Share this article on LinkedIn Email

The real significance of London's absence from next season's Formula E calendar is how symptomatic it is of bigger scheduling concerns that threaten a championship with great potential.

Last week a judicial review concerning the Battersea Park round was dropped, paving the way for the season-two finale to take place on July 2-3 - in return for the series not returning to the venue in the future. However, it is offset by a desire to pull off a race on the streets of the English capital for the 2017/18 campaign.

But the loss of London is not FE's only issue for its third season.

Double-headers in New York and Montreal are great planned additions to a heavily-revised calendar proposal, but FE needs to be wary of compromising the championship as a whole in the pursuit of spectacular individual events.

The planned 12-round, 14-race calendar for season three begins on October 9 in Hong Kong, has a gap to Marrakech on November 12 and a two-month wait until the third race in Mexico City on January 28.

FE cannot realistically expect to keep building momentum with such gaps between races. Similarly, it's key to give fans the sort of calendar familiarity they have that the Le Mans 24 Hours will be held in mid-June or the Monaco Grand Prix will be in late May.

FE must make the most of its contrast to the traditional motorsport calendar and take advantage of the quiet months when Formula 1 isn't dominating the landscape. It wasn't possible to adjust the 2016/17 calendar because Hong Kong - a rare Sunday event with a Saturday filled with support races and other activity - was immovably locked in to early October.

The solution for 2017/18 is that the season must start in November or December and blitz the first three months of the new year. A longer off-season is not as much of an issue as making a big deal out of the start of a campaign and then waiting weeks for the next race.

FE almost exclusively uses street circuits, so piecing together a calendar is incredibly difficult. As is establishing the championship as a brand and working out which venues work and will stick around.

This was never going to be a short process. Patience early on was crucial, now it needs to learn lessons quickly.

There are encouraging signs, such as agreeing to avoid clashes with the World Endurance Championship, in which 10 full-season FE drivers are competing in 2016.

The championship is one of motorsport's few growth areas, but it needs to have a sensible structure to maximise that.

Going to the right places is obviously important, and fantastic venues are part of the appeal.

But it's no good planning big individual events without a proper championship built around them that people can get excited about.

PROPOSED FORMULA E 2016/17 CALENDAR

October 9 Hong Kong

November 12 Marrakech

January 28 Mexico City

February 25 Buenos Aires

March 25 Long Beach

April 22 Singapore

May 13 Monaco

May 27 Paris

June 10 Brussels

June 24 Berlin

July 15-16 Montreal

July 29-30 New York