Buemi is Back, Kids!
Sebastien Buemi’s 14th Formula E victory in Monaco on Sunday saw him edge ahead of rival Mitch Evans and Lucas di Grassi at the top of the most winning driver list. This was his first win in 82 starts since he won at the New York City EPrix in July 2019. Remarkably prior to that win, Buemi had taken his first 12 wins in just 26 races between Punta del Este in December 2014 and Berlin in 2017.
Buemi told Formula E Notebook that his win would please his kids who have applied their own pressure upon their Dad! “My kids saying, ‘Dad, you need to win a race, we don’t even remember the last time you won one’ so I’m proud.”
Envision Racing (and including in its previous guise as Virgin and DS Virgin) took its first win since Nick Cassidy dominated the second London EPrix in July 2023. Until that season the team had won 16 races in Formula E with four different drivers (Sam Bird, Nick Cassidy, Robin Frijns and now Buemi).
Oliver Rowland’s 48 point advantage at the top of the drivers is the biggest points gap at the seventh round of the championship ever seen in the history of Formula E. Rowland has taken a remarkable average of 16 points per round this season and claimed 34 points more than fellow Nissan drivers Norman Nato, Taylor Barnard and Sam Bird combined.
Monaco Double Dose Debrief
On the harbourside chicane flashpoint between Oliver Rowland and Jean-Eric Vergne on Sunday, the Nissan driver and current runaway points leader Rowland told FEN that “I tried to do it straight out of the chicane, but there were too many cars. And then I realised it was going to cost me way too much to give it, so I just thought, I’ll go.
“And actually, my plan at that point was to kind of let him take the attack, come quite close, then position him just behind me and hope. By that point, I would have had the call(for attack mode), and it kind of worked out perfectly.”
NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird praised his teams “great teamwork and togetherness to get the car out on the track today. I couldn’t thank the team enough” after piecing his wrecked Nissan back together after his qualifying shunt at Saint Devote.
On his Sunday race, Bird detailed that “obviously not starting in a great position (pit lane) so we had to gamble. You know that you’re going to be 15 seconds off the back of everybody at the end of lap one.
“We had to run brand new tyres. We know that the tyres around here take multiple laps to wake up in the dry, let alone in the wet,” added Bird.
“So we went for dry setup, brand new tyres, dry pressures, and it didn’t work. Let’s put it that way, it didn’t work. But it was worth the gamble and I’m really proud of my team for just getting me out there today. That was a heroic effort.”
Andretti’s Jake Dennis thanked teammate Nico Mueller who was asked to assist in buffering a gap for Dennis to achieve a podium position on Saturday after Dennis was given a five-second penalty for a Full Course Yellow speeding offence. That came after an issue on Nyck de Vries’ Mahindra also saw Dennis embroiled in a fraught scramble up Massenet when the race went green again.
“Honestly, it felt like a win today to be honest,” said Dennis.
“It was really unfortunate with the Pit Boost situation. Losing quite a bit of time and losing two positions. But, thankfully, we managed to pull it back and I’ve had a really quick car all day.
“It was definitely worth better than P7 in quali, just due to a mistake on my side. And then it was just a really good car. Good calls. And then just trying to avoid an incident with Nyck (de Vries), really, underneath the tunnel.
“That’s what cost us the five-second penalty. It was either hit the back of him or jump off the brake and overspeed. But I was hoping they would be a bit more lenient with it. But ultimately we took it. I’m thankful to Nico. He helped me out a lot. I think he did have some other issues. But, yeah, I don’t think I’d be up here today if it wasn’t for his help”
Tommaso Volpe gave details on Norman Nato’s disappointing non-score weekend, saying that “yesterday we actually had a problem in his car.”
“He was lacking grip for the whole day from the first lap in free practice. So, in fact, we had to dismantle the whole car and change parts because there was a real issue.
“Today, in all fairness, the moment quali and race were wet, we knew that our package would have suffered with the lack of grip. So, he couldn’t put together a great lap for quali, and then this compromised his race as well.
“We tried a more aggressive strategy for Norman but again, in these conditions, our package, we must say, is something that we need still to work on and we could not achieve more than what we did.”
Lola Yamaha Abt’s Zane Maloney had a strong race on Sunday and looked set to challenge for a point but was penalised for not respecting track limits at the chicane.
“There was just a lap where I had to cut three corners because we had some issues, but generally it was a good race in terms of maximising the performance that we have,” Maloney told FEN.
“It was good in the wet and similar to qualifying around P9, P10 area in terms of pace. So, we stayed in P9 for I’d say three quarters of the race almost, but as soon as the track dried out we were just not quite quick enough, so then the pace kind of dropped off and obviously lost the position.
“I think we did everything very good in terms of strategy, in terms of communication, everything. We just when it dried out we didn’t quite have the pace.”
Guten Tag Opel!
