4 races (including sprint races) within 4 weeks for Formula 1 before a month long break and it is almost time for Japan to take centre stage. Many teams and drivers will be wanting this break, others will want to go racing immediately after but all recognise why there is such a long gap. Lets preview this race, shall we?
Japanese Grand Prix Track Preview
This famous track in Japan has seen champions crowned, teammate controversy and iconic moments between world champions happen.
5.807km around this circuit sees 22 drivers take on 18 corners a total of 53 times. Thats 954 corners for the race winner and 20,988 total corners taken if all 22 drivers finish the race without being lapped. Of course, given the last 2 Grand Prixs has seen at 2 and 4 drivers not even start the formation lap respectfully (both including Oscar Piastri and one Audi) so we could see 6 or 8 drivers not start the race if this record continues.
Image Credit: Formla One’s Japanese Grand Prix section of their website
2 Straight Mode Zones within this weekend: – 1 on the start/finish straight – 1 after turn 14 all the way up to 130R.
The Overtake Mode is activited on the start/finish straight too so expect a lot of overtakes there.
Rookie Free Practice
Its only round 3 but we already have a rookie taking part in free practice. At the home race of Honda, Aston Martin have chosen Fernando Alonso to sit out FP1 and elected to put the teams third driver Jak Crawford into the seat to fullfil 1 of 4 required replacements across the season. The cancellation of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia could have accelerated this but that hasn’t been confirmed.
Schedule for the Weekend
A finale for everyone living in the Asia/Oceanic region of the world for good timings across the weekend, not so much for other parts of the world.
Free Practice 1
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Free Practice 2
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Free Practice 3
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Qualifying
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Japanese Grand Prix
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Team Predictions
Kieran and Jack have attempted to look into the weekend to see who will take the podium and 1 surprise!
Prediction
Chris
Jack
Kieran
Winner
N/A
George Russell
Lewis Hamilton
Podium
N/A
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc, Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Surprise
Oscar Piastri completes a racing lap
Alonso gets into Q2
Mercedes Mechanical trouble in qualifying or the race
Adrian Newey will step down as F1 Team Principal at Aston Martin’s F1 team principal.
The 67-year-old world renowned designer, who replaced previous Team Principal Andy Cowell four months ago, will continue in his work as Aston Martin’s F1 Managing Technical Partner, with Audi’s Jonathan Wheatley – himself less than a year into his role – most likely to replace him.
Wheatley and Newey spent almost two decades working together at Red Bull Racing before both announcing their own departures in the wake of the Christian Horner misconduct scandal in 2024.
The news comes after a disastrous start to the Aston Martin-Honda partnership, largely on the engine side, which has seen repeated reliability issues and a lack of performance at the start of a new era of F1 technical regulations, which has aimed for a near 50/50 split between the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and the battery powered by the MGU-K.
Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have been unable to finish a Grand Prix due to excessive vibrations that have shaken the engine to the point of failure, with Newey revealing that the drivers risked long term damage to their health in a pre-weekend press conference at the season opening Australian Grand Prix.
Kieran’s Analysis:
This entire Newey/Wheatley/Aston Martin news came out of NOWHERE from my side. Two races into the season and a big change already?! Deja vu from 2025 in the Red Bull stables!
In all seriousness, this change shapes 2 teams futures: Audi and Aston Martin.
Firstly the positives from my side: Aston will have 2 of the biggest personnel at their best areas which will be a MAJOR boost for the entire team and drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Newey is widely regarded as the best car designer in the business and Wheatley, in this writer’s opinion, is one of the best team principals in F1 with DTS showing behind the scenes of the private man who would have been ideal for Red Bull to promote to succeed Christian Horner.
Now the negatives and it will come primarily from the Audi side: losing a key figure to their long term project is a MAJOR negative for their plan. Wheatley was imagined to be the leading man in the case for Audi to become world champions in Formula One. However, it seems that train has been derailed which is not good for Audi. The question then remains: who will take over the seat? They could place Binotto who has experience as being a team principal but is overseeing the engine development. Could Audi promote someone with experience like Andreas Seidl who left the Audi project in 2024? Could we see a name like Allan McNish jump into that seat? Or is there another name in the hotseat? This writer is certain of something: shockwaves will be sent around the paddock as this could shape silly season for both team principals and drivers!
