Red Bull Racing is not interested in taking part in Formula E, as Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz made clear in an interview. In this respect, Mateschitz is on a par with advisor Helmut Marko, who also does not have a high opinion of the FE.
"No", is Mateschitz's clear answer when he is asked by LAOLA1, an Austrian medium, whether Formula E is a theme for Red Bull. In the next few years, therefore, the four-time F1 world champions won't try their luck in the electric branch of motorsport.
Marko doesn't like it
It should come as no surprise that Red Bull will continue to ignore Formula E. Helmut Marko also had a negative opinion about the racing class last year. "I am talking about motor racing. In my opinion, Formula E is very good for marketing, but it is definitely not motor racing if you just look at the speed. It is good that it exists, not that. But Formula 1 really is on a completely different level".
In 2019 Marko was even more critical: "I think it is nothing more than one big hypocritical gang. When you visit a Formula E race, you see a very large diesel engine. This is meant to charge all those cars electrically. That's very strange, of course, if you have environmental friendliness high on your agenda as an organisation".
More and more car manufacturers have made the switch to Formula E. Audi, BMW, Nissan, Jaguar, Porsche and Mercedes are examples of brands that are currently active. According to Red Bull, however, Formula E is an attempt to 'divert attention away from the big diesel scandal'.
One of the reasons manufacturers were interested in participating in F1 was that the technology developed there would transfer to their road cars. IMO, that was the biggest reason for the hybrid F1 era - to give the big carmakers a high tech test bed for hybrid vehicles. Unfortunately, most automakers are skipping over hybrid, and moving straight to fully electric vehicles. That's what's driving their interest in Formula E. Formula E is going to stay, well, less exciting until battery technology evolves to the point where the cars will have enough available energy on board to go faster, longer. Red Bull doesn't make cars, so they really don't care about any of that.
It is a lot cheaper for teams to compete in Formula E as compared to F1. The cost to develop a current day complex hybrid turbo PU is many many times more expensive as compared to the cost of the electric motors powering the Formula E cars, that’s why it’s a lot easier for manufacturers to join the FE grid as compared to participating in F1. However the FE races just seems ‘artificial’ and hasn’t got the excitement of an F1 race. For a start, the audio stimulation of the cars just sound weird! Furthermore, the drivers in the category seem to consist of drivers who have either retired, have left or are just not good enough to be in F1 in the first place.
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