Formula E Fan Experience – Berlin

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After mixed reviews from fans on the way the Paris ePrix was organised, e-racing.net senior editor Laurence Thorn decided to visit the Berlin ePrix “undercover” as a fan. The aim: to see how well the race in the German capital was organised, and determine whether the ePrix provided an enjoyable experience for fans. Read on to see how the event rated.

After the inaugural Berlin ePrix in 2015 at the disused Tempelhof Airport was a successful event, drawing a sold-out capacity of 21,000 fans, Formula E was forced to move the race in season two. The location chosen was a central one, with a street circuit built on Karl-Marx-Allee, Strausberger Platz and Lichtenberger Straße next to Alexanderplatz, one of the most famous parts of Berlin.

With space much more limited for this race than last year’s event, 14,000 tickets were made available – which once again sold out. But how did the fans enjoy the event? Combining Laurence’s observations with the views of fans we spoke to at the event, e-racing.net can now present our review of the race – from a fan’s perspective.

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There is a stereotype that Germans know how to organise things. This race did nothing to dispel that, as the signage and directions were fantastic. Every gate was marked with a big sign that was difficult to miss, while there was also a very detailed map at each gate and clear instructions on what could not be taken into the circuit (with captions in both German and English – Berlin is a very multilingual city). Although as one fan we spoke to, @aladin4800, pointed out – an email was sent to ticket holders a few days before the event stating that only small women’s handbags could be taken into the event, which turned out to not be correct advice.

Each grandstand or seating area had a very clear sign to indicate which price category it was (platinum, gold, silver or bronze) and which section it was (ie. C1). And within each grandstand/seating area there were dedicated staff checking tickets and providing wristbands corresponding to that stand.

Additionally, at each gate was a big sign with directions to all grandstands as well as the Emotion Club, Race Suites, Media Centre, eVillage and podium. And while walking around the perimeter fence of the circuit, every 15 seconds you walked past another such sign.

All in all, it would have been very hard to have got lost and not been able to find your way around the circuit. On the entire day on Saturday I only had one person come up to me and ask for directions, and that was only to ask where the nearest gate was.

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Ticketing in Berlin was split into four categories – Platinum, Gold, Silver (all three seated) and Bronze (standing platforms). Unlike Paris, there were no “general admission” tickets – everyone attending had to pick one of the four categories. The area around the circuit is a residential area with lots of apartment and office buildings, so it is not possible to close off the pavements around the circuit to the public. Thus everyone with a ticket could choose their viewing spot from a map when booking, alleviating one of the complaints about Paris which was that fans could not see large parts of the track from the allocated viewing areas.

Early Bird prices (tickets booked up to three weeks before the event) ranged from 20€ for a Bronze standing platform ticket to 70€ for a Platinum grandstand ticket on the start-finish straight. There was a view among some fans that tickets were not the cheapest, and indeed they were more expensive than in last year’s Berlin race – but when comparing to F1’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim this year (cheapest ticket 135€, most expensive ticket well over 400€), the ePrix looks positively cheap in comparison. For 20€, the viewing in the Bronze section was excellent, as demonstrated in the below photo from @Joline_513 who described the view as “just perfect… not like in Paris where it was super crowded and the grand stands were only available to certain people.”

Also in the Bronze section was @D4rth_R4tz3 who felt it was too crowded in his section and that too many people were let in, making it hard to see all of the track. There was also no big screen in the Bronze sections; he felt this made it hard to follow the race, whereas @Joline_513 felt the track commentator made up for the lack of a screen.

Talking of the track commentator: there were a lot of comments regarding his (lack of) Formula E knowledge; he regularly referred to the race as the “Berlin Grand Prix”, told us of teams called “Team e Renault dams Formula E Team” and “Michael Andretti Autosport”, and of drivers called “Jerome d’Ambrosia”, “Nelsinho Piquet Jr” and “Robert Frijns”. However his clear and easy-to-hear voice were praised by some.

Another negative surrounding the audio: the big screens displayed the world feed, however whenever interviews were shown on the screen, the audio from them was not played. Instead, we sat there in silence, and the track commentator only translated the interview after it, not during. There seemed to be conflicting views as to whether this was due to rights reasons, or a technical issue, but either way this needs to be improved next time.

Another fan @KresseChristian was in the Gold grandstand and described it as a “good stand”, whilst also saying that he felt the pricing categories this season were not as good as last time (where there were only three categories). Nevertheless, he felt the event was better organised than last year and overall found it a “super” race. Sitting in the Platinum grandstand was @aladin4800, who was happy to pay 75€ for the seats and made the same F1 comparison when asked about the pricing.

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A big part of Formula E since last season’s London ePrix is the podium ceremony. Held in the eVillage, this allows fans to stand right underneath the podium, being a part of the celebrations and seeing the top three drivers up close and personal. @Joline_513 in particular loved the podium ceremony and was able to take some photos she was very proud of, as below.

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At last year’s Tempelhof race, one of the biggest complaints surrounded the food and drink – there were very few places available for 21,000 people to use, with very long queues not an uncommon sight.

This year, despite less people attending, there seemed to actually be more food and drink stands, and they were also better spread around the circuit. This allowed the queues to be smaller and waiting times to be less – @aladin4800 “didn’t have to wait more than 3 minutes to get a beer/food”. Last year in Tempelhof, 30 minute waits were not uncommon!

