South Africa's first world championship single-seater race in 30 years was a success both on-track and off-track. Here's what new FormulaE venues can learn from the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix:
Once the morning haze had burned off, Cape Town’s scenery was suffused by a resplendent azure sky. A solitary puffball of cloud remained perched atop Table Mountain, a cotton-candy feast, while the sun gifted the waves at Mouille Point Beach with a glittering veil as they crashed onto the sand under the heavy coastal breeze.
Initially primed for the 2021-22 season, the lingering effects of COVID hit Formula E’s initial plans for the Cape Town E-Prix and prompted a year’s delay. Then Cape Town did not appear on the initial release of the 2023 calendar; burned by the mismanagement of the planned 2022 race in Vancouver, Formula E CEO Jamie Reigle told Motorsport.com that the championship was waiting for the final details to be tied up before the race would be confirmed.
In so many forms of motorsport, particularly at circuits that aren’t fuel or energy critical, a driver can theoretically start building a lead early and march off into the distance. In Cape Town, as has been the case at other energy-sensitive Formula E circuits in the past, leading early was a considerable disadvantage as the slipstream was so valuable.
It's become popular to criticise Formula E for its circuits, and many question why the series chooses not to race on permanent tracks. Brands Hatch is often cited as a candidate among the professional opinion-havers that occupy social media. But the last thing motorsport needs is homogeneity, and that’s something that Formula E has taken great pains to avoid – sometimes even to its own detriment.
In Formula E’s case, you’d likely have to concede that crowds would be nowhere near as big if it went to out-of-town circuits. Racing in a city does create a lot of limitations and red tape, and the defined course can only fit within the limits of the existing infrastructure. But Cape Town has proven that it’s possible to put together an excellent course within those confines, and it should hopefully serve as an example to other would-be hosts in how to define their track layouts.
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