Formula E | The Verge

Roku’s first free live sports stream will be Formula E racing

2023-06-27T11:06:27-04:00

Formula E has signed a streaming deal with Netflix. | Image: ABB FIA Formula E World Championship

Streamers are gobbling up major sports deals - YouTube has NFL Sunday Ticket, and Apple has Major League Soccer - so why not Roku? In its first live sports streaming rights get, Roku's signed up to broadcast 11 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship races in the 2024 season. At the same time, five races that will air live on CBS Television Network will be simulcast on Paramount Plus, which can be accessed in the Roku Sports Experience, starting in January.

Formula E's current season has about a month left to go. A race this past weekend garnered our attention when the DS Penske team was caught installing an RFID scanner that could "collect li …

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Formula E team caught using RFID scanner that could grab live tire data from other cars

2023-06-24T18:47:54-04:00

Stoffel Vandoorne drives in the Portland ePrix today. | Image: John Lamparski/Getty Images

During the Formula E qualifying round in Portland, Oregon, today, the DS Penske team was fined €25,000 after it surreptitiously installed an RFID scanner at the entrance to the pit, which the FIA stewards said could collect data from other race cars and give them an advantage. The team's racers, Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Éric Vergne, were also hit with a pit lane start penalty for today's race - meaning they will have to wait at the end of the pit lane until all of the other cars have driven past before entering the race.

The FIA Stewards explanation for the penalty was provided to The Verge via email:

The Stewards were advised by the Tec …

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Formula E nearly turned a profit during the pandemic

2021-07-12T15:29:47-04:00

All-electric racing series Formula E very nearly turned its first profit during the 2019-2020 season, its sixth, despite canceling nine of the 14 races originally scheduled in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Six of those races were eventually made up at a single track in Berlin, Germany, which - along with other internal changes - ultimately helped bring the series's total costs down.

All told, Formula E lost just €38,514 before taxes during its sixth season, down from a €10.6 million loss in season five (about $45,700 and $11.6 million, respectively), according to a new filing with the UK's Companies House Registry. That's despite th …

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Formula E will finish its season with six races in Berlin

2020-06-18T13:49:31-04:00

All-electric racing series Formula E has announced plans to resume and conclude its pandemic-interrupted sixth season in August. The series will put on six races in nine days at Tempelhof Airport, a familiar location for Formula E. As a result, races scheduled in cities like New York and London won't be held.

No fans will be allowed to attend, and there will be a maximum of 1,000 people allowed on site at any given time, including medical crew and other "essential staff." Media will not be invited, save for a handful of photographers.

Formula E says it will require a negative PCR test for everyone who enters the venue. Masks will be mandat …

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Audi drops driver for secretly using a ringer to compete in virtual race

2020-05-26T14:02:51-04:00

Audi has dropped driver Daniel Abt in the all-electric racing series Formula E after he had a pro sim driver surreptitiously race for him during a virtual competition over the weekend. He has also been told to pay €10,000 to charity as a result.

Abt said Tuesday that he thought the idea would be funny and that he had planned to release a video about the whole ruse.

Abt was supposed to be competing in the fifth round of Formula E's online sim racing series, which started up in April alongside virtual substitute series from Formula One, NASCAR, and IndyCar. The Formula E sim series was not only meant to give fans something to watch during th …

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Jaguar’s I-Pace racing series will end because of COVID-19

2020-05-19T12:42:20-04:00

The Jaguar I-Pace racing series, which launched in 2018, will come to an end this year after just two seasons due to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy, as it's officially called, will finish out whatever races it can this year alongside electric racing series Formula E and then fold up shop at the end of the season, despite being contracted to put on at least one more.

Announced in 2017, Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy is run as a support class for all-electric racing series Formula E. It pits race-modified versions of the British automaker's first electric car against each other on the same temporary street circuit …

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Formula E lost $11.6 million during its fifth season

2020-05-15T14:20:59-04:00

Electric racing series Formula E posted a loss of €10.6 million on record revenues of €161.5 million across its fifth season, or about $11.6 million and $177.6 million, respectively, based on the exchange rate at the time. The new financial figures were disclosed in a previously unreported filing with the United Kingdom's Companies House Registry, and they cover the company's fiscal year that ended on July 31st, 2019, just a few weeks after the fifth season came to a close.

Formula E has now posted a loss in each year of its existence, but the new figures show the series came as close as it ever has to turning a profit - meaning it was on r …

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Formula E launches a virtual racing season, joining NASCAR, F1, IndyCar

2020-04-15T12:08:17-04:00

All-electric racing series Formula E is launching a nine-week sim racing competition after having to put its sixth season on pause due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The series joins the likes of NASCAR, Formula One, and IndyCar, all of which are already leaning on the robust software and community of online sim racing to keep fans and drivers entertained and occupied in the absence of real-world racing.

The virtual Formula E series will be run in rFactor 2 which, alongside iRacing, is one of the leading sim racing platforms. Races will be run every Saturday, and they will be broadcast on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook, as well …

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Formula E cancels race in China because of the coronavirus outbreak

2020-02-03T16:51:36-05:00

All-electric racing series Formula E has canceled an upcoming race in China due to the recent coronavirus outbreak, according to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the series' governing body.

"Given the current growing health concerns and with the World Health Organisation declaring the coronavirus an international emergency, Formula E has taken the necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of its travelling staff, championship participants and spectators, which remains of paramount importance," the FIA said in a statement released late Sunday.

The FIA said it's working with Formula E and local governments to "st …

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Tech’s transportation companies keep bending the knee to Saudi Arabia

2019-11-11T16:52:35-05:00

In an interview with Axios on HBO that aired November 10th, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi called the murder of the journalist and US resident Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia "a serious mistake" - before quickly backtracking and admitting that it was his comments, and not Khashoggi's murder, that were the actual mistake. But Khosrowshahi's comments were not made in isolation. There is a pattern emerging of transportation companies with deep financial ties to Saudi Arabia being friendly to the regime in the face of international outcry.

It's bad enough right now for huge companies doing business in countries with oppressive regimes, as we've se …

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