Formula One and Formula E incomparable - Todt
President of the FIA Jean Todt has slammed comments made by founder of the Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson that Formula E is set to surpass Formula One as the pinnacle of world motorsport in the next ‘four to five years’.
Speaking at the Battersea Park Formula E round at the launch of the new DS Virgin Racing team, where Branson also predicted that all cars would be battery driven by 2035, Todt sought to stress that Formula One and Formula E are fundamentally incomparable.
“I think it’s a big mistake to compare them, it’s like comparing London to a city on the beach,” he said. “I really think that you need Formula One, it remains the pinnacle of motorsport, you need Formula E, you need sportscars and rallying and touring cars and F3. Formula One and Formula E are part of the same family. It’s good to have competition in the same category, not in different categories. They are two different shows; on the one side, you have a short race – 45 minutes – with two cars, in the cities, they are different cars, different budgets. You cannot compare the budget in Formula One and Formula E. Do you think the Formula One budget will drop by 20 times or the Formula E budget will multiply by 20?
“You saw in Monte Carlo we used a different circuit – we don’t want to compare Formula E to other categories of motorsports. It is not comparable, it is a different category. For example, here nobody will complain that it’s not making noise; they are not coming to hear noise.”
Todt also railed against the pervading negativity surrounding the sport and called on journalists to report it more positively.
“The media have a very strong responsibility because you can write bad and good – you must write what you think is right to be said, but of course you can encourage a lot of things and we are in a world where there is so much positive to say,” said the Frenchman. “Of course we can do better, but I think Formula One is absolutely fascinating and I am wondering why there is so much negativity – does it help to sell more copy, does it help to attract more people? I don’t think so. It’s just the opposite.
“Formula One is still a great show. Every time I am able to watch a Formula One race I am very excited. There are a few things we need to address, but we are here to concentrate on Formula E. Who would have guessed that we would be able to host on Saturday and Sunday, the end of June, a race in the city with a very open championship, with clearly three guys who can be champions and good racing? I think it’s fantastic.”
Image: FIA FORMULA E