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If/when the FE world reaches F1 ability. Marge them into a new series, would be in a way like when the F1 regs were more open on engine configurations....
When it comes to how fancy your racing series is under the FIA governing body, it depends on a short, five-letter word: “world.” Without that word, you’re just a championship. With it, you’re a world championship, like the all-electric FIA Formula E World Championship will be starting with the 2020-2021 season.
Apologies in advance to the driver who wins the title for the 2019-2020 season that’s going on right now, as they’ll just be a champion, not a world champion. Pal, whoever you end up being, you got robbed.
Formula E announced the new addition to its name on Tuesday, saying it’s the culmination of “a dream shared by [founder] Alejandro Agag and FIA President Jean Todt,” who recently finalized its status together after the FIA and its World Motor Sport Council voted for the title. It’s been a quick rise since the series ran its first race in 2014, as the decision to make it a world championship comes a couple of weeks into what is just its sixth season in existence.
When the series does become a world championship next season, it’ll be a pretty big deal. The FIA only has four series currently listed with the “world” title in their names—the World Endurance Championship, World Rally Championship, World Rallycross Championship, and the Formula One World Championship. F1 is the natural rival to Formula E’s rise, given that it represents the top level of open-wheel racing of the past and present, while Formula E and its planned support series more represent the electric, autonomous future road cars seem to be headed toward.
Thus, that’s kind of been the view of things for a lot of people since Formula E came around: F1 is the pinnacle, Formula E is the startup series trying to get its footing. The regular migration of manufacturers into Formula E in order to show off their electric capabilities, sometimes at the expense of competition in otherdivisions, has helped curb that, but becoming a manufacturer staple and becoming a motorsport staple are two far different things
Having 12 teams and the constant intrigue of the companies building road cars isn’t nearly as meaningful if Formula E is still viewed as young and lesser than some of the more established championships, and a world-championship title, even if it is just a name, could go a long way in alleviating those concerns.
Formula E is set to introduce its third-generation race car design come the 2022/2023 season, with the aim being to improve the performance over the current Gen2 cars by increasing power and reducing weight.
New fast charging of the battery will also be introduced, meaning racing time could potentially be increased.
Motorsport's organizing body, the FIA, this week revealed the first specifications for the new Gen3 car in a series of tender invitations sent out to suppliers. The tenders cover the areas of chassis, batteries and tires for the three seasons starting from 2022/2023.
For the chassis, the length and width will be reduced slightly to 5,000 and 1,700 millimeters, and the target weight of the complete car including the driver will be reduced to 780 kilograms, down from the current 900 kg. The chassis will still feature an open cockpit with a halo protection system.
For the batteries, the organizers are looking at a target weight of 284 kg, down from 385 kg at present. Fast charging will be capped at a 600 kilowatts and will be allowed for 30 seconds in the race. This is expected to provide an extra 4 kilowatt-hours of juice.
The cars will remain rear-wheel drive, with peak output capped at 470 horsepower, and a new front axle energy recovery system, common to all teams, is to be introduced.
The FIA also mentioned a cost cap for the cars. It will be set at 340,000 euros (approximately $380,000), though this figure doesn't include the cost of the battery and spare parts. A final decision on the cost cap is to be made by June 19, 2020.
The 2022/2023 season is still a long way out so some of the targets could change.
Last week Formula E teased next season’s aerodynamic updates to the Spark SRT05e chassis, dubbed the “Gen 2 Evo” design. Tuesday morning we finally got a look at the updated design and all it entails. There are a few moves here that make Formula E’s design a bit less spaceship than it currently is, while making the car slightly less robust to discourage drivers from playing bumper cars at the E-Prix.
For one thing, the updated design has opened the wheels back up, making Formula E a proper open wheel series again. The protected wheels have meant drivers are more willing to have wheel-to-wheel contact with other drivers and there is very little repercussion. This new design will make that low-percentage move a little dicier a proposition.
Both the front and rear wings have been updated with a distinctive wrap around curve. The wing end plates at the front are no longer connected to the sidepod with a wheel shroud, obviously. Presumably this will make them easier to damage or rip off entirely. At the back there is a similar change, as the rear wing no longer connects to a center support, giving the back of the Gen 2 Evo a bit of a Ferrari FXX-K look.
The other major change here is the new shark fin sprouting out of the back of the driver’s roll hoop. First showing up on Le Mans cars before being adapted to Formula One and trickling down to pretty much every racing series since, the shark fin is said to increase a car’s stability through a corner, as well as keep the car planted in a spin. Surely this design has both effects in Formula E.Here’s hoping the new car is even quicker than the one through the end of the 2019-20 season. Gen 2 Evo will make its E-Prix debut at the end of the 2020 calendar year.
And as a reminder, here is what the current car looks like.
Daniel Abt has been fined for using a professional sim racer as a ringer in Formula E’s Esport championship.
The Audi driver had not scored points in the opening four rounds of the Formula E Race at Home Challenge Series and raised suspicions among rivals when he qualified second and finished third for Saturday’s race at the virtual Flughafenn Tempelhof.
“Really not happy here because that was not Daniel driving the car himself, and he messed up everything. That was ridiculous,” said Stoffel Vandoorne, who finished one place ahead of Abt. “I’m questioning if it was really Daniel in the car.”
Abt’s video camera was on during the race, but the driver’s face was obscured by a microphone. According to reports, a Formula E investigation revealed discrepancies in IP addresses, and ultimately determined that 18-year-old pro sim racer Lorenz Hoerzing had been driving in Abt’s place. Abt was disqualified, stripped of all of his points, and fined 10,000 euros, which will be donated to charity.
“This… has real consequences for me, because today I was informed in a conversation with Audi, that our ways will split from now on. We won’t be racing together in Formula E anymore, and the cooperation has ended. It is a pain, which I have never felt in this way in my life.
Ex-Formula 1 driver Pascal Wehrlein has announced his departure from the Mahindra Formula E team with immediate effect via a post on social media.
Wehrlein has remained with the team since his switch to FE for the 2018-19 season, which followed a one-year return to the DTM after he was dropped by the Sauber F1 team.
His best result in the series remains second place in the 2019 Santiago E-Prix, having lost a maiden win in the following Mexico City race when he ran out of useable energy exiting the final corner - although he was then handed a five-second penalty for corner cutting.
But in a brief statement uploaded to his Instagram story, Wehrlein revealed that he had left Mahindra as of Monday.
The post read: "From today onwards I will no longer be part of Mahindra Racing.
"My interest was to finish the season but the current situation didn't allow so.
"I can't say much about my future but will keep you informed.
"Thank you all for your support and see you soon on track."
This comes only a day after the final of the Formula E Race at Home Challenge Esports competition, in which pre-event points leader Wehrlein lost the title to Mercedes driver Stoffel Vandoorne after they were involved in an opening-lap collision.
