Shanghai Formula E Notebook – Post Race

The CEO of Silverstone Circuits, Stuart Pringle, was a guest of Formula E in Shanghai and met with senior figures to discuss the possibility of Silverstone hosting Formula E races from 2026 onwards.
As revealed by The Race website earlier this year, Formula E wants to race on a modified and shortened version of the F1 circuit and is believed to be close to doing a deal for that to become reality for the 2025/26 season and beyond.
Formula E is expected to race at the London ExCeL Arena for the final time in the summer of 2025. Formula E Operations will submit its 2024-25 calendar shortly before it is made public at the FIA World Motorsport Council meeting next month. Possible new races include in or around Miami, a new venue in Italy, a race in Thailand and the prospect of a new venue in Saudi Arabia.
Cape Town is believed to be re-engaged with Formula E about returning to the Formula E calendar in the near future. The E-Movement company that promoted the event in 2023 is believed to be working on a second EPrix with several partners. Its driving force Iain Banner told FEN recently that there was no comment from his side on the rumours.
Renders of the proposed Gen4 design were doing the rounds in Shanghai as the framework and initial designs for the new-look car begin. The overall look of the car will be very different to the Gen3 with more defined aero and several new innovations that have not yet been made public.
The first crash tests for the project should take place this September with the manufacturer development cars to be provided by 1st July 2025, although this is caveated by the final quantity ‘depending on the level of technical or maturity compromise required to achieve the timing’ according to the official Gen4 tender.
Sacha Fenestraz had to have his hand inspected by medical staff after the second Shanghai EPrix on Sunday. The Nissan driver deflected a stone off his hand during the race and expressed soreness when he vacated his cockpit after finishing 14^th. FEN understands that one of his fingers was just bruised and no lasting damage was done.
Jean-Eric Vergne was left angry and disappointed by what he felt was a poorly executed intra-team strategy after Sunday’s Shanghai EPrix in which he finished seventh behind front-row starting Stoffel Vandoorne.
The radio exchange at the chequered flag included a discussion between him and newly recruited technical chief Phil Charles:
- JEV (sarcastically) OK, thank you very much for this team. Great team work. Thanks a lot.
- PC: JEV, it’s Phil. I’m sorry, that’s my fault. Next time I’ll swap you around.
- JEV: Two times the question to me and I don’t believe that for a second, free to fight and I was coming to attack mode. Two times!
- PC: It’s my fault I thought you were going to clear him cleanly. Next time I’ll put it right.
- JEV: He’s blocking me like I’m his worst enemy. I’m his teammate for god’s sake.
The final result for Saturday’s race was not officially formalised until just before Sunday’s free practice session after a petition for appeal was raised by DS PENSKE regarding an incident it felt was triggered by Oliver Rowland against its driver Jean-Eric Vergne at Turn 5.
The incident was investigated and initially granted no further action. However, additional evidence was offered to the FIA Stewards within the petition by DS PENSKE. FEN understands that this may have been a recording of Rowland making comments about the incident and additional filmed footage.
It is believed the reason for the lateness in confirming the petition of review is inadmissible was because the TV production staff needed to access some of the footage had left the track. It was therefore determined that the review would be done before the free practice session for Sunday’s race.
The plethora of incidents and contact in recent Formula E races has brought in to question by some drivers and teams the resources needed by the FIA to effectively police the races.
Jaguar TCS Racing team principal James Barclay shared his thoughts with FEN about the situations, saying that “asking the team and the FIA to do a huge amount of work and manage multiple incidents and monitor the whole field is incredibly difficult.
“Rather than criticise I think our view is here we want to continue to help the FIA and support them in terms of incidents but I think there is clearly an opportunity for the FIA to look at this and see if they need to increase resource or probably technology more than anything.
“There are other categories in the world where you have lots of side-by-side racing and I’m sure good lessons can be learned, particularly in the US where you have NASCAR and lots of car’s side-by-side.
“I’m sure even they’d say it’s impossible to monitor all incidents across the field. Something to keep an eye on if we’re going to keep this form of racing or a variant of it in the future, like all things we need to see if we can improve and learn from things rather than stay still. I’m sure that’s what’s happening with race control and how they monitor these races,” concluded Barclay.
Spark Racing Technologies warned Formula E teams ahead of the Shanghai action last weekend that spare parts were in short supply. An array of spares were causing concern ahead of the final races of the 2023-24 season with some teams known to be viewing their stocks as critical.
Formula E Notebook understands that Stellantis Motorsport will not make a decision on its future Formula E strategy beyond 2026 until mid-June at the earliest. The multi-brand automotive behemoth is believed to be weighing up several options including introducing a new brand in to the all-electric world championship. Stellantis is made up of Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, FIAT, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, OPEL, Peugeot, RAM and Vauxhall.
Stellantis could introduce a new brand to Formula E in 2026 as it seeks to confirm its Formula E strategy for Gen4. Presently it has two brand DS Automobiles and Maserati but paddock speculation is rife that a new brand (see above) could be introduced at the expense of one of its present brands.
“I met with (Stellantis Chairman) Carlos Tavares in Misano and we had an expansive and very positive conversation,” Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds told FEN from Shanghai last weekend.
“We’re very keen for them to stay in the championship. I don’t want to pre-empt the outcome for Stellantis, I’m hoping we’ll be able to announce something soon, of course I am, but there’s no guarantee it will be with the mix of brands that they have on the grid today because, as I say, they have a lot of choice available to them.”
Lola Yamaha will shakedown its test and development car next month in the UK ahead of a full test programme throughout the summer and autumn. Lucas di Grassi is likely to shake the car down ahead of the Portland EPrix with team director Mark Preston telling FEN that “I’m pretty sure we’ll be running Lucas.”
Formula E Teams and Manufacturers Association chairman Ian James will shortly see out his two year stint in the role. James took over the management of the FETAMA group in late 2022 from Envision’s Sylvain Filippi. Andretti’s Roger Griffiths and Jaguar’s James Barclay were previous chairman.
“It (the vote) won’t take place until the end of the season, so there’s a few more months to go and a lot of work to do in that time,” James told FEN.
“We’re in some pretty key discussions as we look to set the direction for the future. It’s nice to be in discussions that I genuinely think are going to shape the future of the championship and help where I can move those in the right direction as well. I’ve enjoyed it, at the same time I’m looking forward to the point where I can hand the baton on to somebody else.”
Jake Dennis has returned to BMW as a factory driver after being announced as the 23rd BMW M works driver to the BMW M Motorsport line-up. The reigning Formula E champion will substitute for Max Hesse in the Italian GT Championship next weekend in addition to his already announced drives for Century Motorsport in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.
On the eve of the Shanghai EPrixs Formula E announced a new charitable cause supported by the Formula E Better Futures Fund. The partnership, according to Formula E was ‘established to extend Formula E’s positive legacy of sustainability and social responsibility, the Better Futures Fund remains at the forefront of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s efforts to set new standards across the sporting and sustainability sectors.’
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