Eternal City and innovation of the future, a strange and interesting combination that animated the city of Rome from 2018 to 2022, with a E-Prices of Formula E which amazed and thrilled. However, this exciting and technological sporting event no longer has anything eternal, as it was first suspended for Season 10 and now it seems like forever, or at least until a later date. Let’s see what happened.
The circuit
Recent history tells us about the adrenaline of this event, with the capital of our country preparing to welcome the electric single-seaters, ready to give themselves a hard time on the streets – let’s remember that the peculiarity of Formula E is precisely the challenge of run electric cars on roads normally open to the public, with the exception of some tracks in the neighbourhood EUR. However, the 2023 edition has put this show in danger because of a large accident occurred on the track.
Rome hosted the E-Prix for the first time in 2018, to be precise on 14 April 2018 and since then she always showed up with gods double-headerthat is, two races that take place on the same circuit two days in a row. The enthusiasm regarding the circuit is due to its shape.
The city circuit, in fact, it wound around the Marconi Obelisk and walked through the famous Roman neighborhood for 2.7 kilometers with what was one of the most challenging ever designed. The competition, which aims to bring attention to electric mobility especially in cities, took place against the backdrop of the Square Colosseum, creating a fascinating contrast between the history of Rome, which we could imagine represented by the Colosseum, and its desire to move towards the future thanks to Formula E. It was one of the longest on the calendar and experienced by drivers as very challenging and tiring due to the uneven surfaces of the asphalt which created jumps and undulations, over various differences in level. In conclusion, that of the EUR was a technical track that offered multiple overtaking opportunitiesalso due to the presence of long and fast straights.
End and uncertain future
We anticipated at the beginning that, despite its potential, theRome E-Prix was short-lived. This has already happened starting from the past season which also saw important turning points in the Championship. The 2024 one therefore decided that instead of Rome, the Gen3 Formula E single-seaters would and have raced on a classic track, that of Misano. The reason is linked to the problem of safety, a value that is always in first place even on the roads for “normal” motorists.
In the 2023In fact, in Rome there was a huge accident involving half of the drivers on the track. Bird’s Jaguar suffered a very violent impact which involved the other drivers, putting their lives at risk. It is no coincidence that a pilot full of experience like Jean-Eric Vergnewho played in Formula 1 and who in Formula E has won two world titles, 11 E-Prix wins and 36 podiums, described that accident as the scariest of his career.
Following that impact, the FIA has decided to suspend the races in Rome and moved the E-Prix to Misano for 2024, in order to be able to proceed with modifying the Roman one, making it safer. However, the situation seems to get complicated for the future, at least in the immediate future: in the official Formula E calendar for season 11 which will start in January 2025, in fact, Italy is completely absent. We just have to wait and see if an Italian event will return, perhaps with a safe and exciting track in Rome, after the difficult moment we are in, in which many important manufacturers, such as Volvo, are backtracking on electric cars.
Source: www.virgilio.it