Jack Prentice:
On the face of it, this adds more chaos to an already unstable start to 2026 and the partnership between Aston Martin and Honda.
After firing shots in the pre-weekend press conference at the first round in Australia by telling the world’s media that Aston Martin weren’t aware of how different the makeup of this Honda engine department was from the successful team that powered Red Bull to victory, and that the engine represented a danger to the driver’s long term health, Newey left observers in no doubt as to his feelings on a torrid start to the season.
That however is not thought to be behind Newey looking for a new Team Principal, as is thought to have been leading the process for as long as he has been in that very role and it is coincidental that Aston Martin’s start has been as bad as it has.
Formula One being Formula One, this does increase the spotlight on an already beleaguered partnership with the team 11th in the Constructors’ Championship following well documented inabilities to get the car to the finish.
While this is undoubtedly going to create even more noise around the team, it does not alter or solve Aston Martin’s current problems with the engine and understanding of its car, and while Honda have made progress in identifying the root cause of its well known vibrations that could still take months to get on top of.
Round 6 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship takes place this week with many talking points ahead of the weekend. With pit boost inside a single race this will be a good race!
Track Preview
Most of the grid have experience around this track as the Season 11 pre season testing took place around this circuit at Jarama due to the disasterous weather conditions at Jerez.
Formula E’S Madrid E-Prix Circuit Map.
Image Source: Formula E’s Madrid E-Prix Ciruit Page
A temporary chicane on the main start/finish straight in order to help with the energy regeneration is an important area to note. Turn 1 and turn 12 seem to be the best place for overtaking opportunities as well as the run up to turn 6 and 7.
Rookie Test
The second and final rookie test takes place on Sunday with 20 rookies taking part with a variety of talent including Formula 2 and Formula 3 podium sitters, various championship winners and an overall pool of talent.
Driver
Team
Abbi Pulling
Nissan Formula E Team
Victor Martins
Nissan Formula E Team
Freddie Slater
Andretti Formula E
Callum Voisin
Andretti Formula E
Biance Bustamante
Cupra Kiro
Cian Shields
Cupra Kiro
Nikita Bedrin
DS Penske
Daniil Kvyat
DS Penske
Juju Noda
Jaguar TCS Racing
Bryce Aron
Jaguar TCS Racing
Hugh Barter
Lola Yamaha ABT Formula E Team
Richard Verschoor
Lola Yamaha ABT Formula E Team
Kush Maini
Mahindra Racing
Theophil Nael
Mahindra Racing
Théo Pourchaire
Citroen Racing
Joshua Durksen
Citroen Racing
Elia Weiss
Porsche Formula E Team
Ayhancan Gueven
Porsche Formula E Team
Ella Lloyd
Envision Racing
Zak O’Sullivan
Envision Racing
Predictions
Pole Position: Mitch Evans
The Jaguar TCS Racing driver went well here at pre season testing in Season 10 and I think a pole Position here is likely.
Race Winner: Oliver Rowland The reigning world champion has not had the best of starts at the final year of the GEN3 EVO era in Formula E. With a long break ahead of us before the double header at Berlin, Rowland will want to go into the break with a victory.
Podium: 1 Porsche and 1 Jaguar Attempting to predict the full podium is near impossible given the nature of Formula E. However, a porsche-nissan power train 2-3 is likely for me given how strong the porsche and jaguar power trains and teammates are.
Piastri set the early benchmark from Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Hadjar and Norris in the top 5. Russell and Antonelli waited until the clock ticked down a bit before getting their laps in. Hamilton, Verstappen and Hadjar started on the mediums before Hamilton had a spin. Russell and Antonelli then set the times up at the top for a 1-2. Alonso went P17 as the clock ticked to 7 minutes 30 seconds remaining. Hamilton manages P3 as both Williams, Aston and Cadillac were the bottom 3 in the dropzone as 6 minutes remained. Lindblad then had to box as they had an issue. As drivers like Hamilton, Norris and Gasly crossed the line, no one could dethrone the silver arrows until Leclerc went ahead by about 1 second.