Although the 25-year-old continues to act as the Ferrari F1 team development driver, it is thought that his Mahindra exit will pave the way for him to sign for the Porsche FE team.
If this transpires, it would likely be to replace 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Neel Jani alongside five-time podium finisher Andre Lotterer.
The two-time FE winner was effectively sacked from the team after he enlisted a sim racer to take his place in the first Berlin round of the Race at Home Challenge.
Wehrlein currently sits 14th in the real-world standings after five races of the coronavirus-interrupted 2019-20 season, while team-mate Jerome D'Ambrosio ranks 18th.
A response from the Mahindra team read: "Mahindra Racing's current focus is on supporting the FIA and the FIA Formula E Championship to get the 2019/20 series back up and running when it is safe to do so.
"Our driver line-up for the 2020-21 season will be announced in due course."
South Korean brand Hankook has won a tender to supply tyres for the Gen3 Formula E car from the 2022-23 season, seeing off competition from current supplier Michelin.
The decision, approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, came as it was announced that original battery provider Williams Advanced Engineering would return for Gen3, replacing McLaren Applied Technologies.
Hankook's most high-profile motorsport involvement to date has come as the exclusive supplier to the DTM since 2011, and it added W Series to its repertoire in 2019.
The company will create bespoke tyres for FE to be used in both wet and dry conditions, and will contain bio-sourced material and sustainable rubber.
Michelin has provided the championship with all-weather tyres since it began in 2014, but will not be part of the new Gen3 era.
An FIA statement said: "The tender process for selecting suppliers of the chassis, battery and tyres overcame all the expectations and the submissions were compared in relation to their compliance with the technical, environmental, commercial and financial requirements.
"The FIA's World Motor Sport Council recently voted on the bids and Spark Racing Technology will continue producing the common chassis, including the front powertrain kit, Williams Advanced Engineering will be responsible for the battery system whilst the Gen3 will be fitted with all-weather Hankook Tire & Technology tyres."
Hankook Tire & Technology president and COO Sooil Lee added: "All our employees worldwide are very proud that Hankook has been selected by the FIA following tender process and FIA World Motor Sport Council approval as the future tyre and technology partner for the FIA Formula E Championship.
"Our company coincides with Formula E's move towards sustainable growth and we are excited to be a part of this journey as their Gen3 partner.
"It is impressive how the FIA and the FIA Formula E Championships are addressing climate change and air pollution in our urban environments by promoting the adoption of electric vehicles through this all-electric race series and bringing it to the attention of a broad global audience."
Audi is set to end its involvement in Formula E in favour of a return to top-flight sportscar racing with a new LMDh project.
The move raises the prospect of Audi returning to the Le Mans 24 Hours, where it picked up 13 outright wins between 2000 and 2014 before axing its LMP1 project after the 2016 race following the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal.
However, the new LMDh rules that will make their debut in 2022 in FIA World Endurance Championship and the following year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have lured the German brand back to sportscar racing.
An official announcement from Audi is expected later on Monday, although it’s unclear in which year Audi will launch its LMDh project and where exactly it will race.
Should it return to the WEC, Audi would be up against former LMP1 rivals Toyota and Peugeot, both of which will compete with LM Hypercar machinery instead of the cheaper, LMP2-based LMDh cars, as well as other entries from Glickenhaus and ByKolles.
Toyota, Glickenhaus and ByKolles will be present on the 2021 WEC grid with their new breed of LM Hypercars, while Peugeot will join the series sometime during the 2022 season.
Audi's sister brand Porsche is also formally evaluating a return to the WEC with an LMDh car of its own, having quit the series a year after its sister brand Audi in 2017.
A return to sportscar racing for Audi will come at the cost of its Formula E programme, which will come to a close at the end of the 2020/21 season.
The Ingolstadt-based brand contested its last DTM race as a factory entrant at Hockenheim this month, but has pledged support for the series’ new GT3 era in 2021.
Audi has been present in Formula E in some form or the other since the inception of the championship in 2014/15, but it wasn’t until the fourth season in 2017 that it turned the Abt team into a fully factory-run outfit.
Its future in Formula E appeared secure after it completed an overview of its motorsport activities earlier this year, which concluded in it pulling out of the DTM to focus on Formula E and its customer racing programmes in GT3 and touring cars.
However, it is understood that the top brass at Audi feel that Formula E has already served its purpose, now that the world has begun the transition to electric cars.
Audi adds Dakar programme
Audi has also announced that it will compete in the Dakar Rally for the first time in 2022 with an electric prototype.
Although details are scarce at present, Audi says its 'alternative drive concept combines an electric drivetrain with a high-voltage battery and a highly efficient energy converter for the first time.'
“Today, electromobility at the four rings is no longer a dream of the future, but the present," said Markus Duesmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi.
"This is why we are taking the next step in electrified motorsport by facing the most extreme conditions. The many technical freedoms offered by the Dakar Rally provide a perfect test laboratory for us in this respect.”
BMW has become the second manufacturer to announce it will leave Formula E at the end of the 2020-21 season, following Audi’s confirmation earlier this week.
The German manufacturer made the announcement one day after completing pre-season testing ahead of the new season, where Maximilian Guenther topped the test for BMW Andretti on the final day in Valencia.
In a brief statement, BMW confirmed it will withdraw from the series at the end of the upcoming season having “essentially exhausted the opportunities” to develop its technologies within Formula E.
“Our journey in Formula E is hitting the home stretch. After seven successful years, BMW Group will end its involvement in the series at the end of the coming season,” a team statement read.
“As a partner from the word go, BMW has been instrumental in the success story of Formula E. However, when it comes to the development of e-drivetrains, BMW Group has essentially exhausted the opportunities for this form of technology transfer in the competitive environment of Formula E.
“As the strategic focus of BMW Group is shifting within the field of e-mobility, we will now concentrate on a model offensive and series production in large quantities with the fifth generation BMW E-drives."
BMW has underlined its plan to provide a full factory effort for the entire 2020-2021 Formula E campaign before devoting resources to any new projects.
“Even though we are leaving, our sporting ambitions remain unbroken. In Season 7, the BMW I Andretti Motorsport Team will give its all to achieve as much sporting success as possible with the BMW iFE.21 and drivers Maximilian Guenther and Jake Dennis.”
BMW’s withdrawal comes two days after Audi also confirmed it will leave Formula E at the end of the season, as it prepares to switch focus with a new LMDh programme in addition to a 2022 Dakar Rally assault, while Volkswagen has announced it will withdraw all of its factory motorsport programmes as part of a “realignment” within the company.
BMW has also recently pulled out as a manufacturer effort in the DTM following the end of the Class 1 regulations at the end of the 2020 season.
Nissan will stay in Formula E until at least the end of 2026, the all-electric championship's only Japanese manufacturer announced on Wednesday.
