2024 edition of Formula E evolves, but still makes mistakes, say fans – 03/16/2024 – Sport

Formula E, the world championship for electric cars, promoted this Saturday (16) the second edition of the São Paulo EPrix, an event that corresponds to the fourth stage of the 2024 season. Amidst the setbacks of 2023, the event landed at the Anhembi Sambadrome with the mission to improve your mistakes.

The fan’s experience, whether he is an admirer of the sport or simply curious, sets the tone for the event and guides the organization in terms of planning for subsequent years.

As in 2023, fans were concentrated in the stands along the main straight. Most of these stands do not have a roof, which meant the public had to deal directly with heat of over 30ºC. Already anticipating the high temperature scenario, the organization provided water stations for fans.

“From my perspective, the event occupied the space better [em relação ao ano passado]. I thought the environments were well distributed,” Henrique Passarello, 32, told Sheet.

In this year’s edition, food trucks, rest areas, tables, chairs, an official Formula E product store and activations from the São Paulo EPrix sponsors were distributed just behind the stands. The public occupied these spaces and even remained there even when the race had already ended.

Kelvin Carvalho, 32, a fan of the category who was present last year, said he missed a wider variety of food options beyond pizzas and burgers.

“Compared to last year, there were a lot of improvements, but I thought there was a smaller variety of things to eat, more disorganization at the time of the shows”, said Carvalho.

When asked about the prices of products and food sold at Formula E, Passarello and Carvalho stated that they were similar to those at a Formula 1 event.

“[Em comparação com a Fórmula 1] the prices were very equivalent. What I thought was good was that there were several water stations, something that in Formula 1 there wasn’t as much. Here the issue of water was much more accessible. The shop is cheaper than the Formula 1 shop, but it’s still expensive”, Carvalho.

In the official Formula E stores, the cheapest product was an organization diary, which cost around R$200. The most expensive items in the store, a Porsche coat and vest, cost from R$1,500. Other products, such as blouses, caps and bottles were in the range of R$300 to R$500.

Friends Luciene Elias, 32, Thaisy Santos, 25, and Aline Silva, 24, highlighted the safety of the event. They said they were not harassed or saw cases of harassment at the São Paulo EPrix this year.

“I think the environment in Formula 1 is more aggressive [para as mulheres] somehow. Here I see several people who come to enjoy the event that doesn’t have such a historical culture [como a Fórmula 1]. [O pessoal] come to meet and I think this audience ends up being more open”, said Santos. “There are more men than women, but I haven’t had any uncomfortable experiences here”, he added.

Among the improvements for the coming years, those interviewed highlighted the communication between Formula E and the sambadrome organization. Noise in communication caused queues at the entrances and the transmission of incorrect information to the public.

In a press conference on Friday (15), the CEO of Formula E, Jeff Dodds, and the category’s co-founder, Alberto Longo, stated that the São Paulo EPrix is ​​still developing and that it will take around three editions for the “getting back on track” event.