Formula E an opportunity to showcase city and country, says Karun Chandhok

Karun Chandhok has seen Formula E grow from scratch, having been part of the first ever season back in 2014-15. Nine years down the line, the 39-year-old is commentating on the all-electric series that will make its India debut with the Hyderabad E-Prix on Saturday. The only Indian to have raced in Formula E, the former Formula 1 driver will be travelling to Hyderabad for the race where he will also be trying out the new Gen3 car that is raced in Formula E.

In an interview just before taking his flight to India from London, Chandhok discussed about India hosting a motorsport World Championship race after a decade, the future of Formula E in India, the commercial viability of the sport among other topics. Excerpts:

India will be hosting a World Championship motorsport race after a decade. What does this mean for the country or Indian motorsport?

It's always a privilege to host a round of the World Championship. It’s been a long time as a country we’ve been in this position. This is what people don’t understand. To host a round of a World Championship like Formula E or Formula 1 is a huge investment. In Delhi’s case with F1, I don’t think (Indian Grand Prix promoters) Jaypee (Group) got the credit they deserved. A private company without government funding... they spent so much money to bring the event to India. Without them there's no way the event would have happened. Similarly, here (Hyderabad E-Prix promoters) Greenko as a private company funding the event. The Telangana government is supportive of them but ultimately the finances are coming from Greenko. Credit and hats off to them for taking a bold step to host the event.

In what ways do you think Formula E can succeed where Formula 1 failed?

I don’t think F1 was a failure. In the three events we had in India, the first year there were a 110,000 people. If you count in the novelty factor, the next two years we still had 65,000-70,000. People can say it was less than before. But you only get the real fans from Year 2 and 3. 65,000 was still comparable to most cricket matches you get in India. I don’t deem what happened with F1 as a failure. I see it as an opportunity lost that the government didn’t recognise the benefits that a sport like F1 can bring to the country. I travel with F1 to all the races. I see when I go to all these different countries. Singapore, for example, use the sport to showcase their country. Now here is an opportunity which wasn’t there with F1 (Indian GP) because the (state) government is behind the race. The government will be able to realise and recognise that they are able to promote the city of Hyderabad through the medium of motorsport. And that’s a case in the long-term backing of the event.

Do you think Formula E can draw Indian audiences, be it on TV or on track?

At this moment I don’t know what the viewership for Formula E in India is. But at the track hopefully we will get a few thousand. Having a crowd at the event makes the atmosphere so much better. If it can regenerate some of the interest that we lost for motorsport in India that will be great.

Holding the race in the middle of the city to less rights fees in comparison to F1. Do you think events like Formula E and MotoGP can help establish a foothold for motorsports in India?

I hope so but so much depends on the commercial success. Unless the government wants to back it. From Jaypee’s standpoint it wasn’t commercially viable. They were losing money every year. At some time, you think ‘we're a private company we can’t keep losing money’. Any business will think that way. Formula E commercial angles are different. You don’t have high rights fees like F1 so it’s got more of a chance in that respect. Similar in MotoGP where the commercial deal is not that expensive. If the promoters are able to make it commercially viable and not lose money on the deal then absolutely, it will stay here for long term. The interest is there from MotoGP and Formula E. Even F1. Every quarter I have a conversation with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. They keep saying ‘we really want to go to India, find a promoter, there must be somebody who wants to put the money up for it’. They are all very keen to do it but they are all running businesses and numbers have to make sense.

Jehan Daruvala is a reserve for Mahindra. Will having an Indian driver on the grid help?

If I look back, the interest in F1 between late 2008 and 2013 was at its peak because we had two Indian drivers (Chandhok and Narain Karthikeyan), an Indian team (Force India) and the Indian GP. There was interest in all of us. No question about it. Is it enough to propel Formula E to the mainstream. I don’t know. We’ll have to see. Formula E has a niche audience in India whereas F1 will still have mainstream importance.

You raced in the first season of Formula E in 2014-15. Now we’re in the ninth with India about to make its debut.

From a technical standpoint, the cars have improved by a huge amount. The first generation of cars, I remember how short the range was, the speed and all of it was a long way behind from the current generation. The third generation (Gen3) now has taken this to another level in terms of braking regeneration (of electric energy). More and more people in India who will start using electric cars will begin to understand what a huge part of electric driving is recharging while you drive. That is something you can’t see so it's hard for people to understand. But that has improved by 4X in Gen3 cars. That is a huge amount of energy being regenerated. The technology has improved by a huge amount, the level of teams has gone up, the level of professionalism has gone up, the quality of teams, size of operations has become significant. But it's still a long way. They are still spending probably one-15th or one-20th of what a Formula 1 team spends. But they are delivering a good show on track, the racing is pretty close, they get good overtaking, they get a good mixture of different people winning all the time which is interesting.

You had to switch cars in between a race during the Gen1 era. Your thoughts on the Gen3 cars?

I am actually supposed to be driving it on Friday. It will be the first time. I went to the first three races in Mexico and Saudi Arabia. The cars are definitely faster and the racing is close. You can see the power delivery is significantly more. The drivers are really having to work quite hard to manage the level of torque. That is a big thing with electric cars. So it's about how you manage that power. It's a big part of the challenge.

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