Formula E is due to introduce its next generation of more powerful and faster cars for its ninth season starting in 2022-23.
"We aim to design and build electric vehicles that transform the way communities connect and move, and inspire us all to work towards a sustainable society," Nissan's chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta said in a statement.
"For Nissan, Formula E helps us bring excitement, energy and the environment to the forefront as we deliver this vision of the future to an ever-growing, new, young and diverse audience."
Nissan has said it intends to electrify all of its new vehicle offerings by the early 2030s.
Formula E started its 2021 season with two races in Saudi Arabia at the end of February.
Renault entered the inaugural Formula E championship before the team were re-branded Nissan in 2018, with Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi finishing as runner-up that season.
Citroen's DS brand and India's Mahindra have also committed until 2026.
Formula E has unveiled an adapted version of the Formula 1 Monaco circuit to be used next month as the championship makes its debut on the full layout.
Changes to the conventional grand prix route are marked by a wider run through the first turn at Sainte Devote after a change to the positioning of the inside kerb.
This revision - created by Formula E, the FIA and the Automobile Club de Monaco - means the facelifted layout follows the route used for the inaugural 1929 grand prix.
The chicane at the exit of the tunnel, set by Turns 9 to 11, has also been reprofiled to create a lap that is only five metres shorter than the full Formula 1 track.
Formula E co-founder and chief championship officer Alberto Long said: "To see Formula E race around the longer version of the most historic racing circuit in the world will mark another great milestone for Formula E.
“In many ways, this circuit is made for Formula E - it’s a fast and narrow street circuit, which will see plenty of opportunities for overtaking and will really test driver’s energy management with sharp inclines and high-speed sections.”
FIA president Jean Todt has been vocal that the Formula E circuit in Monaco should not be identical to the Formula 1 layout in a bid to avoid direct comparison.
He added: "I’m glad to see the FIA Formula E World Championship back in the Principality.
“It is in the series’ DNA to compete on streets circuits and Monaco is one of the most iconic tracks in the world.
“This discipline has its own identity, that’s why, together with Formula E and the ACM, we’ve designed a bespoke layout which suits its particularities."
As a consequence of the pandemic, the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, the E-Prix and Formula 1 events will take place within five weekends of one another.
Previously the Historic GP and Formula E meetings have alternated on a bi-annual basis.
ACM general commissioner Christian Tornatore said: "Organising three races in the space of one month will be a premiere for us all at ACM.
"The logistical side was complex, but not impossible to manage!
"Because of the new constraints, we shall need to start setting up the track earlier than usual, at the end of February, instead of March 15.
"We will then integrate the technical aspects, on and around the track, required by every category that will be involved."
The world’s premier electric racing series had a rough weekend in Valencia. The series’ first ePrix on a dedicated racing circuit (instead of at a street circuit) ended with half the field running out of energy in a rain-soaked Saturday race.
The fifth round of the 2020-2021 season, the race took place at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain. The series conducts pre-season testing at the track, so the comedy of errors was down more to the high number of incidents and a quirk of how the race length is determined, rather than lack of experience there.
With four safety car incidents breaking up the progression of the race, you would expect the cars to be able to run longer. And they should be able to, but to prevent the cars from having a surplus of energy at the end of the race and spoiling the strategic competition, the FIA takes a bit of energy away from each racer during a safety car period.
That meant a race whose energy quota was constantly changing. Add to that the fact that Formula E calculates its race lengths as a period of time plus one lap, and the race ended up taking longer than anyone expected. As a result, half of the entrants either ran out of energy or were disqualified for using too much.
That meant a victory for the cautious Nyck de Vries of Mercedes-EQ. He was followed by Nico Müller of Dragon/Penske Autosport and Stoffel Vandoorne, also of a Mercedes-EQ, who had started the race in last.
The race has drawn criticism for its wild end. Some have compared it to Formula 1’s 2005 Indianapolis Grand Prix, where most of the field failed to finish due to a tire issue. But some, like former champion Lucas di Grassi, say that Saturday’s race was simply a perfect storm of bad luck.
“It was just an outlier that happened once every 1000 races,” he told Motorsport. “The bad thing is that people focus on that.”
Di Grassi admits, though, that the same could have happened on Sunday, were it not for a strategy call from BMW/Andretti Motorsport that ended up benefitting the whole pack.
At the end of the seventh round of the Formula E season, the team asked its driver, Jake Dennis, to slow down. The driver, a rookie, was in the lead and his decision to slow up ended up shortening the race by a lap.
“We were very conservative at one point. Today could have been [similar],” James Barclay, Jaguar Racing team director, told Motorsport. “If [Jake] had have gone one lap longer, potentially a number of cars were in trouble.”
Regardless, de Vries’ Saturday performance means that he leads the series with 57 points, ahead of Mercedes teammate Stoffel Vandoorne. Jaguar’s Sam Bird is in third position after six races.
The series will return to its street circuit racing ways on May 8 for the Monaco ePrix.
Great news for all my North American friends who also love electric racing: Formula E is now one step closer to hosting its second Canadian ePrix—this time in Vancouver. And the city actually seems amenable to the idea.
This past week, the Vancouver City Council voted in favor of partnering with the Canadian promoter of Formula E, One Stop Strategy Group, as a way to “support recovery of the gutted tourism sector.” The prospective ePrix wouldn’t take place until July of 2022, but that gives Canada plenty of time to get its COVID-19 situation under control and to begin revitalizing tourism. One Stop Strategy Group was also responsible for putting together the second Swiss ePrix in Bern.
The motion submitted to the city council read as follows:
Affirming support for a Formula E world championship event including a conference focusing on climate change and sustainability, musical and cultural event and the Canadian round of an electric vehicle race.
The City of Vancouver has been approached by OSS Group, a private Canadian promoter of the Formula E World Championship, to host a two-day Creative Business Conference focused on climate and sustainability, two music concerts, and a one-day electric vehicle race in False Creek in July 2022, that would generate significant economic benefit to the city and support recovery of the gutted tourism sector.
The preliminary track layout has also been approved by council, according to The Hive.
OSS Group has big plans for the event. It aims to secure a three-year deal, and there are also rumors of a “celebrity race,” the details of which are currently unavailable. The Group also aims to host 56,000 spectators.
I chatted with Jamie Reigle, the new CEO of Formula E, back in January. A Canadian himself, he expressed his interest in bringing the series back to his home country, citing the country’s motorsport history via “F1 in Quebec or IndyCar in Toronto and Vancouver.” It was only a matter of time before the series headed back to the truly northern bit of North America.
A late 5kWh reduction in useable energy limits brought about by a fifth safety car period meant the opening race of the Spanish double-header fell into controversy when five cars were disqualified for exceeding energy limits and a further three cars stopped on track.
