Old Venues Back for 2026?
Cape Town could come back on to the Formula E calendar in the early months of 2026 if recent talks between organisers and Formula E Operations come to fruition. Plans to bring the Mother City back in to the schedule almost happened for this season but broke down amid financial complications. However, Formula E Notebook understands that the possibility of a second EPrix there is closer than ever.
Meanwhile, another former venue, the O’Higgins Park in Santiago could also return if ambitions by planners in the Chilean capital come off. Political changes in Santiago which has seen Mario Desbordes take up office are believed to be much more favourable for Formula E returning to the popular parkland venue.
Desbordes told the El Mercurio publication in November that he wanted to “revive Santiago in sports”. He also alluded to having spoken to DS Penske young driver Nico Pino and Chile’s only F1 driver Eliseo Salazar about ambitions to welcome back Formula E. Salazar was involved in the promotion of previous Formula E races in Santiago and retains close links with ABB via his electric karting initiative in Chile.
Formula E wants to add at least one event per season up to 2030 to try and establish a 16 event calendar with five or six being double-headers. Presently Formula E is aiming to save approximately £40m in a holding pattern to try and get its accounts in to the black for the first time in its history. The company has gone from 2.3 cargo airfreight planes to two. The extra races would force a re-think on its logistics plans which currently run in a cycles between specific races.
As previously reported by The Race last year – the ExCeL Arena in London is set to extend its deal with Formula E to include races in the summer of 2026. It is believed that a later date for the season finale is being discussed as an option for the 2025-26 campaign.
This could be a mid-August slot as Formula E aims to pack more races in to the final season of the Gen3 era. Additionally, a later date for the third Tokyo EPrix meeting is believed to have caused a knock-on to the draft schedule which will be submitted to the FIA in June. A conclusion to the extension between Formula E and ExCeL is set to be concluded this month.
‘Creators Cup’ Gearing Up
The March event in Miami, which is at present known as the Creators Cup, which is designed to market and advance the media reach of Formula E in light of the two months calendar gap is gaining momentum. The two day initiative which will see a variety of media influencers go against the clock in Gen3Evo cars is set to take place on 5/6 March in and around the Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins NFL team. It is not believed to be an event open to spectators and will instead be used as a filmed event of which assets will then be packaged by the Formula E broadcaster and the participants themselves.
Part of the Miami ‘circuit’ will be based on the Miami F1 track, which will race be raced on by F1 for a fourth time in early May. The details of which cars will be used are yet to be disclosed but are likely to be one of the race cars of the 11 teams. FEN understands that teams have now received clarity that all costs will sit outside of the official cost cap brackets.
São Paulo Loose Ends
The red car state that ended Jake Dennis’ Sao Paulo EPrix last month is still being investigated by Porsche. The rare event caused the first of two red flags and consigned Denis to a spectator after a promising early phase of the race. Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths told FEN in Mexico today that “obviously we had to get the powertrain out of Brazil and then with the Christmas break and all the rest of it in the middle, so I think there are opportunities to look at it, not being as extensive as they would normally have been.
“Certainly, they’ve issued some updates to operating procedures, which is more of a safety thing, if you like, like a blanket safety thing to ensure that,” added Griffiths. Whilst we don’t exactly know what happened, these would be good things for us, for all of us, not just us, but all of us running the powertrains we implement, so those have come into play from today onwards, so we’ll see. It’s not a matter of days usually, it’s usually a matter of weeks to figure out exactly what happened, and then it’s like, okay well how do we fix it? So,it’s not a quick process.”
Pascal Wehrlein’s crashed Porsche 99X Electric survival cell is still being evaluated by the FIA and Dallara before a decision is taken on when it can run again. TAG-Heuer Porsche were building up a new car based around the spare monocoque in the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez paddock on Thursday.
FEN understands that the future of DS Automobiles in Formula E is set to be made public by the end of February at the latest. The brand, which is owned by Stellantis, has been in Formula E since 2015 first with Virgin Racing and then with Techeetah before hooking up with Penske in 2022. Stellantis motorsport chief Jean-Marc Finot has not travelled to Mexico City this week and is believed to be working on the decision on whether DS continue or not in Formula E beyond the 2025-26 campaign.