Opel will join the Formula E grid at the end of 2026, to replace Maserati in the all-electric world championship. Both Opel Automobile GmbH CEO Florian Huettl and Opel Motorsport director Joerg Schrott and Sport boss were introduced to senior Formula E figures by Stellantis’ Jean-Marc Finot and Leo Thomas in Monaco last week as the German brand gears up for its first world championship programme since its 1980s rallying heyday.
As previously reported by The Race, Opel could be joined by Citroën for Gen4, although it is also understood that DS Automobiles also still has a chance of extending its participation in the all-electric world championship too.
2026 Calendar Almost Formed
FEN understands that an 18 round schedule is drawn up for the 2025/26 season which will be slated to begin at Sao Paulo on the first Saturday of this December. The calendar is then expected to move on to Mexico City and Miami in January, followed by a double header in Jeddah in February.
The nomadic Berlin EPrix, which has previously run in May, June, July and August, is set to take place on the final weekend of April at Tempelhof Airfield.
Events at Cape Town and Phoenix are unlikely to take part in 2026, while Jakarta is probably slipping off the schedule. As predicted by FEN in January, Sanya is in line to make a return next June, while the Tokyo EPrix in 2026 will be moved to July. The season will be rounded off with a double-header at London ExCeL Arena in mid-August, the first time a season has run in to the holiday month since 2022 when that campaign ended in Seoul.
Speaking to FEN in Monaco last week the CEO of Formula E Jeff Dodds said “we have an agreement in place with Cape Town but delivering on the agreement for next season feels like it’s not going to happen.
“But delivering on it for Season 13 (2026-27) feels like it’s perfectly doable. I think it’s a time issue with Cape Town, not a strategic issue or not an intent issue. It’s just getting it done in time.”
On Sanya joining Shanghai and thus forming a Chinese double-header event, likely across June and July, Dodds said that “I think the conversations are more progressed on two Chinese races. But I wouldn’t write off two US races too.
“I think the conversations are more progressed on two Chinese races,” added Dodds. “But I wouldn’t write off two US races. But you’ve been around a long time, so you know how this works. If there’s likely to be a second US race, it’s likely to be on what we deem to be a good-fit, Formula E fixed circuit than building out a street circuit in the US, just on timing.”
Formula E will submit its provisional calendar to the FIA later this month in time for the June World Motorsport Council. The 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship is also expected to be firmed up at a similar time and as it stands it is believed that one clash between the two world championships could occur at the end of March.
Gen4 Test Details
Some extra details of the first test for the prototype Gen4 car emerged over the weekend with approximately around 900kms of running conducted so far by the projects official test driver James Rossiter.
FEN understands that the car, which ran with full bodywork on recently, ran at the full 600kW level of power and the test focused on bedding in system functions as opposed to any performance running. Testing continues this week with two days scheduled in Spain.
Gen4 Commercial Agreement
An early outline of the Gen4 commercial agreement for teams was presented at Monaco to the Formula E Teams and Manufacturers Association. Jeff Dodds described the meeting to FEN as “a presentation of the Gen 4 commercial proposal to them but there will be a more detailed conversation, a working group session in Tokyo.
“And then it’s pretty much there. As of today, they’ve been given much more information than they had previously.”
Porsche Vice President of Porsche Motorsport Thomas Laudenbach told FEN in Monaco that he is encouraged with Formula E’s Gen4 plans and that the commercial agreement will be a key part of the strategy heading forward in to that era.
“Liberty Global is prepared to invest and Liberty Global is prepared to push Formula E forward and that’s something that we like to see,” he said.
“I’m not saying we know exactly where we’ll be in five years’ time but there is a pathway and we are happy to support that.
“We have to make sure that we do motorsport with EV’s,” added Laudenbach.
“If I look at what we do on a public road, I mean we have EV’s, how that can be relevant. We have got quite a significant share of EV’s in the market with a growing tendency, so especially as a brand that says ‘hey motorsport is a part of our DNA’ it’s part of our culture of what we stand for.
“I’m extremely glad that we have Formula E on that level and the competition is great.”
Froome E Notebook: Peloton Edition!
Formula E Notebook spent time on Sunday with legendary four-time Tour de France yellow jersey winner Chris Froome. The Monaco resident visited the paddock on both days and said that he was “fascinated by the technology and the level of competition in Formula E.”
The interview with Froome will be spread across the rest of this week on FEN’s Instagram channel. The first part can be viewed HERE
Formula E expanded its team at Monaco with Sophie Sun joining founder Sam Smith, commercial manager Andy Stobart and editorial assistant Georgia Williams on site. Several short form encapsulations were added to the content over the weekend on social media channels.
FEN will also be issuing Japanese language pieces ahead of the Tokyo EPrix later this month and will be working with renowned Japanese based journalist Jamie Klein at the Big Sight, Ariake District venue.
