What Happened on Track at the Gen4 Launch?
Answer: Very little. Teams were given the track time in addition to their allocated testing days and spent the majority of it filming, although some genuine push laps were achieved for all three manufacturers present – Jaguar, Porsche and Stellantis (Opel).
Antonio Felix da Costa ran for ‘the Big Cat’ while Ayhancan Guven drove for Porsche as Nico Mueller and Pascal Wehrlein returned to Weissach for Berlin EPrix sim testing. Theo Pourchaire and Sophia Floersch ran in the Opel liveried Stellantis car with the latter getting her first experience of the Gen4 as she begins her role as an official development driver. Pourchaire is believed to be highly likely to get a race seat with Stellantis next season.
Teams are continuing their private testing next month, with most manufacturers out on track across Europe. Nissan will run at the end of May and FEN has learned that Andretti key figures will be at that test to start to gain knowledge of the car that they will run next season.
Sporting Format Still Under Review
A lengthy Formula E Teams and Manufacturers meeting took place on Wednesday at Paul Ricard, with a draft of the Gen4 sporting format believed to have been reviewed and discussed. Head of Formula E for the FIA, Pablo Martino, told FEN that the new framework was “almost there” and that “we will see changes for sure in the weekend format a little bit, but it will not be radically different, the primary assets of Formula E will continue and will keep maintaining in the future.”
A submission of the format and other sporting regulation changes will be submitted to the FIA in early June ahead of ratification by the FIA at the World Motorsport Council.
Monaco a No-Show for Gen4
To many peoples surprise the Gen4 car is unlikely to be seen at Monaco next month. A demonstration of the car had been assumed as a likely showcase for the car which was designed partly around simulations using the legendary Monaco Grand Prix track, which is has been used in its entirety by Formula E since 2021.
“I don’t think it’s going to be possible,” Pablo Martino told Formula E Notebook on Tuesday. “I think there is a clash with some other commitments for the car in that particular period.”
Goodwood and Fan Event Confirmed
While the Gen4 will not be at run at Monaco, it will be seen up the famous Goodwood House at the 33rd Goodwood Festival of Speed in early July. “We’ll go to the Goodwood Festival of Speed and also launch it to the fans who will get to see it at the Festival,” Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds confirmed to FEN. “Then here will be a pure fan and celebrity influencer style launch that will happen in October time, ahead of the(pre-season) test.”
Formula E Baits F1
The Race reported a remarkable series of quotes by Liberty Global CEO, Mike Fries, from Paul Ricard earlier this week, including: “I have a message to my cousins at Formula 1. Basically, halfway doesn’t make history,” clearly referencing the notional 50/50 internal combustion engine and electric split that F1 has moved towards with its 2026 rules.
“Having half an electric engine? Forget it. It’s a Frankenstein!” added Fries. “All the way [100% electric] is the only way. This car and the Gen5 and the Gen6, it’s not a race anymore. It’s over; this championship is going nowhere but up. We’re totally committed to this thing.”
Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds also addressed the media at a pre event roundtable and said that “a good, well-performing Formula 1 is great for all motorsport.
“When Formula 1 is going well and everything is going to plan, that’s good for all of us because it just brings new fans, new eyeballs, new excitement to motorsport,” Dodds expanded. “We want them to be, they’ve been incredibly successful but the fact that the regulation change pushed to more electric power, so they moved to the 50/50 combustion electric model, there’s much more conversation about what it takes to drive under battery, how electric power works, how regeneration on the track works, and maybe they haven’t quite got it right and they’ll work on that.
“But what it does mean is more people are talking about electric racing; more people are talking about renewable and recharging batteries and regeneration of battery in the race. So that has to be good for us.
“It does take time to imbed in a new car and a new format onto track. So, I think people have been quite harsh in their early judgement of the F1 season, but I think the fact that they’re responding to it as rapidly as they are a very strong sign for motorsport.”
Gen4 by JR…
Gen4 sporting advisor and development driver James Rossiter told Formula E Notebook recently that key balance characteristics of the Gen4’s aero packages was central to the design and engineering philosophy from a very early stage.
“One of the things we were really conscious about was making sure the two aero packages had a very similar balance,” reckoned Rossiter. “This is super important, so that if the teams change them, whereas the overall downforce level was going to change, we weren’t going to change the balance of the car, ideally at all, but we weren’t going to change it dramatically.
“I think that was one of the big positive feedbacks we had from the first test, that the two packages kept a similar balance, which meant they could run a fairly isometric mechanical balance of the car between the two,” added Rossiter.
“What the high downforce does is that creates this awesome moment for the driver where they can really attack the circuit. They can really go for it and brake super late, carry a lot of speed into the medium and high speed corners, which you haven’t been able to do before.”
Rossiter also told FEN that he thought Formula E was “definitely getting to the standards where we’re going to be faster than everything else other than F1.”
“The acceleration is faster than anything else, including F1,” he added. “Out of low-speed corners with the four-wheel drive and all the torque that you have at low speed with the instant power of 600 kilowatts and no gear shift to worry about, then that is something truly spectacular.”
