I've been reading through your blog and honestly formula e sounds goated. Any recs on how to get more into it?
uhm, I don't really know to be honest, these days. I was sort of bemoaning this in the gc but there's not a lot of content to get people into it; there's stuff on Formula E's own website but it follows the races fairly specifically, tends not to have eg: feature-style interviews to get to know drivers and stuff. The Race has consistent FE coverage from the paddock but it tends towards being political-within-the-sport, which is extremely interesting but doesn't really give you a favourite driver to root for or whatever.
the FE youtube channel has some documentaries, including a feature-length film made by Hollywood. I am in said film a genuinely mystifying amount but it also is a good profile of a bunch of the drivers, most of whom are still in the series. Unplugged (again, I am in the first series more than is in any way necessary, sorry) also has a lot more behind-the-scenes driver profiling and digging into the championship a little bit DTS-style.*
one thing to be warned about is that old races have the commentator Jack Nicholls on them, who was fired for sexual misconduct.
other than that there is influencer content around races (and the FUCKING EVO Sessions which were a horrible idea where youtubers without anything like enough training drove full-whack race cars aaargh why) and a few bits of social but I don't know if I just can't find/don't see anything more in-depth or it literally doesn't exist.
I guess under the cut here is a run down of who's in the current season? I barely fucking know anymore tbh.
sooooooo by drivers and teams in roughly the order I remember they exist
Nissan
It's the team that used to be Renault e.Dams, who dominated the early years of FE. Jean-Paul Driot (RIP, genuinely brilliant bloke who gave so many drivers chances no one else would) was at the helm until his untimely death from cancer in 2019 and as the team was passed across the uneasy Renault-Nissan alliance. Alex Albon was signed to and nearly raced for them in the 2019-2020 season (or 'Season 6' as per Formula E's tendency to make it sound like a reality series) but got phoned by Helmut Marko literally on the morning of testing and his seat was eventually stepped into by-
Oliver Rowland - current reigning champion
The most salt-of-the-earth driver ever, a wholesome Northern english lad who has also worked incredibly hard to help drivers up the junior ladders. Used to run his own karting team. Very good driver. Loves a sausage roll. if you want to get into some deep lore when he was in junior series and having to work as a karting mechanic to afford groceries in between races he became chalk-and-cheese friends with billionaire oligarch's son Sergey Sirotkin which somehow seemed to make them both better anyway most important thing is Ollie is great, good to root for. girldad if you care about that sort of thing.
Norman Nato
I will be honest I am not sure why Norman Nato is on this team instead of Sam Bird (the third driver) given their relative achievements but I guess that is how contracts work while the McLaren FE team (RIP) was imploding. anyway, nice lad who's friends with the Leclercs if you care about that sort of thing. It's pronounced natto. (He is a perfectly talented driver he just isn't Sam Bird)
DS Penske
the DS brand is kind of an FE OG in that it's been hanging around since Season 2 (when manufacturers could make their own powertrains) and for the fraught and awful and legitimately bad but also ROMANTIC and COMPELLING Sam Bird/Jean-Eric Vergne pairing at Virgin. lmao imagine that there used to be a Virgin team and they put those two on it. anyway. DS are now departing FE at the end of this season which is not that surprising given a) DS is a baffling boutique brand that barely makes cars, b) it is part of Stellantis which has 23094598 uncomfortably alligned brands of which at least two are in FE at any given time, c) it is hard to quantify what any brand gets out of being in Formula E. but anyway. Penske is the same family as the one that owns IndyCar buuuuuut this is Jay Penske, not Roger. I never in person saw Jay Penske remove his sunglasses and it's really scary he keeps showing up on broadcast without them, like the demon headmaster or some other reference no one under the age of 40 and not forced through the British schooling system would get. they have been uncomfortably alligned (Penske used to be called Dragon and was uhm. bad. DS used to be Techeetah and was very good.) since Gen3 started. oh, btw, they are on the third gen of FE cars which means they're now genuinely powerful race cars not the early funny stuff which I would still argue was excellent even and maybe especially when the drivers had to jump to another car halfway through the race.
Taylor Barnard
a twink who ruined Sam Bird's career and the man will NOT let you not know about it. Taylor is prodigiously talented for such a young age much like-
Maximilian Gunther
Who now counts as some sort of veteran but was FE's youngest race winner for ages. man has put up with so much including a season at Dragon where he was literally finding out if he would be racing that weekend on the weekend. he is very funny and a total saint.
Jaguar
entered FE in Season 3 with a roar of cringefail. big deal for a manufacturer to be turning up then, even bigger deal for it to be Jaguar who had basically done fuck-all since losing that massive diamond off its F1 car in Monaco that one time. Alex Lynn haunts the narrative [Umbrella by Rihanna voice[ bECAUSE
Mitch Evans
Mahk Wibbah's first and most cursed protegee. Mitch should probably have two championships, at least and is without doubt one of the best drivers in Formula E. has stuck with Jaguar from their cringefail era to near-dominance to cringefailing out of dominance to fumbling to cringeing and failing uh. anyway, super nice fella who is a very cheery kiwi and probably once of the funniest people in motorsport. incredible levels of verbal diarrhea when asked any question.