Lindblad managed to get out onto the track with around 3 minutes remaining as the final laps came in with Albon moving up to P16, Hadjar up to P7, Verstappen P4, Sainz P14, Lindblad P11, Stroll and Alonso remain P21 and P19 respectfullt, Bortoleto up to P7 and Bottas remains P20.
Out in Q1: Sainz Albon Alonso Bottas Stroll Perez
Q2
Q2 got underway and Bortoleto and Hadjar were marked as “No Further Investigation” for an impeding incident. Russell set the earl;y pace ahead of Hamilton, Leclerc, Antonelli with Verstappen, Norris, Hadjar all qualifying P5 and dethroning each other. Bearman manages to go P6 with Bortoleto only managing P6. Gasly manages P8, Colapinto P13, Lindblad then ahead of Bortoleto before the two Alpine times with Lawson P14.
In the final laps of Q2, Piastri had the most amount of pressure and went out to get clean air earlier than most drivers to manage P5 before Leclerc manages to go P1. Norris then managed to get P5. Hulkkenberg missed out on Q3 by 0.002s as Antonelli managed P1. Hadjar only managged P10 with Verstappen to P6. Bortoleto then spun at the final corner and ruined laps for many drivers as Colapinto wasn’t able to get through. Out in Q2: Hulkenberg Colapinto Ocon Lawson Lindblad Bortoleto
Q3
Q3 saw Russell’s car get a new rose but then his car stopped on track and then get going but being unablce to change gears. Antonelli manages a 1:32.332 with Leclerc manages P2, Hamilton P3 and Bearman P4. Norris and Piastri manage P3 and P4 respectfully with Hadjar P7 before he goes P6.
Drivers headed out to qualifying with just over 3 minutes 30 seconds remaining that Russell was ale to make it out of the pitlane. Purple sectors were being traded between Antonelli and Norris and Leclerc. Antonelli was the first to cross the line and extend his gap ahead as Norris remained P3, Leclerc P2, then Hamilton P2, Gasly P6, Bearman P7, Hadjar managed P7 then Verstappen P7. Russell managed to get a lap in for P2 so Andrea Kimi Antonelli managed to become the youngest pole sitter in F1 history!
After 85 days, Formula One finally returns this week to the homeland of Oscar Piastri, Jack Doohan and Mark Webber! The Australian Grand Prix marks Formula One’s 76th season and the second year since 2019 that the country has hosted the opening round, the first of a new engine era since 2014…the last era. Not many driver changes this season with Arvid Lindblad being the best (and only) rookie this season, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez returning to the sport with Cadillac and Isack Hadjar moving up to the main Red Bull team.
Track Preview
This 5.278km long circuit displays the 30th anniversary since the first Grand Prix held here. There are 5 “Straight Mode Zones”:
Main straight
Turn 2 to turn 3
Turn 5 to turn 6
Turn 8 to turn 9
Turn 10 to turn 11
Formula One Australia Grand Prix Circuit Map. Image Credit: Formula One’s website
The active aero side of the cars, which is new for this season, will impact the races in a way we have never seen it before.
Along with Formula 1 starting, Formula 2 and Formula 3 also return this weekend which will see more drivers and teams take to the track and attempt to make their way to F1!
Countdown to the Weekend
Its a dream weekend for viewers in the oceanic region of the world and one of the rare weekends that happens before sunrise for many sections of the world.
Countdown to FP1
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Countdown to FP3
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Countdown to Qualifying
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Countdown to the Australian Grand Prix
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Predictions
The Crew over here at Crew Towers have made predictions of the top 5 ahead of the Grand Prix.
I apologize for the long delay for his article. I’m trying to see the best way forward for these race reports in the future, especially with double headers. Feedback is appreciated!
Rounds 4 and 5 have come and gone from Formula E A few days ago with many storylines happening and coming out of the race weekend.