Rules Clarifications
Ahead of the Mexico City ePrix the FIA issued a clarification to application of Article 40.2, that the Fortescue Zero Condition Units cannot be used during a Race Suspension in the pitlane. However, the ‘use of systems blowing air through the radiator duct for the RESS, the Front Powertrain or the Rear Powertrain, are allowed.’
Additionally, an official note was also circulated to teams in order for cars to take ‘a position either in their respective garage (if the car requires repairs) or in the working lane in front of their respective garage (in this case the car is considered in Parc Fermé according to Article 43.1 and all the works listed are permitted except fitting a temperature conditioning system for the RESS). If the “Wet Track” message is shown on the timing screens during the race or whilst the race is suspended, changing tyres in the pit lane is permitted.’
Some clarity was also noted about ‘officials being charged with supervision may enter the Parc Fermé. 2 mechanics per car are allowed to enter the Parc Fermé, just to plug an auxiliary battery on the car (data transfer from the car to the Competitor can transit through this connection), to fill air pressure in the BBW and to fit a temperature conditioning system for the RESS, front and rear powertrains. No other intervention of any kind is allowed there unless authorised by such Officials.’
El Statto Monumentals!
The Porsche 99XElectric is unbeaten at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez since 2020 after Pascal Wehrlein in 2022, Jake Dennis in 2023 and Wehrlein again last January claimed a famous hat-trick of wins. The 99XElectric has also grabbed three out four poles at the track as well, taking its first ever top spot with Andre Lotterer in 2019 before Wehrlein claimed poles in 2022 and 2024 the years he won the race.
Mitch Evans has only failed to score points (in 2022) once at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez across his seven appearances at the track. He claimed his first ever Formula E points with fourth place in 2017 and then took sixth and seventh in 2018 and 2019 respectively. He took a dominant win in 2020 and then eighth and fifth in 2023 and 2024. Apart from the 2020 win Jaguar has only scored one other podium in Mexico, Nick Cassidy’s third place last January.
Alexander Sims will make his second appearance as an FIA Drivers Steward this week. The former BMW Andretti and Mahindra driver made his debut in the position at March’s Tokyo EPrix.
New Partnerships
Stellantis Motorsport has confirmed a partnership with Intel Automotive to ‘accelerate the development of technologies specific to Formula E and continue its success in the electric series, the Stellantis Group’s racing division has decided to collaborate with Intel Automotive.’
“Their expertise is a bonus for our program, and I’m sure that working together will improve our performance over the coming months,” said FE Program Director for Stellantis Motorsport, Leo Thomas.
“Formula E is a very demanding competition, and we must constantly seek the best solutions to remain among the leaders. This partnership is a testament to our shared vision for the future of electric mobility.”
Formula E has announced an expanded collaboration with Google Cloud which serves as the all-electric world championships Official Cloud Technology Services Partner and Official Cloud Security Partner.
Tara Brady, President, Google Cloud EMEA commented on the plans by saying that “with Google Cloud’s gen AI tools and advanced data analytics, including our Vertex AI platform and Gemini models, we’re helping Formula E supercharge innovation in motorsport.
“Together, we’re pushing the boundaries of sustainable racing, redefining what’s possible on and off the track.”
CUPRA KIRO will have a new livery unveiled at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez tomorrow. The new look is believed to be more deferential to the CUPRA brand which partnered with the newly named team in November.
BYD is supplying some of the official track cars this week in Mexico City, including the Race Director and Clerk of the Course vehicles. The Chinese EV leader also has significant paddock and hospitality presence at the race.
Media News
News Motor Sport magazine will feature a regular column on Formula E this year as the magazine follows Jaguar TCS Racing boss James Barclay and the team through its eight season in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Subscriptions to one of the world’s most respected motorsport publications can be found HERE
FEN’s Sam Smith has again contributed to motorsport’s leading book annual Autocourse with an 8000 word appraisal of the 2023-24 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season. Copies of what is known as the motorsport industry’s bible, published by Icon Publishing, are available HERE and feature interviews with champion Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche’s Florian Modlinger and 2024 runner-up Mitch Evans.
