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
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
Free Practice 2
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
Free Practice 3
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
Qualifying
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
Japanese Grand Prix
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
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
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
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
Countdown to FP2
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
Countdown to FP3
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
Countdown to Qualifying
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
Countdown to the Australian Grand Prix
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
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.
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:
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
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
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
FP2 Countdown
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
Qualifying Countdown
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
Miami E-Prix Countdown
–
DAYS
–
HOURS
–
MINUTES
–
SECONDS
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.
It is May 1st, which means we have officially entered the month of May for motorsport! Indy500, Formula One in Miami! For Formula E, however, we are starting at a landmark in the motorsport’s history: Monaco! The famous landmark where a single race event has been held…until now.
Formula E is making history this weekend as we have our first ever DOUBLE HEADER in Monaco! As it is a double header, PIT BOOST RETURNS! Since its debut in Jeddah, Saturday’s race around the close streets will have a mandatory pitstop for all 22 drivers to make to gain an extra 10% of energy.
Weekend Schedule
Round 6 Schedule: All times are in local time. Free Practice 1: 7:30am Free Practice 2: 9:10am Qualifying: 10:40am Monaco E-Prix: 3:05pm
Round 7 Schedule: All times are in local time. Free Practice 3: 8:30am Qualifying: 10:40am Monaco E-Prix: 3pm
Weekend Preview
Formula E Monaco’s Track Map for Season 11,
Image Credit: Formula E Media Bank
This 3.337km circuit has been iconic throughout motorsport. However, Formula E has only started racing at the same configuration as Formula 1 for a few years. The tight walls, sharp corners, and difficulty overtaking for certain series make this a very difficult challenge for all 22 drivers, and now the teams have an extra strategy with pit boost.
Round 6 Predictions
Pole Position: Pascal Wehrlein The reigning world champion took victory last time out in Miami after a chaotic final few minutes of that race. I think Wehrlein will take that motivation and confidence that he has in the car and use it to his and his team’s advantage in order to snatch pole position on Saturday! Race Winner: António Félix da Costa Is this a bold choice? Possibly. However, Da Costa has been very strong recently and was on for the win in Miami until the late safety car and red flag ruined his chances. He will be carrying a lot of self-motivation in order to show that he still has what it takes to be at the front and to fight for this title, even after all of the rumors last year of his seat being under threat.
Round 7 Predictions
Pole Position: Taylor Barnard After McLaren announced their departure from the series last week, both McLaren drivers will be ready to make their case for their seat to be theirs; at least Taylor will. Getting a pole at the circuit he made his debut at in Formula E and a debut win in Formula 2 would be a great statement! Race Winner: Taylor Barnard What’s better than getting laid? Winning from pole! Which is what I think will happen on Sunday!
Overall Weekend Predictions
Biggest Surprise of the weekend: Jaguar Jaguar’s season has been horrid. DNFs in multiple races, not many points scored in comparison to their rivals, the reigning team champions have entered a slump. However, with both Cassidy and Evans coming back to a track where they have both won at, I think they’ll take the confidence to score extremely strong points for their team.
Biggest disappointment of the weekend: Nissan. After an optimistic weekend, despite Rowland and Nato scoring fewer points than they should have in Miami, their season hasn’t been bad, as Rowland currently leads the drivers championship. Something in my gut tells me, however, that this will not last forever and this weekend will result in them scoring very few points
Do you have any bold predictions for this weekend? Let us know!
Formula E returned to Miami and this race was a slow burner before we went from zero to ultimate hero due to 1 collision.
The race begun with Norman Nato claiming a debut pole position for Nissan and his first points of Season 11 with Jake Dennis beside him on the front row. Unfortunately, this race was a pack racing style race so no one was in favour of leading due to the energy loss obtained. Da Costa managed to sneak his way up to P2 ahead of Dennis before De Vries led the way from the Nissan of Nato and the Porsche of Da Costa on lap 2. Oliver Rowland suffered a horrific qualifying and was down to P14 after several laps with the Cupra Kiro of David Beckmann falling down from P8 to P11. As this race went on, it became clear that drivers at the rear of the field had much more energy than those at the front due to the overtaking nature. We were nearly a third of the way through the race before the Envision Racing car of Buemi pulled the plug and went for attack mode, a move which ultimately helped him to get up the field. The DS Penske of Jean-Eric Vergne decided to take a little detour across the grass.Vandoorne followed Buemi’s line into the attack mode which ultimately helped him. Beckmann had to pit due to a puncture and that was the end of his race.