Round 4:
Mahindra Highs and Lows Oh boy, what a wild race for the Mahindra guys. Before we even went racing, De Vires had an issue that he could not even do a burnout or engage drive so that delayed the start and reduced the grid down to 19. Once the race got going though, Mortara had a MASSIVE amount of wheelspin and fell down a few places off the start. Thankfully for the Indian team and Swiss driver he climbed back up to P2, although it was a big “what might have been” for Mortara.
Marti vs Maloney Part 1: First lap and first contact between the full time rookie and sophomore rookie in the electric pinnacle of motorsport. On lap 1, Marti was fighting for position but Maloney went up the inside, Marti didn’t see him and ended up causing the boy from Barbados to DNF on lap 1 of race 1 of the weekend while Marti finished outside the points.
Pit Boost Change of Positions: Due to the safety car for Maloney’s Lola Yamaha Abt stuck at the side of the road, pit boost activation didn’t occur until lap 16. Rowland, Eriksson and Barnard were the first to take their pit boost but Eriksson went too far wide in his pitstop and received a penalty due to this.
Wehrlein Takes Off: After all of the pit boosts and attack modes were taken, Wehrlein had already reached a large gap between himself and the eventual P2 finisher of Mortara. Wehrlein eventually built an 8 second gap before Mortara took a late attack mode to get within 3 seconds of Wehrlein.
Position
Driver
Team
1st
Pascal Wehrlein
Porsche Formula E Team
2nd
Edoardo Mortara
Mahindra Racing
3rd
Mitch Evans
Jaguar TCS Racing
4th
Nico Mueller
Porsche Formula E Team
5th
Antonio Felix Da Costa
Jaguar TCS Racing
6th
Nick Cassidy
Citroen Racing
7th
Sebastian Buemi
Envision Racing
8th
Jean-Eric Vergne
Citroen Racing
9th
Jake Dennis
Andretti Formula E
10th
Taylor Barnard
DS Penske
11th
Max Guenther
DS Penske
12th
Dan Ticktum
Cupra Kiro
13th
Norman Nato
Nissan Formula E Team
14th
Pepe Marti
Cupra Kiro
15th
Felipe Drugovich
Andretti Formula E
16th
Lucas Di Grassi
Lola Yamaha Abt Formula E Team
17th
Oliver Rowland
Nissan Formula E Team
18th
Joel Eriksson
Envision Racing
DNF
Zane Maloney
Lola Yamaha Abt Formula E Team
DNS
Nyck De Vries
Mahindra Racing
Round 5: Maloney vs Marti Part 2 The battle of the 2 F2 graduates from 2024 has taken shape as they both had small contact going into the final chicane. It wasn’t as big as yesterday but this battle could rage on.
Cupra Kiro Controversy: At the latter stages of the race, the two cupra kiro teammates Dan Ticktum and Pepe Marti nearly collided and threw away a double points finish for the team. Marti used an expletive which was not good but he seemed very heated about it. Thankfully the situation didn’t result in either teammates DNFing but the debrief should have been spicy.
Championship Heats up Da Costa’s Jaguar journey had a slow start with not scoring points until Miami at the previous venue. However, his form has returned with Jaguar now winning 2 of the past 3 races and the battle for the championships heating up.
With Wehrlein then scoring 4 points in the final race of the weekend, the top 2 in the championship are seperated by 6 points with P3, P4 ,P5 and P6 seperated by 4 points.
The first Formula E race weekend away from the Americas this weekend and its one that brings back pitstops in the form of pit boost! As well as this, evo sessions are coming back on the Sunday after the second race.
Circuit Preview: This will be the second time in Formula E’s history that the Jeddah Corniche Circuit will be used to host a world championship event. The 19 turns which include a revised layout of the circuit used in F1, F2 and F1 Academy features 3 chicanes, 2 hairpins and 1 race where anything can happen.
Formula E Season 12 Jeddah Circuit Map.
Image Credit: Formula E
Weekend Times:
This will be a long weekend with the Evo sessions included:
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Round 4 Jeddah E-Prix:
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Evo Sessions: Sunday – TIME TBC
Predictions:
I’ve not done too well with this topic throughout the season so far but lets see if it works out this time!
