Formula E race calendar 2019-20 or: What do I care about the rubbish what I said yesterday?

Hello friends of motorracing,

today I want to share my thoughts about the calendar of the next Formula E season 2019-20. No, I don't want to talk about Switzerland that has been thrown out of the calendar after two years. Neither do I want to talk about that there will be no race in Africa in the coming season. I want to talk about Formula E, that forgets all their convictions and values.

Why do I think so? In the past, the race calendar of Formula E has always been optimized. It has been designed to optimize the transport routes of cars and equipment between the races. The travels could be done on the streets, by rail or by ship. Air transports have been avoided whenever possible.

A short note: To calculate the distances I assumed that the missing race in China will take place again in Sanya/Hainan. The missing race in december has been ignored. All the distances have been rounded to 10 km / 10 miles up or down.

During the 2019-20 season cars and equipment will be moved between the season opener in Ad-Diriyah and the race in London more than als 74000 kilometers or 46000 miles. This distance is estimated by direct lines from E-Prix to E-Prix. In total it will be nearly two times around the world (40070 km / 25000 mi each). Of course it is not possible to move cars and equipment in a direct line each time. Therefore I think that it will be more than two times around the world in total.

I visualized the transport routes in this graph:
This is the way cars and equipment will travel around the world during the upcoming season
Of course it is not possible to avoid travelling big distances for a series that races on four continents (Asia, Europe, North America, South America). But let's take a look at the end of the race calendars 2018-19 and 2019-20 and compare them (cities outside of Europe marked in red).

2018/19

  • Rome (Distance: 9230 km / 5770 mi from Sanya)
  • Paris (Distance: 1100 km / 690 mi)
  • Monaco (Distance: 690 km / 430 mi)
  • Berlin (Distance: 1070 km / 670 mi)
  • Bern (Distance: 750 km / 470 mi)
  • New York City (Distance: 6270 km / 3920 mi)
Formula E has to move 3610 km / 2260 mi between the five european races before moving to New York City. If you add the distances from Sanya and to New York City you get a distance of 19110 km / 11950 mi - this is by no means a short distance, but the direct distance between Sanya and New York City alone is already 13450 km / 8400 mi. The european "detour" is quite a litte one in comparison.

2019/20

  • Rome (Distance: 9230 km / 5770 mi from Sanya)
  • Paris (Distance: 1100 km / 690 mi)
  • Seoul (Distance: 8970 km / 5600 mi)
  • Berlin (Distance: 8130 km / 5080 mi)
  • New York City (Distance: 6380 km / 3990 mi)
  • London (Distance: 5570 km / 3480 mi)
During the upcoming season there will be four european events only, but the distance between the races is 30150 km / 18840 mi. This is quite a lot more than during the current season. The reason: These four european events will be interrupted by one race in Asia and one race in North America. After these races the series will head back to Europe again. If you add the distance from Sanya the total distance will be 39380 km / 24610 mi - more than two times the distance of 2018-19.

Even if it's true that the race calendar has been built this way because the date in may is the only possible weekend for a race in Seoul - a series that advertises itself with resource conservation and sustainability has to handle this differently. I would like to show that there are possibilities to go another way - at least in theory.

Of course I have to admit that my calculations are just examples. It may be impossible to realize it exactly in this way, because of the winter in northern or southern hemisphere. But you can get an idea, how much effect an optimization could have.

How much could Formula E reduce their travelling distances?

Even if I assume that the season will start in Ad-Diriyah and end in London, I was able to  get a possible transport distance savings potential of more than 27800 km / 17280 mi with using the same cities. This is about 37.22 percent less than the distance estimated in the official race calendar! From Ad-Diriyah the series would travel to Asia, then to South America, North Amerca and finishing the season in Europe.
Optimized travelling route, still starting the season in Ad-Diriyah and ending it in London
If I was able to change season opener and season end, the savings rise even more: My calculations lead to a savings potential of 44000 km or 27250 mi. This is about 58.70 percent! Starting in Santiago, the series moves to North America. Next station is Europe before heading to Asia with the season ending in Seoul.
Perfect optimized travelling route between all cities of the race calendar
I think this shows why I actually don't like the race calendar for the 2019-20 Formula E season. Formula E should pay attention to not destroying everything they built up during the last few years by betraying their own principles. Especially regarding their "green" image. I think that would be a big pity.

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