We had a very odd situation as some drivers took attack mode, the Mahindra of De Vries stopped on track and that brought out the safety car. However, the Season 7 champ managed to get going again which was probably the shortest safety car in Formula E history! Wehrlein was leading from the restart but was 4% DOWN on Da Costa. As the race began again, a big crash happened at the chicane in sector 3. Hughes, Guenther and Evans were all caught up as Hughes went deep into the barrier, Guenther couldn’t stop in time and Evans then collided with Guenther. The Jaguar of Evans and DS Penske of Guenther managed to get going but Hughes had to retire. This, however, brought out the red flag. As drivers were in the pitlane, Cassidy received a 5 second time penalty for track limits. However, it became clear that due to the amount of time it would take to finish the laps, drivers with 6 minutes of attack mode remaining would end up receiving a penalty for not using all of their attack mode.
HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA – APRIL 12: Nico Muller of Switzerland driving the (51) Andretti Formula E Porsche 99X Electric Gen3 during the Miami E-Prix, Round 5 of the 2025 FIA Formula E World Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on April 12, 2025 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Andrew Ferraro/LAT Images) Image Credit: Formula E Media Bank
As drivers took their positions for a sprint weekend in Formula E, everyone knew this was going to be a mad dash to the end. Da Costa led the race from Mortara and Wehrlein before Wehrlein took it away from his teammate. Da Costa had no attack mode remaining so he fell down the grid like a stone in water. However, due to the attack mode penalties, hope was not lost. Norman Nato took the chequered flag first but Nato, Rowland, Barnard, Bird and Frijns all later received 10 second penalties post race due to their attack mode incompletion. This meant that Pascal Wehrlein took the win ahead of Lucas Di Grassi in P2 who scored Lola Yamaha Abt’s first podium in Formula E with Da Costa finishing P3! Nico Mueller finished P4 in Andretti’s home race, Edoardo Mortara P5, Norman Nato P6, Dan Ticktum P7, Robin Frijns P8, Jake Dennis P9 and Zane Maloney P10. However, the boy from Barbados later received a 5 second time penalty for not following the race directors instructions so he did not score his maiden points. Oliver Rowland took the final points paying position.
Writers Predictions:
Before the weekend, I made some predictions! Lets see how they went:
Pole Position: Pascal Wehrlein
This one didn’t entirely come true considering he didn’t even make the duels.
Race Winner: Taylor Barnard
I was hoping Taylor would pull something out of the bag but after his non existant duels appearance, I knew from then it was all over for the young Briton.
Biggest Surprise: Andretti
I could try and argue that I was correct as they scored a P4 and a P9. Of course, at their home race they were hoping for more than this and I think Lola Yamaha Abt deserved this one more.
Biggest Surprise: Mahindra
This one did not go too well either. Even Mortara scoring 5 points was a driver surprise but not a whole team surprise.
See you all for Monaco’s double header WITH Pit Boost in a few weeks!
It is safe to say that rounds 3 & 4 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was one of a kind with records broken and the debut of attack mode.
Round 3
Round 3 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship got underwear at the track of Jeddah with Maximilian Guenther leading the pack away from pole with a chaotic lap 1 esculating ehind the German. Nico Mueller and Antonio Felix Da Costa collided with the German being shot up and ultimately having to DNF. Mitch Evans also collided with champion Pascal Wehrlein and ended up causing a puncture for Wehrlein and his own front wing getting stuck on his tyre and having to pit to fix it.
The piece of Da Costa’s rear wing which came off emerged near the activation zone of attack mode and, with the addition to other carbon fibre scattered across the track, brought out a very brief safety car.
We went racing again on lap 9 which saw Guenther lead from Rowland and De Vries. As laps counted down, overtakes went up including Da Costa on Ticktum nd De Vries passing Barnard for P3.
Pit Boost then opened up for many drivers with Hughes, Barnard and Da Costa all being the first drivers to take pit boost. Ticktum and Mortara followed in their wheel marks, however Ticktum suffered an issue which ultimately compromised his race. Guenther dropped 2 places due to the pit boost and staying out longer while Barnard stayed ahead and actually jumped up by 2 places.
After everyone took their pit boost, Rowland had a big lead over Hughes and Barnard with De Vries managing to make his way up to P2. In the background, however, Guenther was flying his way through the field with the DS Penske German driver managing to pass De Vries for P2 and setting his sights on the race win.