Round 4
Pole Position: Pascal Wehrlein The german driver has been quietly picking up the pieces throughout the season, with just one point separating him and championship leader Nick Cassidy. A pole position and 3 extra points will make him the new championship leader.
1st Place: Pascal Wehrlein From pole to P1 is my Pascal predication at Porsche. While he did finish outside the points in Season 11, he is stronger now and with Mueller, they can help each other.
2nd Place: Nico Mueller Mueller has been having a good season too, 7 points away from the lead of the championship. The Porsche powertrain has been strong this season and Mueller can be allowed to climb back up the championship order.
3rd Place: Taylor Barnard Barnard’s race in Miami was hindered by setup and weather as the track didn’t dry out after the rain hit. However, I think a return to the podium at a place where he claimed his first ever pole position is on the cards.
Round 5
Pole Position: Taylor Barnard From P3 in the race to P1 in qualifying is my prediction for the young Briton. Taylor has done very well in Formula E so far and Jeddah will be a turning point for him.
1st Place: Taylor Barnard Pole to P1 part 2 in the weekend and this time it will be a record breaking one for Taylor….unless I’ve jinxed him. In which case I’m sorry DS Penske and Taylor fans!
2nd Place: Dan Ticktum The Cupra Kiro driver has had a horrible start to the season with 0 points to show so far. However, a P2 will help him and Cupra Kiro jump up the standings.
3rd Place: Felipe Drugovich Similar to Ticktum, Drugovich’s season has been mainly down. But the Brazilian rookie has shown a lot of potential. Jeddah will be the weekend that it goes right for him.
Formula E returned to the sunside state of Miami on January 31st 2026 and the race brought new records, a divide on setups and a difference from Mexico.
Division in the race causes championship to heat up
In between Qualifying and the race, the weather changed and the track was made wet. Due to this, teams and drivers decided to change setups to adapt to the wet while others stayed on the dry setups. The weather change led to the race also having 5 of the 39 laps behind the safety car before the race director called for a standing start.
Once the race got going under green flag conditions, Drugovich immediately went for attack mode to get to the front of the pack. Other drivers like Evans, Da Costa and De Vries followed him while others opted for a different strategy. While they were on the wet setups this was the ideal setup and strategy as the track never dried up.
The drivers who were further down the field on the start such as Dan Ticktum and Max Guenther opted for a dry setup in order to try and get up the field incase the track dried up. As a result, they ended up getting lapped with Ticktum retiring from the race and scoring 0 points again as a result.
As a result of these 2 groups during the race, all 3 championships have had shifts.
While Cassidy maintains the lead in the championship, Wehrlein has closed up to only 2 points behind him, Dennis is 1 point behind the German driver, Rowland is then 3 points behind Dennis with Mueller 1 point behind Rowland. To put it simply: the top 5 in the championship are within 1 race win between each other. Every other driver has scored at least 1 point this season apart from Drugovich, Di Grassi and Ticktum.
Hero to Zero for Drugovich
In his first home race for Andretti, Felipe Drugovich brought his Andretti (with the TWG AI livery) onto the front row of the grid and led the race for a few laps before remaining in a high points paying position throughout most of the racre.
However, towards turn 13, the Brazilian crashed with the Jaguar of Da Costa and ended up falling down the grid, pitted for a new wing for received a 10 second time penalty which ultimately cost himself and Da Costa a better haul of points, considering Drugovich has scored…0.
With a run of tracks Felipe has somewhat experience at (Jeddah is a modified version of F1/F2 layout), Madrid and Berlin(Where Felipe raced last year) he has to capitalise on these opportunities.
Predictions Review:
Lets see how the predictions did for the Miami E-Prix…
Pole Position: Taylor Barnard ❌ Barnard was showing speed in the group stages but sadly he couldn’t capitalise during the duels so he got knocked out early on.
1st Place: Pepe Marti ❌ I’m sorry if I jinxed Pepe for this prediction. He made some good moves during the race and had some good battles to score points again.
2nd Place: Oliver Rowland ❌ A weekend to forget for Rowland and Nissan in general. They just couldn’t get into the groove throughout the race whereas Nato made it through to the duels so that is some level of optimism.