Prices were not too cheap but they never are at such events, and it is something you expect when going to an event like this. There was a good variety of food and drink on sale, both hot and cold, meaning there was something for everyone.

There were also many portable toilets set up across the circuit so fans were never more than a few minutes away from one. However, @aladin4800 did comment that she was unable to find running water anywhere at the track so resorted to using water from bottles.

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As you would expect at an event like this, merchandise was on sale. The official programme cost 10€, again not the cheapest but about in line with what you would expect to pay at an international sporting event.

Additionally there was a Formula E merchandise van. This mostly sold series-specific merchandise, however some team merchandise was on sale too. The selection was a little odd: as well as Mahindra and DS Virgin’s new t-shirts and some Venturi merchandise were also one year old Virgin Racing and Team China Racing t-shirts, giving the feeling that these had been in storage for a year and the organisers wanted to try and clear them. And there were no t-shirts available for the home team ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport. T-shirts cost 40€, roughly comparable to F1 t-shirts and far cheaper than for instance football replica shirts.

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One of the things praised by numerous fans including @Joline_513 and @thekangarooo was the view of the pits – fans with tickets of any type could stand directly opposite the pit garages at all time, with just one fence separating them from the cars, drivers and teams. Fans were therefore able to see the teams working on the cars, and (if they were lucky) spot or even get autographs from their favourite drivers.

In Paris, meanwhile, only 2 or 3 garages were viewable to fans, with the rest only available to VIPs. And as well as viewing the pit boxes, there was also a pit walk in Berlin that many fans including @D4rth_R4tz3 very much enjoyed. This kind of access to the teams and drivers is one of the key aspects of Formula E, a series which prides itself on letting fans get up close and personal with their favourites.

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The one-day format of Formula E is great for reducing disruption to the host city, however for fans at the track can lead to large periods of time without any track action. Between qualifying and the race is a full three hours with minimal track action – even walking to the eVillage, eating something, going to the autograph session and watching the eRace only kills some time, and these things don’t interest everybody either. Formula E does need some kind of support series or on-track action to plug this three hour gap for people who aren’t interested in the eVillage; hopefully the introduction of Roborace next season can go some way to resolving this.

Talking of the autograph session: as usual, this was one of the negative parts of the event. While it is admirable that Formula E organises these sessions to allow fans to meet the drivers, they are always over-crowded and people are always left disappointed when there is not enough time to meet their favourites. With 14,000 fans at the circuit and only half an hour for the session, there is no way everyone can get the autographs they want, leaving some people disappointed.

However, these two points are not unique to Berlin as they can be applied to any ePrix event; and the autograph session in Paris was described by some as dangerously overcrowded, whereas in Berlin it was busy but no fans that we spoke to said that they felt in danger. These are things for Formula E to work on in general, and are not limited to the Berlin event.

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As with any race that involves shutting down city streets, there was of course opposition from some locals to the race happening. Along the circuit there were four or five instances of graffiti showing opposition to the race.

On the Friday before the race, Karl-Marx-Allee and Lichtenberger Str. were closed to traffic at 9:30am (after morning rush hour) in order to complete the circuit construction. I kept a keen eye on local people as they walked through the area past the construction works. There were of course some grumblings – one lady called a staff member “unfriendly” – but in general the locals were taking it in their stride and not making a fuss.

Berlin as a city regularly sees road closures and construction works, so it seems a lot of the locals are used to it by now and didn’t see it as a big disruption. Also, gaps were left in the barriers for as long as possible to allow people to cross the street, and even after these gaps were closed, there were always staff members on hand to direct people around the track and to their destination. And @aladin4800 met lots of locals who were relaxing and enjoying the event as opposed to complaining.

In terms of taking care of the environment, the race can be praised: lots of bins were present all around the track to allow people to dispose of their litter there, rather than dropping it. In addition, wherever a pavement was out of action so people had to walk on grass instead, that grass was covered with a temporary pathway, and a ramp was built from the road up to this pathway to allow people with pushchairs or in wheelchairs to be able to get across.

There were also areas where a smooth area of pavement was out of bounds, leaving a bumpy surface for people to walk on – by Saturday these areas had been covered by temporary, smooth surfacing.

Finally the scheduling of the event – on the same day as the DFB Pokal (German Cup) football final between Bayern München and Borussia Dortmund that also took place in Berlin – meant that some fans experienced delays on public transport when leaving the circuit. However this was dependent on the routes they took, with not everyone experiencing this.

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In conclusion, combining my own experiences with those of the fans we spoke to, it can be said that the Berlin ePrix was a well organised and enjoyable event. As with any event on a temporary street circuit, there are rooms for improvement or things that could be made better next time.

However it must be remembered that this was the first year of holding the Berlin race in this particular location, and was organised at fairly short notice. Considering that, the organisation can be praised – especially in comparison to Paris. All three of the fans we spoke to who were in both Berlin and Paris said the German event was thoroughly better organised, and they enjoyed it far more.

While there are a few areas of improvement – a better commentator, more big screens, less crowding in the bronze sections, a better organised autograph session and more action between sessions – that can be taken on board for next year’s event, by and large the event was an enjoyable experience for the fans.

And not only established fans either: whilst walking to the podium after the race, I overheard a small child excitedly telling his father “those car swaps are SO cool! Much cooler than tyre swaps!” Formula E in Berlin didn’t just entertain established motorsport fans – it created new ones too.

Laurence Thorn | e-racing.net

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Main image courtesy of @Joline_513
Other images courtesy of Laurence Thorn

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