The ABB FIA Formula E Championship is weighing up “all options” to conclude its present Season 6 campaign, including the prospect of racing behind closed doors and away from city centres according to CEO Jamie Reagle.
The fully-electric championship’s present competition is suspended in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic, with all races across March, April and May either cancelled or postponed, leaving the Berlin E-Prix on June 21 as the next scheduled race.
With the German government extending its ban on all public gatherings until August 31, the prospect of racing in the capital is looking increasingly unlikely.
The subsequent New York City and London E-Prix on July 11 and July 25-26 have also been cast into doubt, with both the Brookyn Cruise Terminal and ExCeL Exhibition Centre converted into temporary hospitals – the latter of which will house 4,000 coronavirus patients.
“Clearly I can’t look you in the eye and say we’re going to race [in New York and London on the proposed dates] given that pattern,” said Reigle.
“Could we race later in the year? We’re looking at all options right now. In simple terms if you work backwards from next season, which starts in the middle of December, we’re trying to shrink that off-season period as much as we can to create space in the calendar to race in August and September.”
“We find ourselves of course in a very different moment and I think everyone is in improvise mode so we need to look at all alternatives.
“We’ll look at behind closed doors, we’ll look at tracks, we’ll look at venues that otherwise wouldn’t be a natural Formula E venue. That doesn’t signal a change in the overall strategy, it’s just a reflection of the current circumstances.”
Alongside disruption to the 2019/20 calendar, the current coronavirus outbreak has also impacted Formula E’s technical roadmap, with the series delaying the introduction of the Gen2 EVO – a facelift to the current Gen2 – until the end of 2021 while also extending the homologation period, meaning manufacturers are now only able to change powertrain components once over the next two seasons.
