1 vs Fe (is it referred to as that yet?).

[Fardap]

Expect Fe will gain more followers this year just because of the dumb Eccleston deal with Sky and no free to air live races other than a token British GP.
Sky will have far less viewers than bbc or c4 or itv ever had.

I need to watch more Fe to decide but the lack of noise and the narrow tracks are a bit of a negative for me so far.

[RailGooner]

..
Fe (is it referred to as that yet?
...

I asked myself the same question. I initially typed Fe but that didn't look right - will always be iron to me.

[chrism]

Expect Fe will gain more followers this year just because of the dumb Eccleston deal with Sky and no free to air live races other than a token British GP.

To be fair, the C4 highlights for the 50% of F1 races they didn't have last year were pretty good, certainly not just a token half hour. I see that tomorrow's race has got a 2 hour slot on C4 so I anticipate that it'll be of a similar standard. The only snag remains trying not to spot the results beforehand.

As to Formula E, I haven't watched it since the first season but, for a fledgling formula, I did consider it pretty good - if I ignored the sound of over-revving milk floats.

[njee20]

I watched my first Formula-E race last weekend, and have put it on series link to watch more.

It was alright, lots of action, but a bit comedy for my liking, with stupid graphics, fan boosts, turbo zones or whatever they're called, cars ricocheting off each other constantly. Will probably watch more, but it's no F1 for me.

I'm happy with the noise F1 cars make, although I appreciate the old high-revving V10s sounded amazing, and I can forgive the lack of noise in Formula-E. I get why that annoys some though.

[Newportnobby]

I watched Formula E once and tired very quickly of the lack of noise and the narrow track so don't really feel qualified to vote as E has not been given a fair viewing by me.
I always watch F1 on Channel 4 but much of the excitement of that went out of it for me when refuelling was knocked on the head. Yes it was dangerous and no, it wasn't as green as current practice but it added so much more strategy to the racing.
Nothing comes near to motorcycle racing though

[Garyf]

I voted F1, I was going to say because of the noise but I think it's the tracks with pinch points which appear to be there to create crashes. Disappointed that its highlights only although some of the races are a great cure for insomnia.

[Fardap]

Expect Fe will gain more followers this year just because of the dumb Eccleston deal with Sky and no free to air live races other than a token British GP.

To be fair, the C4 highlights for the 50% of F1 races they didn't have last year were pretty good, certainly not just a token half hour. I see that tomorrow's race has got a 2 hour slot on C4 so I anticipate that it'll be of a similar standard.

Sadly the playing field. Of what the programme will contain is also changed this year 
Only 50% of the total running time of C4's programme can now be taken up by the on-track coverage - down from between 60-70% last year.
They are not allowed to do interviews in what is known as the 'pen' - where all the drivers are taken to do a round-robin of broadcasters after qualifying and race - or in the pit lane. Any 'pen' interviews they use will have to come from Sky.
And the biggy is... No pit walk not pitlane interviews.
The amount of interviews C4 can do in the paddock is restricted. And they have been forbidden from doing a 'grid walk'.

[emjaybee]

I'd rather watch NASCAR.

No telemetry, no turbo's, all carburetter, no electronics, no fuel injection...

...just good chassis, good engine builders, good drivers, good mechanics.

Like F1 USED to be.

[Graham]

given we don't have formula e down under, that I am aware of anyway, I voted for F1. this will be the 1st year I haven't made it for a number of years, love the atmosphere of the weekend, the tv just does not do it justice regardless of who you watch. local tv or sky.

cheers
Graham

[bridgiesimon]

F1 all the way although the action in Fe is getting better, prefer this season without the car change. I still do not like the park/inner city circuits visited by Fe, they do not give the space for really decent racing, get this series onto proper racing circuits and we may see a massive development of the series popularity.

Formula e is the future I think but not yet thank you.

Good luck Lewis by the way.

Best wishes
Simon

[Chris Morris]

In the next five to ten years cars will move to being 100% electric; you wont be able to buy a new car with a petrol engine. When this happens F1 will become irrelevant as a means of moving automotive design forward. I reckon it won't be long before the likes of Honda and Mercedes move away from F1 because there is no kudos to be gained from being there.