Formula E Ceo Claims The Performance Gap To F1 Is Shrinking, But Is It Really?

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In motorsport, a small trash talk is portion of nan show. But erstwhile Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds precocious claimed his all-electric bid is closing successful connected Formula 1, he might've overcooked it a bit. "... nan move to a solid-state battery ... that is nan first constituent astatine which you whitethorn spot head-to-head racing betwixt Formula 1 and Formula E," Dodds told Autoweek.

It's a bold connection — but nan stopwatch doesn't lie. And correct now, nan numbers opportunity he whitethorn person written a cheque nan thigh times can't cash. Not yet, anyway. And while Formula E has travel a agelong measurement from its mid-race car switch days, a difficult look astatine nan numbers suggests it mightiness beryllium a spot premature to telephone retired nan varsity squad.

The latest information from nan way tells a fascinating story. Formula E is only conscionable starting to consistently hit its ain benchmarks. So, is nan spread really closing? The receipts opportunity yes, but location are immoderate asterisks and caveats. Dodds besides isn't conscionable looking astatine today; he's looking astatine 2026, erstwhile a monolithic regulatory shake-up could alteration nan full crippled betwixt some series.

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Let's get down to brass tacks. The champion measurement to measurement earthy capacity is simply a qualifying thigh — it's conscionable nan car and driver against nan clock, nary traffic, nary strategy, conscionable axenic pace. And because Formula E runs connected modified circuits astatine astir F1 venues, nan legendary Grand Prix circuit astatine Monaco is our only existent apples-to-apples comparison. Many spot nan F1 title successful Monaco arsenic small much than a high-speed parade done costly existent property — truthful overmuch truthful that nan FIA mandated 2 pit stops successful 2025 conscionable to shingle things up (Spoiler: it didn't.) Meanwhile, Formula E's tally connected nan aforesaid layout was really competitive. Imagine that.

Regardless, successful 2022 and 2023, nan qualifying spread betwixt F1 and FE hovered astir 25%. But successful 2024, that spread ballooned to a whopping 27.7% successful F1's favor. The astir caller moving successful 2025 saw Formula E constrictive nan capacity spread to 23.4%. The gains are measurable — and it's worthy noting that Formula E tends to show stronger consistency betwixt qualifying and title pace.

Even much telling is really Formula E is progressing against itself. Before you tin situation nan champ, you person to situation yourself — and if that isn't a quote from "Rocky," it should be. Looking astatine information from 2022 to 2025 connected tracks that remained consistent, capacity was mostly stagnant — until 2025. That's erstwhile nan bid posted a astir 4% year-over-year improvement, capping disconnected a full summation of astir 5% crossed nan four-year span.

So why nan bold claims from nan area office? Because this full speech is astir to beryllium turned connected its head. Today's F1 car is an wholly different beast — a 1,000-hp hybrid powered, Venturi-tunneled air-bender, moving connected sticky tires. The future, however, is simply a small fuzzier. The major 2026 F1 regulations change are group to make nan cars smaller while shifting nan powerfulness portion to a astir 50/50 divided betwixt a downsized motor and electrical power.

At nan nonstop aforesaid time, Formula E is preparing its Gen4 car, a instrumentality slated to battalion astir 800 hp and imperishable all-wheel drive. F1 will almost surely still beryllium faster wide acknowledgment to a massive weight advantage and its obsession pinch aerodynamics. But nan basal engineering spread should shrink considerably.

Dodds' trash talk mightiness beryllium premature based connected today's thigh times, but he's playing a longer crippled — pointing toward a early wherever some bid look awesome method shakeups and this full statement gets a batch much interesting. It's nan classical "don't look astatine wherever we are, look astatine wherever we're going" move. Anyone who's survived a firm quarterly update knows this tone: "Sure, we're not location yet — but conscionable hold until Q4!" Until those gains really show up — connected either broadside of nan car shed — we've sewage to unrecorded successful nan now.