This followed a provision voted in at the June 2019 meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council that allows Formula E race director Scot Elkins to deduct 1kWh of the 52kWh race total for every minute spent behind the safety car or under full-course yellow conditions.
However, under Article 37.9 of the Formula E Sporting Regulations, the race director has the “discretion to cancel this energy subtraction if deemed necessary”.
The lack of heavy braking zones at the permanent Circuit Ricardo Tormo venue meant drivers could not regenerate energy levels in the remaining final two laps to reach the finish.
But the FIA has now introduced an amendment meaning no energy reductions will be made beyond a new 40-minute cut off for the 45-minute plus one lap race timer.
A statement supplied by the FIA to Motorspor.com read: “Following what happened in race one in Valencia, the FIA and the promoter do not wish to see a similar scenario happen again.
“With that in mind, and to prevent any further risk of miscalculation in regard to the energy consumption, it has been decided to no longer apply energy reduction if a safety car period ends beyond the 40th minute of a race.
“This will grant teams an additional margin for error, without detracting in any way from the spirit of Formula E, in which energy management is a key element.”
The issue of energy reductions had been raised in a team managers’ meeting held the day prior to the Valencia E-Prix opener.
This followed the final-lap collision in the preceding Rome E-Prix between Mercedes driver Nyck de Vries and Jaguar Racing’s Sam Bird.
Bird told Motorsport.com he had been in the battle with de Vries on the fringes of the top 10 owing to miscommunication over remaining energy levels and race distance.
But no amendment was made for either Valencia race.
The series will conclude its current season with maiden double-headers near the Mexican city of Puebla and the ExCeL Centre in London, in addition to Berlin and New York events.
But Autosport understands that four cities are in line to make their debut for the final campaign of the Gen2 car, with the provisional calendar set to be announced in June.
Rounds in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and in Seoul, South Korea, are expected to finally get the go ahead after both were dropped from the 2020-21 schedule owing to COVID-19.
Two other venues are set to be revealed, with the bids for Vancouver and Eindhoven in the frame after gaining support from their respective city councils and national governments.
Formula E co-founder and chief championship officer Alberto Longo told Autosport: “The calendar for next year, let me tell you, it's going to look fantastic.
“There is a lot of traction for Formula E in every single angle from cities, from partners, from manufacturers.
“Talking about the calendar, we're going have at least two new cities in the calendar.”
Longo added that these two venues would arrive alongside inaugural Seoul and Jakarta E-Prix events.
He said: “Obviously, we have also two cities that has been announced previously, but unfortunately due to COVID, we have never been able to do a race there such as Seoul and Jakarta.
“Hopefully, they will be back into the calendar in season eight.
“It's going be a calendar full of new races and a lot of excitement.
“For me, it is going to be by far the best calendar that we have ever put together.
“That during this pandemic has a special meaning for us.”
Vancouver has targeted securing a three-year deal to host races and is planning for a first event in July 2022. The Canadian city previously hosted Indycar races between 1990 and 2004.
In March, the Formula Eindhoven bid sent a letter to Formula E chief executive Jamie Reigle expressing its “full support” to realise the round.
Asked if he had read the letter, Reigle told Autosport: “I did read that letter, yes.
“That project, we've been closely engaged with. It makes a lot of sense for us as a venue, there's some real attraction there.
“Until anything [is] signed, and I don't mean it to diminish that letter in any way, but political support and governmental support and engagement is a prerequisite for any of our races.
“But fundamentally, there needs to be a will from the community, or the city or the environment we're racing in otherwise it doesn't happen.”
As part of 2021 calendar updates, namely the recent Rome and Valencia rounds being modified to become double-headers, Formula E has committed to reorganised cancelled races.
Talks have been held about reinstating Santiago, Sanya and Paris in time for 2021-22.
Earlier this April, the Vancouver City Council voted in favour of partnering with Montreal-based One Stop Strategy Group for an FE race in the third biggest metropolitan area of Canada, with a venue proposed in the False Creek region.
The sport’s regulatory body has now confirmed that FE will return to Canada, for the first time since 2016, with the inaugural Vancouver E-Prix provisionally scheduled for July 2, forming a two-part American leg along with New York.
South Africa’s legislative capital Cape Town has also earned a place on next season's schedule, with the race currently earmarked for February 26.
As expected, South Korea will bring the campaign to a close with a pair of races to be held on August 13-14 as part of the Seoul Fest celebrations in the capital.
There are changes elsewhere too on the calendar, with Monaco retaining its slot on April 30. Previously, FE and Monaco Historics meetings have alternated on a biennial basis, but the all-electric championship was believed to be working on hosting races every year in Monte Carlo following the success of this year’s event at a revised version of the full grand prix circuit.
Meanwhile, China will play host to an FE race for the first time since the 2019 Sanya E-Prix on March 19, although the venue for this is yet to be confirmed. FE CEO Jamie Reigle told Motorsport.com last month that Sanya remains the series' primary target but other cities including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu remain under evaluation.
Apart from China, there’s also a to-be-confirmed slot on the weekend of June 4, less than a month after the Berlin race that has been moved back to May.
FE will return to its preferred Mexico City location on February 12 following this year's event at the Puebla circuit.
Intriguingly, both Jakarta and Eindhoven are absent from the calendar, despite strongly being linked to debut races in 2022. However, one of those could still theoretically secure a spot on the TBA date.
Valencia, which hosted a double header this year due to the coronavrius crisis, is also absent from the 2021/22 schedule, which will begin in Saudi Arabia on January 28-29, 2022.
In all, there are 16 races on the calendar – including double headers in Diriyah, New York, London and Seoul – the highest tally in the championship’s history.
The FIA also announced that, with immediate effect, the race director can now stop a Formula E race that began under the safety car and resume it with a standing start. This follows several wet races in the early part of the season where the championship was forced to start the proceedings behind the safety car, leading to little action at the restart.
The governing body also noted that the maximum power for each car will be increased from 200kW to 220kW in the race mode, as stipulated under the Gen2 roadmap.
Earlier this April, the Vancouver City Council voted in favour of partnering with Montreal-based One Stop Strategy Group for an FE race in the third biggest metropolitan area of Canada, with a venue proposed in the False Creek region.
The Formula E tracks are built to a schedule that can accommodate a Saturday and Sunday event.
This leaves room in the timetable for another series to come and replace the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy - which was canned ahead of the current 2021 season - to run at select Formula E meetings.
He told Motorsport.com: “We have Gen3 coming: a new car, potentially a new race format and certainly new cities. When I think of my top three on a to-do list, is the ladder on it? It’s not top three.”
But Reigle continued that the impact of COVID-19 on the current season, which has forced all but the Monaco round to be double-headers, has opened Formula E up to experimenting with its timetable.
He said: “We've got this open track time. We could do an event the day before, we could do an event on the day. We’re very much looking at that.”
