Why was the marina of Puerto Banus full of electric speed boats backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund? Matt Hardy went to find out why the E1 Series is making a splash.
Lady Haya, a 64m superyacht owned by the Saudi Arabian royal family, dominates the secluded marina of Puerto Banus.
The so-called playground of Europe is a diverse setting of ultra rich, slightly rich and wannabe rich individuals living the “no carbs before Marbs” mantra.
Local yacht owner Luiz says his favourite marina-front store here is Dolce and Gabbana. It doesn’t sell couture, though, but fine crockery. That’s Puerto Banus.
So why is this spot in southern Spain, littered with delightful Lebanese food and mounds of locally caught langoustines, keen to join the global sporting stage?
Locals point to the lack of a year-round economy, though they cope just fine.
Enter E1
Enter, then, the E1 electric speedboat series, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, serial sports investors.
Andalusia is no stranger to Middle Eastern backing – Real Club Valderrama will host LIV Golf next month and Sotogrande has played host to the Aramco Team Series – and the presence of the Saudi royals’ super yacht indicates this is a palatable region for wealth.
E1 is the baby sibling of Formula E, and more recently Extreme E. It takes the concept of an on-track race weekend — practice, qualifying and races — and puts it onto water.
But the opening day of action is muted. Qualifying was shifted to 8am on Saturday morning, catching the locals of Puerto Banús off guard — City A.M. only learned of the changes through social media during a morning run along the beachfront.
The problem with racing on water is that conditions are is unpredictable. Tracks and sand dunes are the opposite, and conditions would need to deteriorate to life threatening circumstances in order for action to be called off. But in E1, where the foiled single-seater crafts are vulnerable at high speeds and semi-choppy water destabilises the RaceBirds, as they are known, conditions are king.
Full flight
For Saturday’s semi-finals and on Sunday when the finals were in full flow, however, it was hard not to be impressed by the speed of the crafts on full flight and the air they caught.
They’re agile and elegant, engineered by a former Nasa employee Rodi Basso, and space-age in design. PIF aside, it must be part of the reason so many celebrities are interested in the series.
Team owners include former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, ex-Chelsea superstar Didier Drogba, Spanish tennis royalty Rafael Nadal and actor Will Smith — though there was little evidence of his Westbrook team making the impact of his 2022 Oscars cameo.
In its inaugural season, with Puerto Banús the third race on the calendar, it is surprising to see how tribal the couple of thousand fans in attendance have become already.
Brady’s team were major players in the opening two races — in Jeddah and Venice — and have already become the Max Verstappen or Real Madrid of E1; people are willing them to lose for the sake of continued competition.
Skill
But because every RaceBird is exactly the same, the skill and stature of the pilots — often from the world of rallying and national jet ski championships, despite initial interest from former Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat — really matters.
Racing sees a run-up to the start line, where top speed as you pass the buoys is paramount. The top drivers nail that procedure and are hard to catch for the remaining four laps.
But Team Brady got it all wrong on Saturday’s qualifying and semi-finals day, finishing last of the nine teams meaning they would not feature in the main or plate finals.
Multiple employees of other teams spoke of their delight at the situation, but it felt less out of spite and more out of the need to see competitiveness in order for E1 to succeed.
There’s a sense of Saudi consolidation about E1: the invite-only Ocean Club, exclusive locations hosting and a slick operation whereby security is hot, a world away from publicly accessible areas.
PIF has a football club in Newcastle United and interests in many other sports — from Formula E to golf and tennis — and has slowed its spending spree. Instead it looks to be shifting, and E1 seems to be at the heart of that.
PIF’s focus on futuristic city Neom back in Saudi and its association with McLaren and Extreme E is well known, but with E1 there seems to be a true creative element to their project.
Puerto Banus magic
There’s little commercial interest in the series compared to others, though the caveat of it being in its first season must be noted.
And if E1 can lean into the billionaires’ club aura surrounding it and tap into clients in Puerto Banús, Jeddah, Geneva and Monaco, it might have a chance at making itself the primary annual boating series.
The third race of the season was won by Salsa singer Marc Anthony’s Team Miami, ahead of Smith’s Westbrook, Marcelo Claure’s Team Brazil and Virat Kohli’s Team Blue Racing.
Its place in Puerto Banus, though enjoyable, seemed insignificant next to fellow vessel Lady Haya. Is there work to do? Yes. But it does look to have captured a fan base in a way competitors such as SailGP took time to achieve.
