Montreal’s Formula E kicks off to skinny crowds, but picks up as race commences
More from Marian Scott, Montreal Gazette
A lean crowd in the stands the Formula E qualifying on René-Lévesque St., on Saturday July 29, 2017. Pierre Obendrauf / Montreal Gazette
The weather was picture flawless, but attendance was sparse early during a practice session for the Formula E electrified car race in east-central Montreal.
As the race got underway, TV pics displayed mostly utter grandstands, but not packed.
Earlier, Jean-Philippe Nadeau, 30, and Charlaine Delorme, 31, both of Gatineau, observed the qualifying run for the Hydro-Québec Quebec Montreal ePrix Saturday.
Both said they liked it just as much as Formula One.
“The atmosphere is different. It’s calmer, because of the noise,” said Delorme, a hairdresser, referring to the much quieter electrified cars.
“It’s more of a family event,” she added.
Retired elementary schoolteacher Nicole Brûlé, 64, of Blainville, said the race lacked some of the excitement of F1.
“It’s calming for the ears. All you hear is the squeaking of the wheels,” said Brûlé, who attends the F1 every year.
She was disappointed when Swiss driver Sébastien Buemi crashed into a wall during the practice.
“I indeed like Buemi,” she said.
Nadeau, who operates a wood business with his brother, said ticket prices were a bargain compared to F1.
He paid $135 for two tickets for both days. The cost of admission ranged from $45 to $131.50 for one day and from $72 to $212 for both days.
But while spectators felt they got their money’s worth, the question is whether Montrealers will think so when the two-day event is over.
The city paid at least $24 million to host the race, including the cost of building and dismantling the track, fees and salaries.
The Opposition Projet Montréal party has criticized Mayor Denis Coderre for spending $7.Five million on fresh concrete barriers to line the racetrack. The Coderre administration has also come under fire for distributing thousands of free tickets to the event.
The Société de transport de Montréal suggested free rails on the métro, buses and Bixi bikes all weekend, forgoing an estimated $1.1 million in fares.
“Coderre is an egoist,” said Jean-Pierre Labonté, 71, who lives in a subsidized housing project for seniors in the Centre-Sud neighbourhood, near the makeshift racetrack along René Lévesque Blvd. and Viger St., inbetween Berri St. and Papineau Ave.
“He takes himself for Mayor (Jean) Drapeau,” added Labonté, a retired postal clerk, referring to the mayor responsible for providing the city the métro, Expo sixty seven and the one thousand nine hundred sixty seven Olympics.
“There’s no comparison, come on! We have every nation in the world here (during Expo),” Labonté said.
But other Montrealers were blessed to get a peek of the activity.
Abdelhak Zerguini, 28, was among a puny crowd outside the racetrack watching through the metal fence.
“It’s not the same adrenaline (as F1),” said Zerguini, a PhD student in telecommunications.
But he said the fresh sport is “surely better for the environment.”
Laurent Heard, 64, a retired Bell Canada technician from Repentigny, was also nosey about the sport.
“It’s worth the tour,” said Hérard, who drove downtown with his bicycle in his car, and then railed it to the site.
Sitting in the stands, Allison and Rick Cwiakala of Boston and their children Aberlin, 8, and Ethan, Five, were loving the glances and sounds.
“It’s better because it goes swifter,” Ethan said of the brightly coloured electrical cars.
His father Rick is an engineer with a professional interest in electrical cars because he works for a manufacturer of advanced batteries for the electrified grid.
“It’s fresh and arousing,” he said.
Even tho’ the crowd looked sparse in the early part of the day, Renato Bisignani, a media spokesperson for Formula E, said organizers were glad with attendance.
“I’m in the E Village now and it is packed,” he said.
Attendance figures would not be calculated until the end of the day, he said.
Usually, seventy per cent of spectators for the sport are local residents, with the remainder coming from outside, he said.
“On the basis of our practice through this event it is a mix of both, but predominantly local because we are a fresh event,” he said.