When asked to specify what the nature of a replacement support series might look like, Reigle suggested that a manufacturer-backed championship or a “female platform” were possible targets.
He continued: “For me, youth development, there's definitely a thread there.
“There's a gender angle as well, which is really interesting.
“And then there's our manufacturer partners and what they want to achieve with their link between the racing programme and the road cars, and that’s something we can do.
“I see those as three distinct opportunities. They can be blended; they could be done in parallel.
When asked whether Formula E would propose an electric counterpart to the all-female W Series that, as of 2021, runs on the Formula 1 support bill, Reigle said: “We have to ask ourselves, what is the problem we're trying to solve?
“Is there a challenge with Formula E attracting and developing drivers into the pinnacle of the sport?
“Is there a problem we're trying to solve? It's not entirely clear to me that there is.
“Access to some of the best driving talent isn't one.
“What are the big themes in sport today? Sustainability is one of them. We're pretty strong on that one.
“Gender diversity is a big one. Most big governing bodies, whether it's football, basketball, volleyball, etc, they all have a plan around developing a female platform. That’s something we should look at as well.
“It's more about how do you grow Formula E? And what is the best way to do that?”
The championship first revealed the layout for the partially indoor circuit back in March 2019, but along with the FIA has now modified all three sectors and shortened the lap by 1.3 miles.
An opening Turn 1 and 2 chicane has now been tightened, with the updated route beginning to double back on itself rather than stick to the originally conceived 90-degree first left-hander.
Much more extensive modifications have been made to the second sector, with the direction for the hairpins of Turns 10 and 11 reversed from anti-clockwise to clockwise.
Drivers will now enter a 180-degree right hander and exit from a left to head directly into another tight chicane rather than the previous and slightly longer angled straight that fed into the complex.
The final sector has also been majorly reworked to dispense with a higher-speed sequences of sweeping turns where the track exits the exhibition hall to connect to a perimeter road.
The lap now instead feeds into an additional hairpin at Turn 16 before a further chicane had been added prior to the run to the penultimate corner.
These alterations to the third sector have been made amid concerns that speeds would be too high.
However, the addition of heavier braking zones and slowing down the pace led initial team simulations to suggest that drivers would only need to recover 10 to 5% energy to reach the finish.
This compares to the usual 30 to 35% saving that must be made in a more typical Formula E race.
Others thought that the absence of needing to lift-and-coast to bank energy in the build-up to an overtake would allow drivers to dive at will to initiate a spate of crashes and safety cars.
The FIA have since responded to these concerns by deducting 4kWh from the race total each car may use, bringing down the limit from 52kWh to 48kWh to introduce a greater need to save energy.
An FIA statement supplied to Motorsport.com read: “Following the preliminary analysis of the London circuit and the energy consumption it was noticed that the lift-off requirements would not be significant enough with a 52kWh capacity.
“As the management of the energy consumption is key to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, and to avoid flat-out races, it has been decided to reduce the total amount of available energy to 48kWh for the races of London.
The double-header this weekend, which will be broadcast live on Channel 4, marks the returns of London to the Formula E calendar after Battersea Park last featured for the 2015-16 season finale.
Championship chief executive officer Jamie Reigle told Motorsport.com in January that there was "no excuse" not to introduce a formal cost cap during the new rules cycle to stop "ineffective spending".
This comes against a backdrop of team budgets quadrupling in the seven-year history of Formula E, with the biggest manufacturers spending in excess of £40 million per season.
Reigle added that locking in the financial regulations was "on my top one or two priorities", although it is very unlikely for the new model to align with the 2022-23 debut of Gen3.
This is because the teams registered for the new rules cycle, that will introduce 470bhp cars, have already received access to central FIA data from suppliers Williams Advanced Engineering (battery), Spark Racing Technology (chassis) and Hankook (tyres) and have begun their initial development.
But as part of a roundtable interview with FIA president Jean Todt, the governing body's director of Formula E and innovative sport projects Frederic Bertrand outlined the working cost cap budgets for privateer race teams and the fully fledged manufacturers.
Bertrand said: "For the moment, the figures we discuss are around 13 to 15 [million euros] for teams and 20 to 25 for manufacturers [on a two-year rolling basis].
"But then there are plenty of questions on how many exclusions we have to consider."
These exclusions, although not yet decided, are expected to follow the Formula 1 cost cap model introduced at the start of 2021 by not including driver and team boss salaries plus travel logistics.
Todt added: "We're working on the budget cap. We need to limit the costs."
Asked whether lowering the cost to participate in Formula E was key to stopping further manufacturer exits in addition to BMW and Audi, who will the quit the championship at the end of the current season, Todt said: "That is the history of motor racing - they come, they leave.
"Not only in Formula E, everywhere. You have that in rallying, you have that in sportscars, you have that in Formula 1.
"It's like you have a restaurant and the clients are changing.
"The only thing we make sure is that they are happy to come, and they get good food. So that's what we try to do."
Formula E has previously introduced some measures in response to the global health crisis to combat the increased spending by reducing limits on personnel and consumable parts.
Chiefly, it also modified the homologation cycle to allow for a car to run for two seasons and then altering the window in the which they could be introduced.
That led DS Techeetah, Nissan e.dams and Dragon Penske Autosport to hold off debuting their new 2021 challengers until the Rome (DS Techeetah) and Monaco race weekends.
The Jaguar Racing team had already registered to the new rules, which will debut in the 2022-23 season, ahead of the Rome E-Prix double-header in April.
That allowed the squad to attend the first Technical Working Group meeting concerning the 120kg lighter Gen3 cars that will increase in power to 470bhp.
This meant Jaguar Racing could access FIA data from spec part suppliers Spark Racing Technology (chassis), Williams Advanced Engineering (battery) - a technical partner to Jaguar Racing - and Hankook (tyres) to begin its initial development.
However, its ongoing participation was not absolutely guaranteed until the wider Jaguar Land Rover marque joined Mahindra, DS Automobiles, Porsche, Nissan and NIO as manufacturers signed up to Gen3.
This formal decision comes alongside the plan for Jaguar to offer an all-electric road car line up from 2025.
It also quashes long-standing speculation over the manufacturer’s financial commitment to the series, which came amid company-wide redundancies and the axing of the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy one season prior to the end of its three-year deal to run at select Formula E events.
JLR chief executive officer Thierry Bollore said: “The Gen3 era of Formula E is an exciting new chapter for the all-electric world championship.
“It is already proving to be the perfect environment to design, collaborate, test and develop new sustainable technologies at pace.”
The announcement comes two days ahead of the London E-Prix double-header at the ExCeL Centre, which marks Jaguar’s first ‘home race’ since the 2004 British Grand Prix in which Mark Webber finished eighth.
