Sam Bird is afraid that Formula E is losing its identity

Sam Bird can already be considered a veteran in motorsport: he is 37 and has been driving alone in Formula E for ten years. And our readers remember him from the GP2 youth series: in 2013 he competed for the Russian team Russian Time and became vice-champion there.

But his main activity in recent years is still Formula E, although he combined that with performances in endurance races until 2022. From this year, Sam joined the McLaren team and during the stage in Brazil, held in mid-March, he achieved the first victory.

As he prepares for two races at Italy’s Misano circuit this weekend, it’s a trend that worries him: Formula E is increasingly moving away from its core tradition of being a race-oriented series on city roads from the start.

Previously, the stages of the electric series took place only on temporary circuits, often in the central areas of major world capitals – just think of the only race in Moscow, which took place in the summer of 2015. The ring was constructed in the vicinity of the Red Square, including along Vasilyevsky Spusk, Moskvoretskaya Embankment, Kitaygorodsky Proezd and Varvarka.

According to Bird, by increasing the number of races on stationary circuits, Formula E is moving further away from its roots. Moreover, there is already talk that instead of London, the British phase of the series will move to Silverstone in the future.

“I prefer to stick to my roots, I would really like that,” Sam emphasized in an interview with RacingNews365. – Can the Tokyo circuit be considered ideal? No, some adjustments are needed.

It’s great that we’re racing in Misano, it’s always a pleasure to come to Italy, the fans here are incredible and I really enjoyed racing in Rome, but it’s a shame that we don’t race there anymore. Although I thought this was the best number on the calendar of our series.

The Misano circuit is good for ordinary racing cars, but our cars are not ordinary. The problem is that if we race on stationary circuits like Misano and Silverstone, as the press already writes, the public will say that we are 25 seconds slower than the Formula 1 cars.

And for us this is very bad, because you cannot compare Formula E with other championships, our series is completely special. And such races look good on city circuits. This is why our championship was created; by its very nature it is connected to street circuits, and we must not forget that.”

The Formula 1 calendar includes a double-header in Shanghai in the last weekend of May, but that worries Bird less than the prospect of racing at Silverstone: “In China we drive on a circuit that is three times shorter than the Formula 1 circuit. 1 circuit, and that doesn’t really matter to me. In Monaco the picture is slightly different: the racing there is spectacular and the fans are happy with it, even though our cars are slower.

But Silverstone is a very fast circuit, and also too wide – imagine what the energy consumption would be like there! I just don’t want the basic principles to be forgotten, because the original idea was to demonstrate the possibilities of electric transport in the central streets of cities.

If too many races are held on regular circuits, Formula E will start to lose its identity, and that worries me. Our cars are getting faster, we can already reach quite high top speeds, but we will be compared to Formula 1. Even though our cars are heavier, they do not develop as much downforce and the tires do not offer as much grip. Will the public be misled in its expectations?..”