Formula E… Is the engine of innovation being throttled?
Following the Zurich E-Prix, Antoine Lorotte, CEO of FiveCo, criticises the constraints placed on car manufacturers and their engineers.
Formula E is riding high. The Zurich E-Prix, just held in Switzerland, saw the victory of Lucas Di Grassi (Audi ABT) ahead of Sam Bird (DS Virgin). Knowing that the city had not hosted a motor race for 63 years, one senses that something significant is happening.
Who could have imagined, more than half a century ago, that the magic of electricity would propel motors to speeds of over 225 km/h, in cars capable of going from 0 to 100 km/h in under three seconds?
The barriers to innovation
And yet, once the "wow" effect has passed, one wonders about the future of innovation. While the naive observer might daydream that the day is not far off when, as in the science-fiction film Tron, they will watch hovering motorbikes race, experts see it differently. The engineer and the technician with their hands in the grease — or more precisely, in the silicon — know that the finish line of such futuristic feats is still a long way off. They also realise that they have very few cards to play in order to make a difference.
"There was a time when the freedom of invention was limited only by the imagination of engineers and the laws of physics."
The field of possibilities in Formula E is very limited, since manufacturers are constrained: they all receive identical chassis and batteries. Their only "innovation margins" concern the motor and the controller — themselves subject to a capped power output. There are so few possibilities that in the end, all the cars look alike. As a result, public enthusiasm is reduced, and the low level of brand interest follows suit. The race to build the finest team is now a thing of the past. Manufacturer investment has dried up — to such a point that a joke circulates in specialist circles: "the Formula E budget is the budget of the coffee machine at Scuderia Ferrari." Could this ostensibly futuristic sporting discipline have sounded the death knell for Innovation with a capital I in motorsport?
So far from Formula 1
Automotive engineers who have devoted their lives to this sector inevitably feel a twinge of nostalgia, especially if they knew the great era of Formula 1.
There was a time when the freedom of invention was limited only by the imagination of engineers and the laws of physics. Every team could at any moment revolutionise the entire discipline by playing a trump card before their rivals and the astonished eyes of the public. Tyrell completely upended the sport's rules with its outlandish designs, then it was Renault's turn in 1977 to launch the Turbo when nobody saw it coming. Whatever happened to that era when a race was an opportunity to unveil surprises? And we are speaking here of automotive racing, but this sector is far from the only one affected. How can one not think of the nautical world and the magnificent final of the Louis Vuitton Cup, where the yachts raised their hulls to reveal their keels — laying bare, before experts and public alike, the secrets that had allowed them to make the difference?
"Every innovation must contain its share of the unexpected. This obviously includes risk-taking."
Is innovation still where the difference is made?
Returning to the subject of Formula E, should we think that it has a tendency to self-censor? Why are so many constraints placed on the technicians who work in it? Yet it would be wrong to think that this tendency is limited to the newest of motorsport disciplines. Its ancestor, Formula 1, is equally affected. Asked about its future, Cyril Abiteboul of Renault Sport Racing notes that innovation is no longer really a major differentiating factor between teams: "We operate in a very regulated and competitive environment: an innovation is either declared illegal or very quickly copied. In this discipline, the specifications are largely defined by the competitiveness of our rivals and by the regulator."
Competitions have always been performance drivers, challenging innovators and enabling them to give their best. But for this to work, it is imperative to give them every possible latitude and a maximum of freedom. Every innovation must contain its share of the unexpected — and this obviously includes risk-taking. If one eliminates this possibility by constraining engineers with rules and restrictions that go beyond the purely technological realm, they will only produce a disappointing copy. They will content themselves with following the rules to avoid crossing into forbidden territory and will no longer dare to push beyond limits. Let us not forget that motorsport, whatever the formula, is first and foremost a race between engineers. If one lines the path of those engineers with prohibition signs, not only will they not get very far — they risk very quickly finding themselves at a dead end!