Formula E is back after a few weeks off with a new-ish circuit on the calendar, new drivers in the rookie Free Practice Sessions and more!
Rookie Free Practice Session:
The first rookie session of 2026 takes place this week at the Hardrock Stadium ahead of this week’s Miami E-Prix. These is a mixture of male and female competitors which is amazing for the sport. Here are the lineups:
A vast range of talent across this rookie grid including champions, podium sitters and more! The future is bright for Formula E
Team
Driver
Lola Yamaha Abt
Hugh Barter
Cupra Kiro
Pepe Marti
Citroen Racing
Theo Pourchaire
Envision Racing
Zak O’Sullivan
Andretti
Dennis Hauger
DS PENSKE
Nikita Bedrin
Mahindra Racing
Chloe Chambers
Nissan
Gabriele Mini
Nissan
Abbi Pulling
Jaguar TCS Racing
Alessandro Giusti
Porsche
Ayhancan Gueven
Countdown to the Rookie Session:
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Info on the Circuit and Event
3 vowles in Miami, the 3rd time Formula E has raced in Miami. First at the Biscayne Bay Street Circuit where Nico Prost won the race with e.dams Renault! Last year was the second running with chaos towards the latter stage of the race and attack mode resulting in penalties for many drivers which led to Wehrlein taking the win.
Now, we return to the circuit that hosted the evo sessions last year during Formula E’s massive mid season break. Although the layout is different, the tension is high.
The layout consists of 14 turns with a 2.32km length. The layout is somewhat similar to Formula One but the majority of sector 1 is gone for Formula E. Sector 2 and 3 can be similar in parts but it will be interesting to see how this goes!
Formula E’s Miami E-Prix in Season 12’s circuit.
Image Credit: Formula E’s Website
FP1 Countdown
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Qualifying Countdown
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Miami E-Prix Countdown
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Predictions:
Pole Position: Taylor Barnard
The young Briton has shown some very strong pace in just 2 races for his new team at DS Penske this year. Around a new track where most of the drivers will be new to this circuit, I think this will put most of the drivers on an even playing field….well most of them.
Race Podium 1st Place: Pepe Marti Is this a bold claim? Yes. However, as it was mentioned previously, Pepe Marti will be the only driver to take part in the the rookie test who is also a full time driver! This gives him an extra 40 minutes of driving time which is CRITICAL for all drivers. My gut is saying to go for this so I’m trusting my gut.
2nd Place Oliver Rowland The reigning champion is quietly going about his journey of collecting podiums in every race this year. Sao Paulo and Mexico City are done now next on his list will be Miami.
3rd Place Edoardo Mortara Initially, I was going to go for Dennis (which I could regret) but I think Mahindra could come alive at Miami. Of course, I could be right and I could be wrong but Mortara found form in Mexico to finish P2 so a step down on the podium after a chaotic race could happen.
Round 2 of Formula E’s 12th season concluded last Saturday with the new Citroen driver Nick Cassidy managing to make his way up the grid from P13 with a safety car and an incident prone race. Here are the main takeaways from the race:
13 is lucky for some in the grid:
13 can be seen as an unlucky number for many people. However, for Nick Cassidy and Pepe Marti, 13 was the number of the weekend for both drivers.
For Kiwi and Citroen driver Nick Cassidy, starting P13 was a blessing in disguise as he managed to move up the grid by turn 1 as Buemi went deep into turn 1 on lap 1. He was then able to save energy by being behind drivers then make up paces after
Pepe Marti entered the weekend already on the backfoot with a back of the grid penalty due to his monster crash under the full course yellow in Sao Paulo. On top of this, he also took a new pool of components and received a 60 place grid penalty. Of course, in a grid of 20, its impossible to take all of them so he received a 10 second stop and go penalty for this which he served at the end of lap 1 and dropped way behind the pack.
However, when De Vries’ Mahindra decided to lose power at turn 1, he caught up to the rear of the field with more energy than others ahead of him. With the Spaniard using his skills and benefitting from others’ misfortune (most notably Cassidy, Guenther, Da Costa and Ticktum at turn 5 and 6), he managed to make up 13 places all the way up to P7 and score his maiden points in Formula E and a World Championship.