Antonio Felix Da Costa
used to have a compellingly homoerotic friendship with Robin Frijns but now just quite annoying and transphobic.
actually you know what it's 4am I might have to come back to this.
*a thing I've just remembered from filming that first season - which basically me and Matt Kew got told we were doing and then were like... ok I guess we are. needless to say I was never paid for any of this. anyway, it was all filmed in this very chaotic way where they decided who they were following one weekend and asked us about it on the Friday, before anything had happened. me and Matt agreed, after a few races of both stressing about what on earth we were going to get edited into saying, that we'd just answer completely opposite things to each other. are Stoffel and Nyck friends? one of us says they're the closest drivers on the grid, the other one says they fucking hate each other and communicate exclusively through third parties. we both found out the release date for the series (9 months after we'd been told it would come out weekly after races) via The Race. anyway! all very normal. man I miss Matt he was my best paddock rival.
What kind of club activities do you think Takumi would join in a modern AU set in college or high school? Of course Archery but I can totally see him joining the Kendo club because of his big brother Ryoma. What’s your take on this?? 🗜️🗜️
He would join ALOT that's for sure. But I think he would be an active student council member (his nepo baby privileges are being used here) so hw wants to prove himself useful to the student body. But archery club is definitely his comfort club (?) Because in this au, war isn't present but for Takumi, it's his artform.
Radiant Dawn and Path of Radiance both deserve better accessability. I, with my GameCube and Wii, can play without jumping through hoops. But they’re such a great pair of games! I want everyone to be able to play! D:
15. What are your favorite musical tracks?
I have very many but let me pick three.
Smash Bros. Melee Fire Emblem Theme: Whenever this played in Smash, I knew I was in for a good time. I loved playing as Roy back in the day and part of why is because I knew he belonged to where this song was from XD
Blazing Blade “Winds Across the Plains”: Just invokes good memories. The music means “Ah good you’re here, now the story can start. Let’s settle in.” Did I ever beat this game? No. Do I love it to pieces? Yes. Music is very powerful.
Three Houses “Between Heaven and Earth”: An epic. It really underscores everything you had been fighting towards in that moment. It’s not victory music-- it’s ‘Give It Your All musicand is simplyly glorious.
(Bonus is this particular arrainment of Lost In Thoughts with both Azure and Shigure singing together <3)
4. Who is gonna win the 2021 title? My heart says Sam Bird but my head says one of the Mercedes will get jammy and snatch it and I'll have to watch everyone wank over Ian James rip
10. Your favourite team principal? Sylvian Fillipi because once I bumped into him in Burger King at Valencia airport on the way home from testing and we stan any man who just eats shitty fast food at an airport.
Odin: *has to go off on a 2 month long journey/mission for his prince* | Laslow, staring at their empty room: This is fine :) I am great :D Totally fine :) I have no worries Odin will come back :) Pardon as I not worry at all in our room for two months :) The most relaxing 2 months of my life :))))
Worrywart but In Denial Laslow is honestly so good aaaaaa,,,,,
Um........ Nothing?? Fire emblem???? Is that a purpose?? Idk, I guess my purpose in life is to fight prejudice?? Probably??? I mean yeah, I guess. I'm kinda a useless member of society, so idk how to answer this. Sorry.
Shamir:
Where do you want to travel in the future?
Everywhere. Like I mean EVERYWHERE!! I've never been outside Canada, except for one time when I crossed the border without a passport, on a cruise, that went across the border, without needing a passport. We stayed in the US for, like, thirty minutes??? And then we left. Aside from that, I've never been out of country. SOOO.... I want to go everywhere, I especially wish to explore Europe. Cuz I want to.
Gwendal:
Blogs you follow quietly?
Ummmmmm...... I don't know what it means to follow a blog quietly, I tend to show my appreciation for a blog a like or follow at least once. And i don't go as anonymous, ever. Sooooooooooooo, I guess I don't?? I really like telling people that I like them and what they do, it makes me happy, so yeah!!!
Making Corrin and Azura cousins last minute in Revelations was so forced and dumb. Throughout the whole game they set up a romance between the two, so making them actually blood related cousins is shitty, especially since a lot of people married her and THEN found out they were actually related
likes to go on drives to nowhere in particular, reaches over to hold the other's hand, comes home with the weirder work stories, is more easily turned on for Amelie and Niall, por favor 💕
Thank you my dear Marisa!!!
likes to go on drives to nowhere in particular:
Definitely Amelie, she’s not the best driver in the world so Niall will have to drive but sometimes she’ll just have some trouble shutting her brain off and niall will wake up to her on the tiny deck and she’ll just ask if they can go for a drive. They normally end up at a beach somewhere.
reaches over to hold the other’s hand:
Niall’s a big hand holder.
comes home with the weirder work stories:
Oh god they both come home with ridiculous stories! Even with Amelie eventually becoming part time at the restaurant she still gets plenty of crazy stories and Niall teaches 11/12 year olds so there’s always another story!!
is more easily turned on for Amelie and Niall:
Niall, one hundred percent. If the light hits Amelie a certain way he’ll get overwhelmed with love and then his pants will get tight it’s ridiculous. But, Amelie is v weak when it comes to him leaving his hair natural and he looks all sleepy. A lot of pre work morning sex with these two.
