On this show, we discuss our thoughts from a frantic first weekend of Formula E this season, what the sport can do better against what we absolutely loved, and the surprising findings of a contact sport.

We start off pondering how we managed to skip a couple of seasons of the fast-growing motorsport, placing the blame firmly at one particular door, and then talk about how it’s easy to learn something when you’re telling other people about it.

Talk moves on to the packed weekend of action, the amazing access fans have to content, but also how the racing itself was bookended with disappointment. We also ponder what happened to the grid kids, and argue for a spot of consideration when it comes to the radio.

Finally, there’s time to discuss everyone’s favourite mascot, how the simpler strategies can be easier to digest, and our favourite moments from a tiring but rewarding weekend. All that and more in our first ever dedicated Formula E podcast.

Have your say!

As discussed

Copyright sidepodcast.com

Welcome to It Only Takes E Minute, where the racing is dominated by spins in the opening and closing laps.

Felix Rosenqvist earned himself pole position for the second race in Hong Kong, but the Mahindra driver spun on the first lap and dropped himself down to 11th place. That was after a safety car start, where the cars trawled around for one lap due to a failure of the starting lights. The action got going, but wasn’t as frantic as yesterday’s race thanks to the extra laps and fuel saving required.

Rookie driver Edoardo Mortara moved into the lead of the race, and held on to it until just before the end. There, he admitted, he was pushing too hard, going for glory, and spun himself out of a race win. He crossed the line third, with Rosenqvist, who had recovered well, ahead of him. Daniel Abt inherited the win.

But, there was more drama to come as the Audi Sport car was found to have been illegal and Abt was disqualified from the race. The team are appealing the decision, but for now that promotes Rosenqvist back into the winning position, that he had spun himself out on so early on.

Copyright sidepodcast.com

Welcome to It Only Takes E Minute, where a red flag delay isn’t enough to dampen a great race.

Jean-Éric Vergne had pole position for the first round of the 2017/18 Formula E season, but he lost out to Sam Bird after an early red flag period halted the race. The front runners got through the first few corners cleanly but at the back, Lotterer hit the barriers and caused a four-car traffic jam as the others couldn’t get past.

A lengthy red flag period followed as the FIA cleared the track and then tried to decide how best to restart the race. Eventually the action got going again, and Sam Bird moved into the lead, from where he never looked back. Even with a dodgy pit stop where he missed the garage, knocked over some equipment, earned and served a drive through penalty, he stayed ahead and took the chequered flag. Vergne followed for second, holding off a furious Nick Heidfeld who questioned the Frenchman’s defending and blocking techniques.

Elsewhere, Jérôme D’Ambrosio was in and out of the pit lane after picking up car trouble, Buemi and Di Grassi finished outside the top ten after an early collision, and Mario Engel finished an impressive fourth after a tough fight but was demoted to 14th after a post-race time penalty for exceeding max power.

Copyright sidepodcast.com