Five talking points from Formula E in Saudi Arabia

The growing electrification of the automotive industry has made Formula E the go-to championship for the world’s car manufacturers, as Porsche and Mercedes join fellow German premium brands BMW and Audi, plus Jaguar, DS and Nissan in the series, which has to be the envy of the motor racing world right now.

Formula 1, the World Endurance Championship and the World Rally Championship all fall well short of such a roster – which make the victories for Bird and Sims all the more significant, in a field packed with platinum-grade driving talent.

Sam Bird back to his best

Sam Bird has been a frontline Formula E star since the series’ inception, but endured a difficult season last term. But he bounced back in emphatic fashion on Friday as season six got underway at the dusty Ad Diriyah circuit.

The Envision Virgin Racing driver started only fifth, as Sims took his second Formula E pole position for BMW following his maiden achievement at the New York season-five finale in July.

But savvy use of the series’ novel attack mode, which allows drivers to pick up more power by triggering an energy boost in a special activation zone, allowed Bird to carve his way to the front.

He closed in on Stoffel Vandoorne, who drives for the new Mercedes squad this season, as the Belgian threatened Sims for the lead. Vandoorne made a lunge down the inside of the BMW entry, made contact but scrabbled past. The moment allowed Bird to take advantage and move up to second, as Sims dropped from the lead to third place in one corner.

Now Bird made his bid for the lead with a clean pass on Vandoorne. He survived a late-race stoppage and restart to take the win ahead of Porsche’s Andre Lotterer, Vandoorne and British e.dams Nissan driver Oliver Rowland.

“It was the power of the beard that did that!,” said a hirsute Bird on the slow-down lap. “The team have done a great job in the off-season. Well done, team.”

Alexander Sims scores his first victory

His reaction to scoring his first Formula E win says so much about Alexander Sims. “That’s a bit more like it,” he said on the radio after crossing the line first in Race 2 on Saturday. “I might even crack a smile on the podium.”

Meet Sims away from a race track and you’d never guess he’s a top racing driver. Modest and ‘normal’ almost to a fault, he’s also a genuine disciple to the electrification revolution and has been driving electric cars on the road for years.

But any thoughts that he is too ‘nice’ and was lucky to hang on to his BMW Andretti drive for a second season, after too many incidents in his first season, can now be banished. Sims clearly belongs in Formula E after a performance that belies his modest nature.

Having taken a second pole position of the weekend, he blitzed the start and was never headed. Some might argue he was too meek in his defence of the lead in Race 1 as Vandoorne made his move – but this time he didn’t allow anyone to get close enough to even try it, despite a couple of safety car interventions. After a junior single-seater career shortened by a lack of funding and bad luck, no one deserves such a high-profile win more – and it couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke.

Poor driving and collisions return to haunt series

One of the biggest criticisms of Formula E, besides the whine of the cars’ electric powertrains, is the amount of contact between drivers as they battle for position. Some of that can be blamed on the tight nature of the pop-up city street tracks that are the series’ calling card. But some of it is also down to bad decision making from experienced aces who should know better.

Season six has already thrown up a blatant example. Felix da Costa’s tap on Sébastien Buemi had the whiff of professional foul about it, but what the series two Formula E champion did next was worse. Buemi chose to recover from his spin by placing his car broadside on the exit of a blind corner, putting himself and those who scattered in avoidance at significant risk. It was plain dangerous and it was only good fortune that a serious accident was avoided.

Mercedes and Porsche off to flying starts

They might have missed out on maiden victories, but the factory Mercedes and Porsche teams must have left Saudia Arabia well satisfied with their first showing in Formula E.

For Mercedes, ex-McLaren Formula 1 driver Vandoorne and new Formula 2 champion Nyck de Vries qualified second and third respectively for the first race on Friday, with Vandoorne delivering that podium third place – and did so again in a wild second race pock-marked by incidents and driver penalties.

Meanwhile at Porsche, three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Lotterer rose from seventh on the grid to finish runner-up to Bird in Race 1, and would have had another top six result from Race 2, only to be one of those penalised for overtaking under the safety car. Still, he’d shown that Porsche’s proclamations that it will take time to get up to speed in Formula E can be taken with a pinch of salt.

There’s a nagging suspicion that the two mighty marques could come to dominate Formula E, as they have F1 and endurance sports car racing respectively. Their form first time out in Saudia Arabia did nothing to dispel that notion.

Difficult first weekend for Jean-Eric Vergne

Double Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne couldn’t have endured a tougher season opener as he bids for a series hat-trick in 2019-20.

The DS Techeetah driver and former Toro Rosso Formula 1 ace was an early retirement in Race 1, pulling into the pits with damage. Vergne then crashed heavily in practice on Saturday, which enforced a battery change for his car and a back-of-the-grid start and a 10 second stop/go penalty for Race 2. He still finished 11^th on the road despite all that, and rose to eighth in the final rankings following penalties for the drivers ahead of him.

The Frenchman left Saudi Arabia with just four points to be 12^th in the standings. Sims is flying high at the top with 35, from Vandoorne (30), Bird (26) and Rowland (22).

But he’ll know not to panic. There’s an awful lot of street-circuit miles to complete before season six reaches its climax with a double-header in London’s docklands on 25^th/26^th July next year.