“The levels of expertise needed in multi-tasking in Formula E have long since tested the drivers but across the new rules the heightened speed and decrease in lap times, allied to working on new elements such as permanent all-wheel-drive and active differential at the front of the car, will bring a new gamut of challenges to the driver.
“I think that the level of driver that we’re going to need in this championship is going to be extremely high level.”
Cass on the Gas!
Citroen’s Nick Cassidy told FEN on Tuesday that the Gen4’s complexity on control systems including the active front differential would “feel right up my street.” Cassidy also said that at “the same time, you need to be aligned with your team and your engineering crew. I wouldn’t be surprised if at the start you’ll see blocks of four cars together from manufacturers. Just in terms of speed and hierarchy. I feel like with how we are right now, the field is so close and everyone’s so well-optimised. And that is one of the really cool parts of our championship right now, that it’s so competitive. I’m kind of expecting Gen4, maybe the field spreads could be a bit bigger initially and that you might have a bit of gap between manufacturers.”
Why Gen4 is so exciting – Key Topics with Albert Lau
An excellent new addition to the TV coverage of Formula E this season has been former engineering chief at NEOM McLaren and Nyck de Vries title winning engineer from 2021, Albert Lau. He has been working at all races this season as an in-depth technical and strategic commentator and has brought insight in to many previously opaque aspects of Formula E and how teams call the shots. FEN sat down with Lau to get his opinion on the engineering challenge that Gen4 is set to bring the teams and drivers.
“If I just look at qualifying trim, with the power available and the weight of the car, you’re talking about from a pure power to weight ratio point of view, literally being bang on what an F2 car would be, which is pretty much sitting halfway between where we are with Gen3 Evo and where F1 is,” Lau told FEN.
“It’s just such a massive, massive step forward to be able to say ‘right, it’s about the same power to weight ratio as an F2 car, so it’s no small feat but still a way away from F1 but that’s not necessarily the comparison that we’re trying to make anyway,”
“So, if the pure power and weight is equal to F2 then the remaining difference is boiled down to tyres and downforce and usage of the tyres. I don’t know what the downforce numbers look like, but I can only imagine it’s probably not going to be as extreme as the F1 car. That said, you kind of counter that with the all-wheel drive and the usage of the tyres.
On the new rubber, Lau said that “we don’t know what the tyre compounds are going to be like comparing the Bridgestone’s to the Pirellis. So, there’s still a big unknown there in terms of comparison.
“But if you just look at the macro power to weight, it’s interesting for me, because it’s such a big, big step. If you look at power to weight from the Gen1 to Gen2 to Gen3 and Gen4, meaning this is easily the biggest steps they have made,” concluded Lau.
Mortara and Rowland No-Shows
Mahindra boss Frederic Bertrand attended the Paul Ricard event but only Nyck de Vries was on site as Edoardo Mortara was sim testing at the team’s base in Banbury, UK. Mortara was the only driver to not attend due to work commitments, while Oliver Rowland was unable to travel due to illness. Mahindra will begin testing of their manufacturer car in June. A mocked up Mahindra Gen4 show car was on display at Ricard but the actual development car is being assembled at Mahindra’s Banbury base.
Nissan Changes!
Nissan has completed the signing of a new technical director almost nine months after its former technical chief Theophile Gouzin left them for Jaguar. FEN understands that an experienced engineer with large-scale manufacturer experienced and time at the FIA is set to be announced by Nissan shortly.
Meanwhile, present racing manager Dorian Boisdron, will get an enhanced role at Nissan as he becomes the deputy team principal to add to his present role. Boisdron has been at the team since 2017 when it transitioned from Renault to Nissan brands. He has previously worked for Oreca, Boutsen Ginion Racing, Marc VDS and Dolexia Technology. This move is understood to have been made due to expanded corporate responsibilities for team principal and managing director, Tommaso Volpe.
Opel Seen from Space!
The Opel GSE Formula E team’s terrifyingly bright test livery illuminated the pits at Paul Ricard with FEN joking to team principal Joerg Schrott that the car ‘would have been viewable by the Artemis 2 team’ earlier this month. Opel’s actual race livery is set to be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October and FEN understands that a well-known energy company will have a significant amount of space on the car.
The German marque had board member Rebecca Reinermann, the vice president of marketing, in attendance at the test.
Cyril in the House
Two days after overseeing the global debut of the new GMR-001 Hypercar, Gensis Magma Racing team principal Cyril Arbiteboul spent time in the Ricard paddock talking to several Formula E executives and leading team figures. Genesis has a base within the track at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Also seen at the track during the launch was new Jaguar technical director Theo Gouzin, ex GT racers Niki Mayr-Melnhof, Lance David Arnold, former Porsche and DS Techetah engineer Fabrice Roussel and former DTM and ETCR driver Adrien Tambay.
Rossiter Speaks!
An in depth talk on all things Gen4 between FEN founder Sam Smith and Gen4 development driver and special advisor James Rossiter vis the popular The Race Formula E Podcast is available for listening to or downloading HERE.
