Formula E comes to Paris, irking conservationists

No one knows what Napoleon would think but Formula E makes its Paris debut at a circuit under attack from conservationists next to the French emperor's tomb.

The City of Light is hosting the seventh leg of the all-electric championship now in its second season.

The newest addition to the Formula E calendar boasts a spectacular 1.93 kilometre street circuit around Les Invalides, one of the French capital's must-see landmarks.

The event is being lauded by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo as a vehicle to promote the use of electric cars.

Formula E "is a means to dramatically develop electric mobility, essential for our cities," Hidalgo told AFP.

Jean-Francois Martins, Hidalgo's sports deputy, added: "When the FIA (motorsport's ruling body) approached us to put on a Grand Prix they asked us to stage it on the edge of the city.

"But we decided to set it up in Paris for the symbol: place electric mobility at the heart of the city"."

But not everyone is enamoured with the prospect of 18 cars hurtling around the streets of Paris at over 200 kilometres an hour.
"This event absolutely does not promote alternative cars, it's advertising speed," said David Belliard, co-president of the Environmental Group of Paris (GEP).

"We're going to make cars compete against each other in the heart of the capital," he added.

"It's unnatural, when every day we are promoting alternative means of transport to cars, like the Velib (the public bike system first launched in Paris in 2007)."

Belliard also took issue with the temporary tarmac surface covering the ancient cobbled boulevards around Les Invalides.

Jean-Francois Martins, Hidalgo's sports minister, sought to allay ecologists' fears.

"It's neither a massacre nor an ecological disaster," he insisted, adding that "the infrastructure was brought up the (river) Seine which avoided us having to use over 200 lorries".
To protect the cobble stones they were first covered in a film of plastic and sand before the tarmac went down.

Aside from Napoleon's tomb beside turn five of the circuit, the complex of buildings known as the Hotel national des Invalides in the 7th arrondisement is also home to the Musee de l'Armee.

Saturday's race features a cluster of former Formula 1 drivers including Nick Heidfeld, Bruno Senna, defending champion Nelson Piquet Junior and Jean-Eric Vergne.

This season's drivers standings are led by Brazilian Lucas Di Grassi.

E-dams.Renault, co-owned by four time F1 champion Alain Prost, took the inaugural constructors' title.
Source: AFP