After what feels like an eternity, the second season of the electric Formula E championship comes to a conclusion with the London ePrix! Unless something changes in the next few weeks, the race weekend in London is set to be the last at Battersea Park, with the round either disappearing off the calendar or moving elsewhere in the city. Time will tell.
There are some schedule changes for ITV compared with last year’s double-header. Firstly, as has been the case all season, qualifying will not be aired on either of ITV’s channels. The reason for this I imagine is purely ratings driven, in that it was not performing well enough at the back-end of season one to justify showing qualifying more in season more. On the brighter side, both races will be aired live on ITV’s main channel instead of just the season finale as was the case last year.
In terms of competition, Formula E is a week later this year, meaning it avoids competition from the Goodwood Festival of Speed. There is tougher competition though from the Austrian Grand Prix, but the good news on that front is that both Formula E races start later than the Formula 1, so there is no direct overlap (the F1 race finishes at 14:30 UK time, whereas Formula E starts at 16:00 UK time).
ITV are expected to be trackside for the season finale with Jennie Gow presenting alongside Andy Jaye. Marc Priestley and Jaime Alguersuari will be providing the analysis, with Formula E’s usual World Feed team of Nicki Shields, Jack Nicholls and Dario Franchitti overseeing the action.
Formula E – London – Races 1 and 2 (online via YouTube)
02/07 and 03/07 – 08:10 to 09:10 – Practice 1
02/07 and 03/07 – 10:25 to 11:10 – Practice 2
02/07 and 03/07 – 11:45 to 13:10 – Qualifying
Formula E – London – Race 1 (ITV)
02/07 – 15:00 to 17:30 – Race
03/07 – 11:00 to 12:00 – Highlights
Formula E – London – Race 2 (ITV)
03/07 – 15:00 to 17:45 – Race
Last updated on June 25th.
Update on July 2nd at 14:30 – Jennie Gow is not presenting today’s coverage, Jaye will step up in her place. Alex Brundle is also doing some punditry this weekend for ITV.
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won’t jennie gow and jack nichols be covering f1 for r5l?
Nope.
So who will be doing the Austrian GP then?
David, I’m 100% certain this is the last one in Battersea. If not, Agag will be breaking his deal with the protestors, which would not be a clever move at all as it would undo any goodwill that the deal may have held together for this year’s race. Wandsworth Council has even been paid off by Agag to the tune of £2.85 Million in compensation, so the contract has been broken. However, hopefully a new venue can be sorted in time for season 4; I think season 3’s calendar has basically already been approved by WMSC (Apart from 1 or 2 areas which “need clarity”) so I don’t think there’s much leeway to get a new London venue in there in time. I believe it was Autosport who reported that the teams only agreed to the cancellation of Battersea if a new venue in London replaced it by season 4.
As for the actual viewing figures, my fear is that the novelty of a race in London will have worn off for many people, something I also think will be reflected in ticket sales. Hopefully I am proven wrong though. Having it on ITV1 will help but with the poor figures across the whole season I can’t see ITV keeping it without major changes to the nature of the contract with FE.