FIA president Jean Todt said: “Ahead of another important technical milestone for the FIA Formula E World Championship, I salute Jaguar Racing as a premium manufacturer to commit to the next era of the discipline.
“The Gen3 race car will indeed further establish the principles that have made the championship successful.
“It is positive to see such a team continue with us on a shared mission to develop electric vehicle technology and promote sustainable mobility.”
Jaguar Land Rover’s decision now leaves Mercedes as the last of the major automotive manufacturers to reveal its position, with Audi and BMW set to quit Formula E at the end of the current campaign.
Meanwhile, Dragon Penske Autosport is expected to continue after announcing its technical partner Bosch would build its Gen3 powertrain - although no formal commitment has been communicated.
Formula E chief executive officer Jamie Reigle added: “Jaguar are a key player in the future of luxury electric vehicles.
“It’s a testament to the shared purpose that one of our earliest supporters, Jaguar Racing, are committing to Gen3 in anticipation of the 2022/23 season.
Jaguar Racing driver Sam Bird heads the drivers’ standings ahead of the final four races of the season, while the team occupies third in the championship and sits five points behind current leader Envision Virgin Racing.
This weekend's Formula E round in London takes place on an odd track. In addition to a completely flat double switchback, the indoor-outdoor circuit features a significant enclosed pit lane that skips turns 1 and 2 of the main layout. At safety car speeds, it means the pit lane is actually a little bit quicker than the track itself. Lucas di Grassi figured this out, so during a safety car period in today's race he simply drove past the field to take the lead.
Di Grassi's move was, obviously, under immediate review. But not for being illegal by the letter of series law. Instead, the series felt that di Grassi did not come to a complete stop during his run through the pit lane. That, not the massive advantage gained by the actual move, meant his run through the pits illegal. Di Grassi was offered a drive-through penalty for his questionable move.
Being that he was in the lead of a Formula E race because he used the pit lane as a shortcut to gain positions under a safety car, di Grassi did not respond to the penalty in a normal way. Instead, he simply refused the drive-through penalty and accepted a race-ending black flag.
Behind di Grassi, Alex Lynn held off Nyck de Vries for what became the win after the penalty was assessed post-race. It is the first-ever career Formula E win for Lynn in parts of five seasons. For 11-time Formula E winner di Grassi, it is his third and most memorable disqualification in seven seasons.
Nissan e.dams have confirmed that Alex Albon is being considered for a seat with the Formula E outfit for its 2021/2022 campaign.
Nissan currently fields 2015-16 FE champion Sébastien Buemi and Oliver Rowland, but the Briton will leave the team after the all-electric series' final rounds next month in Berlin.
In 2018, Albon was actually signed up to race with Nissan in FE, but the British-Thai racer negotiated his release ahead of the start of the season after a receiving an offer from Helmut Marko to join Toro Rosso in Formula 1.
"Obviously he [Albon] is amongst the ones we are considering and he kept contact with us so we are talking regularly," Nissan team manager Francois Sicard told website The Race.
"He’s following what we do, so we are very close to Alex and he could be amongst the one we can select. But there are others and you have to know that Alex might also have other opportunities."
Albon, who remains Red Bull Racing's official reserve driver, is competing part time this year in the German DTM series. But the 25-year-old is still very much focused on returning to the fray in F1, although opportunities for 2022 are obviously scarce as Sergio Perez is expected to retain his seats with RBR.
"There isn’t much," admitted Albon in an interview with Formula1.com. "In some respects, I’m reliant on others not performing. It’s just the driver market in F1.
"I was lucky when I got my chance in F1, with Daniel [Ricciardo] moving - that shifted everything over.
"This year it looks a little stale in that sense. If a race seat isn’t available here, there are a couple of teams out there that there are possibilities with.
"It’s just one of those things where you have to wait and see."
But Albon may not have time on his side as he'll likely need to make a call in the coming months on a 2022 opportunity outside of F1, such as Formula E.
"It’s still relatively early in the driver market but you also have to realise other championships need to be decided in terms of seat position before F1," he says.
"You can make a decision in F1 in August-November and it’s still fine. But if you look at other championships, like Formula E or Indycar, their seasons start earlier so they need things done earlier.
"You have to assess the landscape, and make sure you cover all the options, so it is difficult. Let’s see what happens."
Six races were staged in the German capital after the five-month mid-season hiatus enforced by the global health crisis last year.
For the first two events, the reversed 10-turn and 1.46-mile configuration of the concrete-paved circuit was used before the direction was switched back to the conventional anti-clockwise route for the second double-header.
VIP guests were also permitted for the return of London to the calendar last month.
Over the two days in Germany, a total capacity of 10,400 spectators will be allowed under a safety and hygiene protocol established between championship organisers and the Berlin authorities.
With 29 points available for a clean sweep (topping group qualifying, pole position, the race win and fastest lap) in both races, no fewer than 18 drivers remain in mathematical contention for the title.
Mercedes racer Nyck de Vries currently leads the standings over Envision Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijns by six points, while the EVR squad tops the teams’ championship.
The season finale also marks the final races for BMW and Audi, who both announced during pre-season testing that they will quit the championship.
The Andretti Autosport race team will continue with a BMW customer powertrain for 2022, the final year of the Gen2 car, while Audi will supply its in-house engine to EVR also.
However, next season the grid is expected to fall to 11 teams after Abt could not conclude its deal to take over the Audi franchise before the licence returned to central Formula E ownership.
Despite a renewed effort from Abt to purchase the entry directly from the championship, Motorsport.com understands that a collapse of a commercial deal has all but ended its chances of securing its place on the grid for 2022.
Earlier today, the Mercedes-EQ team was crowned champion of the Formula E series after a race that also saw their lead driver Nyck de Vries crowned driver's champion. A few hours earlier than that, Motorsport reported that Mercedes has decided to shutter the EQ Formula E program before a new car is introduced for the 2022-23 Formula E season.
It is as fitting a day as Formula E has ever had. Mercedes now joins Renault, Audi, and BMW in leaving the series, although all of Porsche, Nissan, Jaguar, NIO, Mahindra, and the Citroen sub-brand DS remain in the category. It represents a remarkably quick end of an era for what very briefly looked like the future of auto racing, an affordable and easy-to-enter electric category that offered everything a manufacturer could want.
It was this formula that attracted the stacked group of Le Mans winners in Audi, BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes throughout the late 2010s. Accommodating Formula E was a universal priority for the storied racing factories; just before joining the series, Audi and Porsche left Le Mans prototype programs, BMW left a Le Mans GT program, and Mercedes left the DTM. Just one of the four will develop a car for the category's new Gen 3 formula. By contrast, three of the four will develop a car for IMSA and the ACO's new LMDh prototype category. At least two of those factories, Audi and Porsche, also have their eyes set on a return to Le Mans with those same cars.
