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Red Bull against Formula E because they are 'racing purists'

Published on 19 Jan 2019 12:21
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By: Harry Mattocks

Dr Helmut Marko has said that Red Bull will not enter into Formula E, as he believes they are 'racing purists'.

On the current grid, only Nissan e.dams can be linked with a Formula One team, as the team was previously known as Renault e.dams, and is part of the Renault-Nissan group. However, Mercedes is set to join the series in 2020, after pulling out of DTM to fund their efforts.

There are many ex-Formula 1 drivers on the Formula E grid however, but the series appears to struggle at the moment to attract Formula 1 teams.

Marko had this to say: "As good as we are in marketing, Formula E is for us only a marketing excuse from the automotive industry to distract from the diesel scandal: "The bottom line is that diesel is by far the most efficient engine."

Marko believes that "The Formula E cars are like a Formula 3 car with a 400kg battery." and that "It is not about being the fastest driver as it involves a lot more energy management than in Formula 1 or in any other racing series."

"They are so slow. It only looks attractive on these tight and twisty city circuits. The huge advantage is that the Formula E is a super marketing gag, in the middle of the cities.

"Ask your girlfriend if she wants to go to Spa or rather to New York! That's the basic concept of Formula E, to go to the people. But there is hardly any public image generated through TV. I believe that the euphoria will be gone quickly."

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527

Ugh, I actually agree with the mouth of Sauron on this subject. It was clearly launched in a premature state, looking back at the previous seasons, and it wouldnt surprise me in the slightest if this is the brands involved trying to say "look how good and green we are now, can we please forget th... [Read more]

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Jan 19 2019 - 14:34

F1 News Helmut Marko Red Bull Racing

Replies (10)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Ugh, I actually agree with the mouth of Sauron on this subject. It was clearly launched in a premature state, looking back at the previous seasons, and it wouldnt surprise me in the slightest if this is the brands involved trying to say "look how good and green we are now, can we please forget that we tampered with our diesel cars?". And even then, EVs as it stands arent all that "eco-friendly" as they want you to believe. Those Li-ion batteries alone cast some pretty bad shade on the whole thing.

FE, right now, is more good for companies than for the racing. A good excuse to lick the butts of sponsors and to market how eco-friendly they are.
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- Jan 19 2019 - 14:34
- Kean
  
  Posts: 692
  Saw an old episode of Top Gear, where they detailed the production of the batterys in the Prius. Turns out that the environmental impact of that production is significantly greater than puttering around in your old Volvo 240 till it busts. Also, and I might be talking out of school here, but if memory serves a BMW M3 used less fuel to go around the top gear track at the same speed as the Prius max speed. (Granted that last test of their was their usual tongue in cheek, cause the Prius is not meant to be driven that way)
  + 1
  
  Jan 19 2019 - 21:59
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  No no, your memory is accurate. The key to that episode, mind, was that driving style was more important. Concerning EV vs petrol, driving style matters little from what I know. AFAIK, and according to my sources, it takes 10 years minimum of owning an EV ( the whole car, bear in mind) for it to have paid off in terms of environmental impact. At that stage, you generally need to change battery, or get a new ride, renewing teh circle. What'd you pick Kean? New ride or new battery, pray tell?
  + 0
  
  Jan 19 2019 - 22:10
- Kean
  
  Posts: 692
  After 10 years, new ride.
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  Jan 19 2019 - 22:45
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Yes, and I'd venture a guess in saying most would do the same. And sure, someone else could buy the car, but they'd have to buy a battery alongside it, cutting the cost and eco-impact somewhat compared to buying a brand new car, but then it'll need to run for another couple of years. And considering how more and more cars are built with the smartphone mindset (buy it, wear and tear it in a couple of years, then buy the next model) that sounds like a tough ask.
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  Jan 20 2019 - 11:23
xoya

Posts: 583
"Purism" is pure bullshit in any spectre of interest. Technology develops and it is never a bad thing. It's only us (humans) that are flawed.
As we get older we stop embracing new things as easy as we did, and start idealizing "the good old days".
I am 32 now and I already see it in myself too, although I am pretty self-aware regarding this, so I still manage to force myself into new things, but it doesn't come natural anymore and the majority of people fall into this "trap" (or whatever).
This doesn't mean that I like "the halo" or the sound of current F1 but we always have some crap we have to endure and that's life. Electric motors are a thing now and no one can stop it.
At one point ICE replaced steam engines and I bet people were talking crap about it as well.
"Oh, my car can do a 50km trip on one shovel of coal and a litre of water, an look at this gasoline crap. It can't even do a 10km trip to town without running out of it..."

Ultimate purism in racing would probably be horse racing, so let's all go watch that and screw this witchcraft of self-propelled vehicles.
Maybe Ericsson would win WRC (world driver's championship) in that racing category? One never knows.
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- Jan 20 2019 - 12:31
Rindtchamp

Posts: 304
This is possible the first time I've ever agreed with him.
I've tried watching Formula E and forced myself to watch two full races but my god it's so awful. boring as hell and they sound like they are racing hoovers.
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- Jan 20 2019 - 18:32
blade

Posts: 341
Dull, dull, dull. Until they can hammer it full pelt with engine management then its not racing. In fact, it feels a bit more like those college science projects, make a car go 100 miles on a tea-cup of juice.......
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- Jan 20 2019 - 19:35
boudy

Posts: 1,168
Personally I am not bound to any idea that an racing car should be loud, it should be fast. Yes for now FE is a lot slower than F1 but it's improving every year. I watched last race and I thought it was OK. I liked some of their concepts and I think it might reach an younger audience.

Anyone who wonders about EV should just drive on and they will not want to go to driving an ICE.
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- Jan 20 2019 - 22:17
mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332
Classsic bull crap!
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- Jan 21 2019 - 15:50