Is Formula E the new trend for motor racing betting?
The FIA Formula E championship has been a part of the motorsport world since 2014 and if it has delivered anything to the old-school fans of racing action, it has been variability. In terms of betting, there isn’t anything greater than that from a sport, we see it from football and basketball, wherein any given day a small team can defeat a juggernaut. Well, juggernauts are not a part of Formula E, which makes it fun and intriguing to place bets on unlikely results.
It will be a World Championship from the start of its next season, though it has already attracted attention from everywhere in different levels.
Its historical essence
It will be a World Championship from the start of its next season, though it has already attracted attention from everywhere in different levels. The sport started its sixth season in history of Formula E, back in November 22nd of 2019 and, before all had to be stopped in March, it had celebrated five races, all won by five different drivers from five different teams.
The nature of having different winners and mostly equal chances for many teams is evident in the electrically-driven car series since its inception with the 2014-15 season. In fact, only Jean Eric Vergne, the reigning two-time champion, has been able to successfully defend his title.
Apart from the all-electric cars, racing in street circuits has been a big part of its essence as a sport, as well as fan engagement due to the Fanboost. The Fanboost gives fans the opportunity to vote for their favorite driver nine days before the race and even 15 minutes after the start of the E-Prix (the Formula E races are called E-Prix).
The five most voted drivers will receive a burst of power for the second half of the race.
The series has had four drivers’ champions in its first five seasons and three championship teams, which shows a special balance for a racing series.
Formula E has grown very fast since its first campaign. Compared to Formula 1, FE views have extraordinary numbers. In the 2017/18 season, the series had north of 300 million viewers (who watched at least one E-Prix), while Formula 1 had 490 million viewers (who tuned in to at least three consecutive minutes of F1 content in the whole season) in 2018. Both figures were reported by Forbes.
The interest in the sport has been growing ever since its first season and it was the case regarding betting too. The unpredictability has pushed many betting sites to list odds for each season and race and it made many people bet on the most profitable outcome for them, whether it is for the end-of-season result or bets on a race-by-race basis.
There have been 63 Formula E races since 2014 and 15 drivers won at least one and 12 different drivers have taken multiple victories. In each of the five seasons completed to date, the sport has seen at least five different winners per year, which is tremendous, considering the season length has been between 10 and 13 races.
In the current season, we saw five different winners in the first five races. Last year, the number of different winners to start the year was eight. The introduction of the Gen2 chassis, also known as the SRT05e, has brought even more unpredictability and exciting racing, as we saw nine different winners in the first year of the new car and a great start to the 2019/20 season.
The weekend format of Formula E can also result in profitable bets for players, as all the action occurs in a single day (compared to F1 format of three-day weekends) and it can bring many different results and variants thrown at each competitor’s chances. The unpredictability brought into play by not having as much time to study track conditions or any setup in the car, normally delivers variable results on the races, which produces benefits for the players.
Forms of betting on FE
Formula E - Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team, Diriyah E-Prix 2019. Stoffel Vandoorne
Similar to F1 betting, in Formula E, players can look at their different odds and place bets regarding short-term (race winner) or long-term (championship winner) results. Also, some websites will provide the chance for players to place bets on whether a driver will finish a race or not.
Popular places where FE betting has been trending
Formula E is especially popular in Ireland, where it has been fully televised and where fans have been able to enjoy extensive coverage of the sport since 2017. Normally, with a solid fan base in Ireland, the betting aspect has gained lots of interest in the country, positioning it as one of the most popular racing series to bet on.
Where to bet?
If you are planning on start betting on this relatively new form of motorsport when it resumes this year or in some big series like Formula 1, there are a few bookmakers that offer a great chance, especially in Ireland. William Hill, Paddy Power, Betiton or Betfair offer motor racing as a good chance for players to bet.
Betiton, on its part, is a multi-device, intuitive brand that has several options for players. It also has 12 different versions depending on your region and is a well-suited brand to place bets on various forms of motor racing.
When will it begin?
The 2019/20 season started back in November and was stopped early in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the sixth season of the sport will be completed with six races in nine days at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit in Berlin, where the action will start on August 5th.
A golden chance for players
What is awesome about the current state of Formula E is that in November of 2019 Vergne was tipped to defend his title again, and just after five races, the Frenchman is back in eighth in the championship and has scored less than half of the points achieved by the current championship leader (António Félix da Costa).
Of course, the points system provides a maximum of 30 points for a driver for each race (25 for the win, 3 for Pole Position, 1 for the Fastest Lap of the race and 1 for being the fastest during the Group Stage of qualifying), which can become a great asset for a driver currently on the wrong foot to try and mount a huge comeback. Six races left mean a total of 180 points to gain, so anything can still happen.
The amazing part is that the current top four in the drivers’ standings is formed by four drivers that were not in that position at the end of last year, while the champion and the runner-up (Sébastien Buemi) from last season are eighth and 11th in the table.
Formula E is exciting and betting on it is a thrill. With so many changeable situations and items to be attended for each driver and team, it represents a fantastic chance for players to achieve a plethora of good results which would translate into some nice profit.
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