It should be no surprise. Formula E's brilliant pitch to manufacturers was an easy and affordable way to build and race electric cars for world championships, but that series has failed to gain significant traction as a sporting event even with the world's greatest racing manufacturers on board. The classics of auto racing remain Indianapolis, Le Mans, and the Formula 1 World Championship. Le Mans has had a hybrid element in its top class since 2012, but LMDh has significantly reduced the price of entry to build a hybrid racer capable of winning the race. If the money needed to race at Le Mans with a hybrid is comparable to the money needed f0r a Formula E season, the decision becomes very easy for a board room to make.
It remains to be seen if Mercedes has any plans to move their secondary racing program to another series. LMDh and the similar Le Mans Hypercar categories would be an obvious fit, but with so many programs already in motion the brand would be unlikely to have a competitive car ready for the 2023 model year unless it was in development already. The DTM as Mercedes knew it is now a GT3-based series, so a full-scale return to that category at the level the manufacturer set as their standard over the past 20 years is unlikely.
Whether or not either is on the Formula E grid for the 2022-23 season, Mercedes and de Vries can take some serious pride in today's championships. de Vries wins a title in a race that could have mathematically awarded a championship to over half the grid, but a few early crashes for the other lead contenders meant that eighth in the final race was enough to clinch his championship. The ultra-competitive Formula E series produced 11 race winners over 15 rounds, so any driver's championship is an impressive result; thanks to impressive work from 8th-placed Stoffel Vandoorne, a constructor's championship coming with it in such a closely-contested season is even better.
Since the 2018-19 season, the all-electric series has used a group qualifying system which effectively penalises the best-placed drivers in the championship. Drivers are split into qualifying groups of six, in descending championship order, with the result that the leading drivers have the worst track conditions and often end up near the back of the grid.
This largely has proven successful in keeping the championship fight open, but has been heavily criticised by drivers for being too contrived and unfairly penalising the best performers.
Formula E instead proposes to introduce a knock-out tournament style format that series co-founder and chief championship officer Alberto Longo says has been designed to be easier for fans to understand.
Drivers will be divided into two groups, with the four fastest drivers in each group advance to one-on-one quarter-final rounds. The winners of these four duels will progress to two semi-finals, after which the fastest two participants will fight directly for pole.
Speaking at a press conference in Mexico, Longo confirmed the new format, explaining that it was the result of a desire "to simplify our race format".
"We've gone back to basics, but we also like to be innovative," he said. "This format is very understandable because everyone understands a tennis tournament finals draw. Visually it is very attractive and on television we will offer something spectacular.
"The key is in the first two groups of 11 drivers each, the drivers will have the opportunity to do several fast laps during the 12 minutes that qualifying will last. After that we will define the four fastest in each group.
"In the quarter-final round, the fastest from group one will face off against the fourth placed driver from group two and so on.
"From there, we will move on to the semi-final and the two finalists. Whoever wins that duel will be the polesitter."
Longo explained that he floated the idea, but the advice for the new format came to him from Sam Bird. The new format is expected to be ratified by the WMSC on 15 October.
The 2021-2022 season will kick off on 28-29 January in Saudi Arabia with a double-header round, before traveling to Mexico for its only race in Latin America on 12 February at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – which returns to the calendar after a one-off visit to the Puebla track this year while the Formula 1 venue was housing an emergency COVID centre.
The Unplugged serial will premiere on 22 November and is free to watch via the championship’s YouTube channel and Facebook platform.
Unlike its Netflix counterpart, Unplugged is an internal production led by Aurora Media Worldwide, which provides the live broadcast of the Formula E races.
The project has been co-ordinated by the company’s executive producer Stan Stanworth, whose past credits include the Invictus Games and Big Brother.
Unplugged will break down the most recent 2021 season, the longest to date in Formula E’s seven-year history, into half-episodes that centre around one team.
The teams’ drivers and key figures have been interviewed, with a camera crew embedded in the garages, while paddock journalists will provide talking head-style context and analysis.
This will be spliced in alongside race footage and previously unseen behind-the-scenes reels and team radio.
Despite being a Formula E-led production, it is billed as an “honest and unfiltered” look and is set not to shy away from the controversial flashpoints of the 2021 season – namely the Valencia race one energy debacle and the London E-Prix pitlane controversy sparked by Lucas di Grassi’s strategy.
The release date has been pushed back repeatedly, with the original intention being for episodes to overlap with the final races of the term.
However, it will be far more timely than the feature-length film And We Go Green.
Directed by Academy Award winner Fisher Stevens and Malcolm Venville and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, the movie centred on the 2017-18 campaign but did not air until 2019.
By this time, the Gen1 car had been superseded by the Gen2 machine and certain drivers at the centre were no longer a part of the championship.
But, the incident was a blip. A bunch of errors over the weekend brought about the shambolic event and threatened to undo all the work the series has done to prove its legitimacy.
And that was a problem, because there have been huge advancements since the all-electric series burst onto the scene in 2014. Back when FE hosted its first race in Beijing, there was a lot to poke fun at.
But a lot has changed in the seven years since. And now, Formula E has begun to spread its wings and transform the considered ugly duckling of motor racing into something much, much better.
Things started to look up for the series when it entered its fifth season in 2018-2019. In that year, FE abolished the need for mid-race car changes with the introduction of the Gen2 chassis and batteries built by McLaren, and added Attack Mode to races.
Attack Mode was created to add an element of strategy to races that no longer called for pit stops. It forced drivers off the racing line twice during an event, and rewarded them with a power boost that could help them overtake rivals. It has since proven to be a successful way to mix up races.
Now, Formula E is approaching another milestone as a new set of sweeping changes is set to come into force over the next two years. These changes will address most of the remaining issues race fans seem to have with the fledgling sport. Hopefully.
The biggest criticisms the sport has faced have always stuck to claims of boring races, a lack of high stakes, too many gimmicks and the weird noise made by the cars.
Firstly, any claims of boring races in Formula E should now be silenced after the year it’s had in 2021.
While Valencia was a farce, the remainder of the season served up a closely-fought title battle and heaps of overtakes and dramatic moments at every race.
During the weekend, drivers clocked up more overtakes on one lap than an entire F1 race could ever dream of. And the event even culminated in a three-way drag for the win.
On top of that, Formula E is promising even better racing with the introduction of its Gen3 cars, which hit the track in season nine.
When they finally make their debut, the Gen3 cars will hit speeds of up to 200 mph in a chassis that is both lighter and smaller. This means cars will be able to battle side-by-side on the city streets Formula E calls home.
There’s further hope that the racing action will be even better when season eight kicks off in Saudi Arabia in the new year. That’s thanks to a raft of changes to the weekend format that FE will implement.
Attack Mode and Fan Boost remain, but next year will see a change to the way FE reacts to a safety car period. Instead of a cut in energy allowances, which factored into the issues teams faced in Valencia, Formula E will instead turn to extra time.
