Formula E and motorsport at heart of a China waking from its slumber
In Rome’s Palazzo dei Congressi last summer, Formula E chief executive told City PM that a return to racing in China after four years was on the cards.
“We need to be in mainland China,” he said. “I know we can dance around that a bit but we need to be in mainland China.
“Every manufacturer partner of the six manufacturers we work with says the most important market for them globally is China.”
This weekend the 11 teams that make up the Formula E grid will do just that and race around the Shanghai International Circuit in a city home to nearly 30m people.
And it points to a sport that is embracing the East when so many are trying to look West.
Looking east to China
Sports make no secret about their investment in and from the Middle East, with electric sports awash with some of the vast riches of Saudi Arabia.
But China, since the Covid-19 pandemic and its hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics, has been very quiet on the sporting front.
Only this year did Formula 1 return to the state after a number of years, while China resumed Diamond League hosting duties this year ahead of Beijing staging the 2027 World Athletics Championships.
It points to a readjustment to China on the world stage as a major player. And Formula E is front and centre of that.
I know we can dance around that a bit but we need to be in mainland China
Formula E chief Jeff Dodds
Shanghai, when it hosts this weekend’s double header, will become the fourth venue in the country to stage a Formula E race after Beijing, Sanya and the politically sensitive Hong Kong. Furthermore, in showing the commitment from Formula E to the East, this weekend’s sees a 10th Asian city host an E-Prix, tying the continent with Europe.
In the ERT Formula E Team, the electric series has something the likes of Formula 1 don’t: a Chinese team. Part of the paddock in various forms since the inaugural season of Formula E, ERT were formerly branded as China Racing.
So as sports lap up money from the Middle East and takeover consortiums from the United States, older but resurfacing players in China and the Far East cannot be ignored.
They may have been dormant for a couple of years but China is a chess piece in the global hosting market again, and motorsport is at the heart of its domestic plan.