The addition of the final licence in Formula E, owned by Porsche but taken up and run by the new Fusion Formula E Team, is presenting some complex questions presently.
Formula E Notebook revealed this week that the recently founded Fusion Formula E Team will be entered in the 2026-27 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with a pair of Porsche 975 RSE GEN4 cars, to be run by former Jaguar and DS Penske technical manager, Phil Charles.
While this is long-term good news for Formula E, it presents significant and potentially far-reaching short-term headaches with extra part orders, potential supplier price increases and logistical challenges.
Additionally, other teams are openly wondering who actually owns the licence now. Porsche or Fusion? There is seemingly no clarity.
Andretti’s Roger Griffiths, who also acts as chairman to the Formula E Teams and Manufacturers Association, told the new Racers Voice podcast platform this week that he thinks Fusion’s ultra late entry is a key task for Formula E right now.
“I think the biggest challenge (of GEN4) is the late entry of the 12th team (Fusion), and what does that mean in terms of parts availability and supply of things like batteries and things like that,” said Griffiths.
“That’s because all the while that there were only 11 teams anticipated, so the 12th team is throwing a little bit of a wrinkle in the works, so there are conversations going on right now about how we deal with that. That’s more of a logistical problem.”
Speculation is rife in the Formula E paddock that the Fusion team may not be able to run at the Jarama pre-season test in three weeks’ time. While the cars should be ready in time some of the key spec parts are less well known in terms of availability.
Some of those parts are marginal on whether they can be supplied to the whole grid for the Jarama test, with batteries and front powertrain kits especially pushed for time. That could lead to disruption for running programmes at Jarama.
“I don’t think it’s a showstopper by any means, but it’s something that we need to be mindful of,” added Griffiths.
“We need to be aware of how we ensure that everybody’s got the right parts to be on the cars, etc. etc.
“Because you know all of the businesses associated with Formula E were working off the number of teams that were entered because that’s all you can do.
“You can’t speculatively just throw money at a problem, and when somebody’s a late entrant, which we more than welcome, and we’re very happy to have them. Please don’t get me wrong there, we’ve got all 12 franchises full now, and that actually is a very strong message that’s going out there. But it does come with some challenges, and we’ve got to work through those challenges.”
Phil Charles has been at Weissach and at last week’s Monza test to attempt to fast track the cars for Jarama. Additionally, he has been recruiting staff for the team, which was only given the full green light fully earlier this month.
Fusion is set to run two drivers at Jarama, with one expected to be Ayhancan Guven. But final clarity on which race drivers will begin the season, presently slated for mid-December, may not be decided until after the Jarama test.
But the question of who actually owns the licence, acquired by Porsche last autumn, is unclear. That may be a question that has to be answered fully sooner rather than later.