In this new format FE will split drivers into two groups. The four fastest drivers in those two groups will move onto a quarter-final round, which will consist of four one-on-one races that pit two drivers against one another.
The winners of those four quarter-finals will move onto two semi-finals, before the winner of the semi-finals compete for pole.
So that’s all the changes being made to improve the spectacle of Formula E, but how can the sport compete with the stakes of a prestigious event like F1?
While there’s not yet a match to bitter rivalries like Senna vs Prost, Alonso against Schumacher and Hamilton’s fight with Verstappen this year, FE does have its own rivalries brewing.
Yes, it’s a fledgling sport, but if you dig deep enough there’s exciting story lines to latch onto. They just haven’t crossed into the public sphere yet as Formula E hasn’t received the Drive To Survive treatment.
If on top of all that you’re still complaining about the noise these electric race cars make, then why not take your headphones and listen to Arctic Monkeys while the race is on?
After all, race car engines have been on a downward trajectory since 2009. So if we can’t go back to screaming V10s, why not just embrace the strange, ghostly sounds of a battery-powered racer?
Never was a fan of 'Fan Boost'
The attack mode reminds me of the long lap penalty in MotoGP, but with the extra power benefit. But, not sure about it being required to be taken.
I've only watched a couple FE races, and they weren't bad, but not F1.
This isn’t just a Porsche Taycan wearing a fancy frock. This is your new Formula E safety car.
We’ll start with the, ahem, obvious. See that multicoloured livery? Course you do, can’t miss it. Well, it represents the colours of all 11 teams competing in the championship, as well as the colours of the FIA and Formula E. Oh, and it’ll also wear the number 22, to represent – yep, you guessed it – the 22 drivers on the grid.
Naturally, there have been other modifications to ensure the Taycan is up to safety car standards, including a high-vis lightbar positioned on the roof and flashing lights integrated into both front and rear bumpers. It’ll shine brighter than a full moon, this thing.
The interior hasn’t escaped either, as the car comes complete with a new roll cage, bucket seats with six-point seatbelts, Marelli data logger, that all-important fire extinguisher and high-tech communication system.
There’s no change to the road-going Turbo S's 93kWh battery and dual-motor set-up, not that long-standing Portuguese safety driver Bruno Correia should have too much to complain about with 751bhp to play with. In layman’s terms, that translates as 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds and a top speed of 162mph. What you'd call Not Slow, then.
“We’re proud that Formula E has entrusted a Porsche with this task – one that is important for the safety of its drivers,” said Thomas Laudenbach, vice president Porsche Motorsport.
“With the Taycan Turbo S as the official safety car, we’re making an important contribution to track safety and also underlining the importance of Formula E for Porsche Motorsport. The distinctive design illustrates our commitment to the successful future of this innovative racing series.”
Expect to see the Porsche Taycan in its new role at the opening round of the championship on 28-29 January in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
Formula E may revise the layout of some of its established circuits to suit the more powerful incoming Gen3 regulations, according to series CEO Jamie Reigle.
The incoming ruleset, which will feature a 350kW drive motor at the rear of the car, is expected to cut laptimes down by around five to seven seconds thanks to the increased power on offer.
This means that some of the smaller, tighter circuits will now be largely unsuitable to accommodate the more powerful cars - or to showcase the higher power limits that the teams now have access to.
Reigle explained that the series was conducting ongoing discussions with circuit promoters - including Paris, which hosted races between 2016 and 2019 on a layout 1.2 miles in length - to increase the size of the circuits to allow the drivers to reach higher overall speeds.
"All things being equal, [the Gen3 cars are] going to go faster and there's going to be much more opportunity for overtaking," Reigle said, when asked by Motorsport.com about the impact of Gen3 cars on circuit design.
"Clearly there are some circuits within Formula E that there's going to be challenges with acceleration and [showing the] improvement in the quality of the cars.
"So the one that people talk about a lot actually is Paris, with lots of 90 degree turns. It's very much a city circuit, but that's going to be a challenge.
"We're having a conversation with Paris around 'can we change the configuration of the track' as we'd still love to race there, and we plan to do so in '23 onwards."
Reigle pointed to the example of Formula E's transition to the full-size Monaco circuit for the 2020-21 season, having used a shortened version previously, and its ability to create a thrilling race despite the natural comparisons in speeds to Formula 1.
"If I look at Monaco, there was an interesting discussion last year when we raced on the full track for the first time, a lot of debate about laptimes: will the Formula E car be slow?
"Relative to a Formula 1 car, I think everyone accepts that F1 cars are, are quicker.
"But what we saw [in Formula E] was 65 overtakes, six lead changes, and an incredible car race. And so what we think will happen with the Gen3 is more of the same, except we'll go five, six, seven seconds a lap quicker.
"So I think there's plenty of room for us to be able to expand in the current footprint, some of the circuits we're going to have to evaluate and we do that with the FIA to make sure that things are safe and can lead to good, exciting racing."
When asked if Saudi Arabia would consider extending the size of the Diriyah E-Prix circuit, currently 2.495km (1.55mi) in length, Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation president Prince Khalid bin Sultan al-Faisal explained that he would consider any options to help ensure the race created more excitement under the new formula.
"With the plans and the [new] cars, whatever we can do to make it more challenging and more thrilling, we'd love to do that," he said.
"Whatever we can offer, and if we can do something new, we would love to - even if it had to be to change the length of the track. Our goal is our race needs to be special.
"It's very important to make our races, more exciting, more thrilling, and this is our aim - we want to offer the best race."
Two Formula E teams will join forces for a new generation which could see pit stops for battery charging.
Jaguar will supply rival Envision Racing with its new powertrain for the 2022-23 season's 'Gen 3' cars.
The cars are expected to improve road-going electric vehicles, with longer lasting and higher performing batteries and braking through power storage.
"Gen 3 is faster and lighter - and fast charging comes into play," said Jaguar managing director James Barclay
He added: "Fast charging is a key topic. Most [electric vehicles] have plenty of range for what most people will ever need - the charging network is the key story of how quickly that will evolve.
"The average time a consumer takes to fill car with petrol is about four and a half minutes - the nirvana in the future will be to charge your car in a similar time frame.
"There could be some form of quick charge during the race - that's what we're all expecting - so we could have a pit-stop strategy. Under-lap, over-lap coming into play like you have in Formula 1 - it'll be interesting to see how that'll take shape."
The full sporting regulations of next season are yet to be finalised, but the 2021-22 season began on 28-29 Jan, with victory in Saudi Arabia for Nyck de Vries of Mercedes in round one and Edoardo Mortara in the Venturi in round two.
Formula E boasts a net zero carbon footprint in its operation, off-set back to its inception in 2014.
10-31-2019, 10:26 AM
Why not just use the F1 knockout quali format.