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – JANUARY 10: Maximilian Gunther of Germany driving the (7) DS Penske DS E-Tense FE25 leads Jean-Eric Vergne of France driving the (25) Citroen Racing e-CX during the Mexico City E-Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on January 10, 2026 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Zak Mauger/LAT Images)
The Rise and Fall of Teams
Across both qualifying and the race in Mexico, teams both rose and fell across the course of those two sessions. The most notable were Citroen where both Cassidy and Vergne managed to make up many places up to P1 and P8 from P13 and P18 respectfully. These were the biggest gains from a single team with Rowland and Nato managed to make places up for the Nissan team to P3 and P10 from P8 and P12 respectfully. This helped move Citroen up to the top of the team standings with Nissan being P3 and tied with Porsche on 35 points.
Porsche is in that odd section of being a win and a lose for the team. Wehrlein took attack mode early to make up places early which did work but while many drivers saved their attack mode for later on with the race and then the safety car coming out, it didn’t help the German champions’ chances. Mueller was more towards the loss of the race as he outqualified Wehrlein by qualifying P5 but it wasn’t meant to be as he dropped to P9 in the final classification.
Now, towards the biggest loses of the race, Sebastian Buemi had the biggest loses of the weekend with the Envision Racing driver taking pole, leading towards turn 1 then out-braking himself and going from first to last at the first corner after he out-braked himself. A pitstop didn’t help either and with Eriksson getting a 5 second penalty due to gaining an advantage off track, the customer team of Jaguar didn’t go according to plan.
The factory team of Jaguar TCS Racing didn’t have a great weekend either with Da Costa having to retire due to the multi car collision at turns 6 and 7. The Portugese driver also missed FP2 due to a brake by wire issue so he was always on the backfoot. Evans was one of the victims falling down the pack with the Kiwi qualifying P4 but finishing P11, 0.3s behind P10. It was not what the Jaguar team needed.
Race Result
Position
Driver
Team
1
Nick Cassidy
Citroen Racing
2
Edoardo Mortara
Mahindra Racing
3
Oliver Rowland
Nissan Formula E Team
4
Taylor Barnard
DS Penske
5
Jake Dennis
Andretti Formula E
6
Pascal Wehrlein
Porsche Formula E Team
7
Josep Maria “Pepe” Marti
Cupra Kiro
8
Jean-Éric Vergne
Citroen Racing
9
Nico Mueller
Porsche Formula E Team
10
Norman Nato
Nissan Formula E Team
11
Mitch Evans
Jaguar TCS Racing
12
Maximilian Guenther
DS Penske
13
Lucas Di Grassi
Lola Yamaha Abt Formula E Team
14
Joel Eriksson
Envision Racing
15
Felipe Drugovich
Andretti Formula E
16
Zane Maloney
Lola Yamaha Abt Formula E Team
17
Sebastian Buemi
Envision Racing
DNF
Dan Ticktum
Cupra Kiro
DNF
António Félix Da Costa
Jaguar TCS Racing
DNF
Nyck De Vries
Mahindra Racing
Prediction Verdict:
Prediction Verdict: A few days before the weekend, I predicted the weekend to see how it would go.
Pole Position: Pascal Wehrlein. ❌ I was…kind of right as Wehrlein qualified P11…so 2 P1s? A stretch but wasn’t meant to be for the Porsche driver.
Race Winner: Nick Cassidy ✅ This was a shock to me! I make these for fun but I guess in an unpredictable sport such as Formula E, it can work out!
2nd Place: Mitch Evans ❌ This one was….not so good. Finishing all the way down the order didn’t help my chances of getting this prediction.
3rd Place: Jake Dennis ❌ This one didn’t work out either, with the Andretti driver finishing P3.
Up Next:
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship arrived at the end of January in Miami at the hardrock stadium where the F1 is also hosted. The circuit layout has not been fully disclosed by Formula E yet but stay tuned to our preview and predictions to see what it will look like!
