Motor racing-It's complicated, but Formula E sees a simpler future

"I think we need to work on simplifying our sport and making it much more intuitive and understandable to fans," he told Reuters. Reigle listed qualifying, currently divided into four groups of six cars each defined by championship position and then one six-car Super Pole shootout, and race formats as particular challenges.

Formula E wraps up its season in Berlin this weekend with two races and a wealth of title permutations thanks to an astonishing 18 of 24 drivers remaining mathematically in contention.

The maximum points available per race in the all-electric series is 30 -- 25 for the win, one for fastest lap plus three for pole position and one for fastest in the group phase of qualifying. Ten drivers have won races in the series' seventh season, and first year as a full FIA world championship, and three have done so more than once.

Mercedes' overall leader Nyck de Vries is six points clear of fellow-Dutchman and Envision Virgin Racing rival Robin Frijns, with Britain's Sam Bird third and 14 off the pace for Jaguar. The racing has a reputation for being close and unpredictable, while energy management is key and there are post-race penalties for excessive use.

Jamie Reigle, Formula E's chief executive, would like a simpler scenario before the next generation of cars (GEN3) is introduced in season nine. "I think we need to work on simplifying our sport and making it much more intuitive and understandable to fans," he told Reuters.

Reigle listed qualifying, currently divided into four groups of six cars each defined by championship position and then one six-car Super Pole shootout, and race formats as particular challenges. "We view season eight as a bridge, as a way to improve the foundations of the sport. Gen3 brings all kind of new elements that will inform how we think about the sporting format," said Reigle.

He said that as the technology advanced, so should the sport. The Gen3 car will be 100kg lighter, have 100 kilowatts more power and be narrower, lower and faster. A return to pitstops has been mooted, not out of necessity but so manufacturers can showcase and develop rapid charging technology, and that would also affect race duration and format.

"We're looking at some quite radical ideas that would allow us to ramp up competitive tension and also highlight the different strategies you could take with the charging capacity within the race," said Reigle. "We're looking at Gen3 in a very holistic way."

Extra time, familiar to any soccer fan, might be another avenue to explore for a series whose races have plenty of yellow flag interruptions due to crashes around tight city circuits. Races currently last 45 minutes plus one lap, rather than a given number of laps.

Reigle said the data indicated the average race had 10-12 minutes neutralised under yellow flags. "We're going to look at that going into next year," he added.

"In football you have the concept of added time... In ours, we reduce energy; Not real energy but available, usable energy. Which, unless you're really into your motorsport or Formula E, is not an intuitive concept. "We're working very closely with the FIA to say 'OK, does energy reduction make sense or actually does added time make sense?' I'm firmly of the view that added time makes sense." (Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)