Formula E thrives as Brazilian tradition meets innovation on streets of Sao Paulo

Five races and five faces on pole. Four different winners. Eight names on the podium so far. And after this weekend in Sao Paulo, three brand new cities hosting an E-Prix on their streets in the opening six rounds of the year.

Formula E (FE) has started its ninth season in exciting, intriguing and exasperating fashion, with the jaw-dropping moments already coming via both the sublime and the surreal: Antonio Felix Da Costa’s magnificent manoeuvre to take first place in Cape Town; Sam Bird taking out his own Jaguar teammate in Hyderabad; rookie Jake Hughes’s magnificent start to the season and there’s last year’s title challenger Edoardo Mortara failing to finish three of the five races so far.

It is unpredictable from week to week, let alone season to season, which stands somewhat in contrast to other racing championships, indeed other sports, where repetitive names and results are becoming the norm.

FE has never publicly sought to stand itself above Formula One, now or for the future. Indeed, the official line of it being a championship which can thrive in its own right alongside F1, a different kind of racing for fans to enjoy, is where many hope continued growth will emerge.

But that shouldn’t mean it doesn’t take the opportunity to showcase where it might hold more value for an audience than any other championship, and right now – with an untouchable dominant team already making F1’s season look a long one in terms of the title – Formula E must be pushing the case they have the racing series to watch in 2023. And unpredictability is far from only reason.

“All the drivers are here because we’re good. It’s all merit-based,” NIO 333 driver Dan Ticktum told The Independent.

“You very rarely get signed because of a nationality. In Formula 1, a lot of people are being signed now who are not actually good enough in my opinion, it’s just where they are born. Formula E doesn’t pay attention to any of that.

“The best drivers rise to the top – merit only. There are very few championships in the world where every driver is paid to do their job; from a fans’ point of view I would like that a lot – it’s the best drivers in the world going head-to-head.”

“FE really is every driver here racing professionally – that’s a big appeal,” teammate Sergio Sette Camara agreed. “One thing that attracts drivers is having the best [against you]: I look around the grid and I say man, I respect every single one of them here.”

This is still a series in its relative infancy, compared to other championships, yet is making strides to attract viewers with performance as well as purpose.

Formula E came into being to show how sustainability and sport can go hand in hand, a net zero championship from day zero, as they like to say, and has been ranked as the most sustainable sport in the world by the Global Sustainability Benchmark in Sports (GSBS). It’s naturally not a reason the majority of the drivers will initially join, but it’s something they can become invested in: doing what they love and yet contributing to something bigger as they do.

More than a few drivers have acknowledged that this is the case. British racer Ticktum says it certainly is for him. It’s also reinforced throughout the race weekend; everywhere around the track and race centre is a combination of touches of locality, high performance and clear sustainability values.

Formula E, by its nature of street races, means each track is put together and taken apart in rapid time. The teams, the crews, the ground staff and all those working on the event with FE or the FIA come in and effectively live and work together in an intense sporting environment for a weekend, then disband. And get ready to go again for the next trip. It all leads to a very communal type of event which means locations matter a great deal.

Which brings us back to Sao Paulo, home of the racetrack Interlagos which hosts an F1 race annually.

Moreover, the nation of Brazil and the city of Sao Paulo has a huge affinity for motor racing: Ayrton Senna, Felipe Massa and Emerson Fittipaldi were all born in Sao Paulo, while current FE driver Lucas di Grassi, now racing with Mahindra, was too.

For Sette Camara, Sao Paulo is not quite home but has always been a familiar place all the same, with a return to these streets an emotional one.

“Sao Paulo is about 500km [310 miles] away from my hometown, Belo Horizonte, but I’ve spent a lot of time here for the regional championships as a kid,” he explained.

“Friends and family who have never been to my races will now be watching me for the first time. My grandmother is coming to the race which is quite cool! She’s never watched me, she can’t fly eight hours to Europe but an hour to here makes it a special one for me.”

Both he and Ticktum have overseen an improvement with NIO this season in the Gen 3 car, a reset opportunity for all teams but perhaps particularly for a team who haven’t had a podium since season four and who were bottom or one off the bottom in the teams’ standings for the past four years.

Points in each of the last three races between the duo give rise to the belief that a top-five finish in certain races is possible this year, while season-long progress would come measured by a podium spot and finishing in the top eight, something which hasn’t looked possible in recent years.

And there again is the unpredictability – or even just the existence of possibility – that FE can bring. It’s not just the new tracks – indeed both Ticktum and Sette Camara feel that’s not always even a factor – but more so the new car, getting to grips with the regenerative braking, different tyres being used and plenty more besides.

This isn’t to say a weekend result is random, though: those using Porsche powertrains have been the early big winners, while some drivers have long been standouts and are showing more consistency this year. Others are perhaps not.

It all makes race six in Sao Paulo, with a track which appears fast but with changeable local conditions, another setting of intrigue.

Formula E isn’t the biggest racing championship on the calendar throughout the year, but this weekend it could be. And that gives it the opportunity to show why it’s a series fans should be tuning into more and more regularly, ahead of a return to Europe in April.