10 years on: Has Formula E earned our respect?

But it’s only by going back to watch that first E-Prix that you can truly appreciate how far Formula E has come in its first decade, and it’s easy to remember why it was considered by a broad spectrum of motorsport fans to be a bit of a joke.

The biggest indictment of early Formula E were the cars themselves, which were woefully underwhelming. With only 272PS (200kW) generated from their electric powertrains they were just too slow, even on narrow street circuits they were wholly unspectacular to watch.

Despite the lack of performance, the batteries themselves were still not capable of providing enough energy to complete a race distance, which necessitated a preposterous yet unique spectacle in motorsport as drivers leapt out of one car and into another to finish the race.

This new form of motorsport was clearly not going to impress a mature and heavily prejudiced audience of motorsport enthusiasts, so the goal was to appeal to a new, younger audience. Gimmicks like Fanboost, intended to encourage engagement from fans, only served to garner further ridicule from naysayers.

The first ever Formula E race did make headlines, but for all the wrong reasons after an exciting battle for the victory ended with a terrifying crash for Nick Heidfeld at the final corner.

In the aftermath of that inaugural Beijing E-Prix you would never have thought that ten years later we would still be talking about Formula E in the present, and yet, thanks in no small part to the tenacity of those involved, the FIA Formula E World Championship is stronger now than ever.

It’s virtually unrecognisable from those early years. The cars, once uninspiring, are now genuinely impressive feats of engineering with headline figures that put an F1 car in the shade – the upcoming Gen3 Evo machines set to race in 2025 will accelerate from 0-62mph in 1.86 seconds at peak power and reach 200mph. They aren’t boring to watch anymore.

The drivers themselves, meanwhile, are more invested in the championship than ever. Where an original roster of participants saw only 12 drivers compete full-time in season one, the 22-driver grid for season ten were all paid for full-season contracts, barring a single clash with the World Endurance Championship that saw four drivers replaced for the Berlin E-Prix.

It’s a grid that stands alone as its own collection of stars, a far cry from the retirement policy for F1 drivers that the early seasons embodied. Three drivers who lined up on the original grid in Beijing, namely Lucas di Grassi, Sebastian Buemi, Sam Bird, remain in the sport ten years later, while Jean-Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix da Costa have both raced in every Formula E season.

In all, eighteen former F1 drivers raced in season one of Formula E, the majority of whom were not successful during their time at the pinnacle of motorsport, which firmly positioned this new championship as a B-spec series. In contrast, there were only six on the grid in 2024, one of which was Nyck de Vries, who earned his F1 call up after winning the 2021 Formula E championship.

Instead of being a safety net for F1 outcasts, Formula E has transformed into a new opportunity for young drivers to graduate from the junior formulae, which is a much more worthwhile and credible standing for a world championship series. There’s no denying that F1 remains the North Star of motorsport, but to have an authentic alternative that deserving drivers can turn to is no bad thing.

The steady growth of Formula E has garnered an entertaining spectacle in which single-team dominance is non-existent. Teams and drivers have the capacity to make a difference from race to race, and the regularity with which that form swings makes for enticing championship battles almost invariably. Season ten’s final race decider was no outlier; in all there have been eight final-race deciders in the sport’s first decade.

It’s the continued support of manufacturers, however, that truly encapsulates the success of Formula E. Only Renault and Audi turned up to race in season one, with Renault providing powertrains and transmissions to every other team. For the upcoming season 11, there will be eight powertrain manufacturers: Maserati, Jaguar, Nissan, Lola-Yamaha, Porsche, Mahindra, DS and ERT. The list of brands speaks for itself, and highlights the importance that the global car industry is placing on Formula E.

That, after all, is what this is all about. A proving ground for the most advanced EV technology that will one day power the cars we drive, in much the same way that F1 has helped to shape automotive evolution.

Formula E has seen remarkable growth in its first decade. Progress in virtually every direction has seen it transformed into an FIA world championship that races in four continents and is watched all over the globe by almost 500 million people. Its future is secure for the next decade, too, as manufacturers continue to commit to the Gen4 car that carries the sport into the 2030s.

Motorsport’s electric single-seater series is here to stay, and I for one will continue to watch with interest as matures and grows.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.