Which technology is faster? Formula-E or F-1

How fast can a Formula-E go? and how does that compare to Formula-1?

From an engineering and design perspective. I was reading through this post:

The Agag Order

I am not concerned about which one is the fastest today…what I want to really understand, is this, which technology has the upper hand and a higher ceiling? In other words, what are the barriers holding back either of these from breaking new records? Doesn’t the electric vehicle have an edge in that is can become much much lighter?

Hi Emilio

I am not an engineer either but I would guess there is a balance between speed and weight - to get the maximum drive the vehicle cannot be too light nor too heavy. In the long run I think EVs will win and like F1 the technology we see on the Formula E track today will eventually find its way onto EVs available to consumers. Regenerative breaking from F1 is a prime example of this process in action.

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Formula One (or pretty much any racing formula series) isn’t really interested in breaking records. Their goals include:

  1. profit for the owners of the series
  2. prestige for the major manufacturers involved (Mercedes, Ferrari, BMW, Honda, Renault, etc)
  3. driver safety
  4. survival of teams to keep cars on the grid and maintain the appeal of the product (there are less than half as many cars starting each race as there were 30 years ago…they can’t afford any more attrition or the series looks like a joke).

Except #2, lap time records vs. past years doesn’t mean anything, and even WRT that, most people are more interested in “did you win this year,” not whether you went faster than in a previous year.

To improve driver safety and control costs for the smaller teams, the rules are in part designed to limit and PREVENT increases in speed. The richest teams may like being able to spend money on development to beat each other, but even they usually don’t want a total free-for-all

As an example, in the early '80s, the 1.5 liter engines developed up to 1400 HP in qualifying trim (according to Wikipedia). Making 750 HP per liter is pretty extreme, and they didn’t last long! Building many engines per season cost a lot, and driving these beast KILLED a lot of drivers.

The driver death rate is much lower now, much of which is due to various improvements like carbon fiber chassis, track improvements and car design rules that specifically aim to reduce crash damage, but those gains would be offset if track speeds were allowed to increase without limitation other than engineering prowess. Nobody wants that!

So, your question doesn’t really make sense. Formulas are not designed to create the fastest possible vehicle. They’re designed to make a competitive product to attract spectators while limiting financial and physical damage to the teams by setting rules for competition. When things get out of hand, the rules are adjusted to rein in cost and speed.

One side issue: engine noise is a big part of the race appeal to many people. Listen to this year’s US Grand Prix episode of the Alt+F1 podcast (episode 104). It’s weird that two guys who have done a podcast about F1 for several years had never been to a race before that episode. They talk quite a bit about how impressive the noise was. I see electric racing as being a hard sell due to the lack of roar.

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