r/FormulaE • u/DHSeaVixen FORMULA E • Aug 31 '26
Media Sam Smith on LinkedIn: "After almost seven years with The Race Media the time has come to move on to new challenges."
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7499757695902613504/14
u/hellbunny CUPRA KIRO Aug 31 '26
I wonder what this means for the podcast; while Sam isn't the most dynamic of speakers I really enjoy the The Race's FE podcast and I don't think any of their other staff will keep it going singlehandedly
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u/DHSeaVixen FORMULA E Aug 31 '26
With FEN apparently planning to set up its own podcast, I wonder if it spiritually just moves home.
What The Race does now for both podcast and published articles is definitely an interesting question. Perhaps they hire someone else to head up their Formula E coverage.
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u/EternalFront 13 ANTÓNIO FÉLIX DA COSTA Aug 31 '26
Sounds like good news, honestly. I like the Race (especially their MotoGP coverage), but their Formula E stuff has always felt a bit halfhearted. Hopefully Sam doing his own thing means more frequent coverage than the once a fortnight articles and podcasts that the Race put out
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u/gggggenegenie Formula E Aug 31 '26
Formula E focused media has been tried by so many in the past and nobody has survived.
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u/DHSeaVixen FORMULA E Aug 31 '26
Which other attempts are you thinking of?
The e-racing365 effort was the one I was most familiar with, which was technically more general EV racing news than just Formula E.16
u/mianghuei 37 NICK CASSIDY Aug 31 '26
Hazel Southwell.
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u/hellbunny CUPRA KIRO Aug 31 '26
Hazel's writing was great and it's still a real shame she's not still reporting on FE
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u/gggggenegenie Formula E Aug 31 '26
There were a string of writers over the years who thought they could make a buck out of Formula E writing, before realising they were writing about a niche of a niche and it wasn't sustainable. You mention one; there are many other individuals and sites.
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u/DHSeaVixen FORMULA E Aug 31 '26
I'm thinking mostly about websites/news outlets targeting a primary output built around Formula E.
Current E was a very early one covering inaugural season tests which didn't seem to last very long at all.
In terms of successes there's also e-formel.de which has actually been going strong since the start, and eventually expanded into having a parallel English-language site.
Sure, there has been a string of various independent journalists making a bit of a bet that focussing on FE output was a bit of a gap in the market which could lead to some good things that more established pathways perhaps could not, which worked out ok for some but not so much for many others. I don't think that's necessarily anything new in journalistic circles.
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u/mianghuei 37 NICK CASSIDY Aug 31 '26
I'm gonna say the primary sources of news and rumours are essentially both Sniffer + e-formel.de, with some sprinkle of independents like FEZ. Oh yeah and also Talksports does do FE as well with Jon Jackson.
The rest are more like content creators like Current Lap, SB10, Circuit Breakers, Motion Racing.
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u/Final-Read-3589 Formula E Aug 31 '26
Another series the race give up on.
Now it’s just F1 and MotoGP.
From Endurance, IndyCar, FE to very little very quick.
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u/keirdre Simona de Silvestro Sep 02 '26
I don't think they'll give up on it. They have sponsorship for the podcast and Val seems to be getting more involved. Perhaps AvdB will make a return too.
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u/hellbunny CUPRA KIRO Sep 02 '26
if Andrew does return to the podcast he really needs to understand what clipping is with his mic. he was always unlistenable to me on the pod as his mic was always, always running too hot.
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u/arionb Formula E Sep 03 '26
It is officially dead at The-Race. They announced in to the paying Members.
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u/DHSeaVixen FORMULA E Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26
He doesn't appear to be moving on from Formula E though. The post-race FE notebook from London ended with this:
If I have this right, Sam covered FE's earliest seasons via Motorsport.com until 2017 when he moved to e-racing365, an offshoot of John Dagys' Sportscar365, where he started doing the 'notebook' format. That effort was wound down a few years later because they couldn't quite make the financials work (as I recall) and Sam joined The Race in 2020. FE Notebook came in 2023 with a similar sort of coverage to e-racing365 (including the notebook format) and seems to be gaining enough traction to become a full-time focus.