As the race drew to a close, there were 2 major battle going on: De Vries vs Barnard for P3 and Rowland vs Guenther for P1. The latter of those 2 battles emerging victorious with Guenther making a 3rd last corner overtake on Rowland for the win.
Maximilian Guenther led Oliver Rowland from Taylor Barnard for the top 3. Season 7 Champion Nyck De Vries finished P4 with Maserati MSG Racing driver Jake Hughes in P5, Two Time champion Jean-Eric Vergne in P6, Edoardo Mortara in P8, Barnard’s teammate Sam Bird in P8, Antonio Felix Da Costa in P9 with Season 8 champion Stoffell Vandoorne in P10.
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – FEBRUARY 14: Race winner Maximilian Gunther of Germany and DS Penske Second placed Oliver Rowland of Great Britain and Nissan Formula E Team Third placed Taylor Barnard of Great Britain and NEOM McLaren Formula E Team on the podium during the Jeddah E-Prix, Round 3 of the 2025 FIA Formula E World Championship at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on February 14, 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Joe Portlock/LAT Images) Image Credit: Formula E Media Bank
Round 4
Round 4 begun with a record sitter: the younger ever Formula E pole sitter of Taylor Barnard. He set the record as 20 years and 259 days old. Before we went racing, we had a delayed start due to the Lola Yamaha Abt of Zane Maloney being out of position. After that was dealt with, we went racing with Barnard managing to stay P1 with Hughes moving up to P2 ahead of Rowland. Da Costa got a HUGE hit from the previous round’s winner of Maximilian Guenther and resulted in both of them retiring from the race.
Battles commenced up and down the grid with Hughes very near the rear wing of Barnard and Ticktum going against De Vries while Di Grassi went for an EXTREMELY early attack mode which saw him overtaking driver after driver and ending up leading the race after Rowland took over the lead from the McLaren of Barnard. Buemi ended up pitting which ultimately ruined his race too. Maloney ended up having 5% more energy than everyone but was over 50 seconds behind the leader. Soon, the leader was Frijns due to his attack mode and Bird later received a 5 time penalty for not following the race director’s instructions. A few brief yellow flags appeared during the race due to pieces of debris. The Jaguar of Mitch Evans had to pit during the race which was a disaster for the debut winner of Season 11.
Barnard managed to go for an overtake for P2 on Hughes and make it stick, however, Hughes was putting a battle on Barnard who had a slide. Hughes then goes for an overtake on Barnard for P2 but gets pushed wide and has to go over the turn 1 run off. Positions remained as they were as Rowland won the E-Prix after being denied win the previous day.
Oliver Rowland led Taylor Barnard with Jake Hughes making a jump up to the podium, his first with the Monaco based team. Season 9 champion Jake Dennis finished P4 to make it al all brit 1-2-3-4. Nick Cassidy scored his first points of the season in P5, Stoffel Vandoorne finished P6, Jean-Eric Vergne in P7, reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein in P8, Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum finished in P9 with Edoardo Mortara finishing the points positions of this double header.
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – FEBRUARY 15: Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland driving the (16) Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 7 leads Pascal Wehrlein of Germany driving the (1) TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team Porsche 99X Electric Gen3 during the Jeddah E-Prix, Round 4 of the 2025 FIA Formula E World Championship at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on February 15, 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Mark Sutton/LAT Images) Image Credit: Formula E Media Bank
Writer’s Predictions
Before the weekend began, I (Kieran) attempted to predict the weekend’s results and….they didn’t exactly go to plan. My pole position predictions were Wehrlein and Evans which…wasn’t ideal. I was close for Wehrlein but I wasn’t so for Evans.
My winner predictions, however, turned out to be a jinx. I predicted an Andretti driver to win round 3 and they both retired from that race. For round 4, I went with Antonio Felix Da Costa and he retired too.
For the podium in round 3, I went with a Cupra Kiro and a Nissan powered car. There were 2 nissan powered cars on the podium but not a singular one. As for Cupra Kiro….I’m sorry Cupra Kiro fans. Round 4 then went worse as there was only stellantis and nissan powered cars on the podium all weekend.
What did you think of the 2 rounds? Formula E’s World Championship resumes in April with the Miami E-Prix. Let us know on our social media or on the writer’s social media which is linked below!