The fifth ABB FIA Formula E Championship season kicks off this weekend with the Ad Diriyah ePrix, around the streets of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There will be 12 more races between now and July 2019 when the season ends in New York City.
The Cars
This season sees the introduction of the “Gen2” car, the Spark SRT05e, which ups the power output (25% more in qualifying and 10% more during the race) and finally allows the drivers to complete the race distance without the stupid car swaps during pit-stops. They also look WAY cooler!
The Races
Another change for this year is that all races will run for 45 minutes, plus one lap. This could make for some exciting finishes as teams will not know for sure how many laps will be run and drivers will need to be even more mindful of their remaining energy store.
As well as the popular “Fan Boost”, where fans vote to give their favorite driver some extra power, this year sees the introduction of “Attack Mode” which is full on Mario Kart! The driver goes off the racing line in a designated area and is rewarded with a temporary 25kW engine boost.
- Ad Diriyah ePrix, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – December 15th 2018
- Marrakesh ePrix, Moulay El Hassan, Morocco – January 12th 2019
- Santiago ePrix, Higgins Park, Chile – January 26th 2019
- Mexico City ePrix, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico – February 16th 2019
- Hong Kong ePrix, Hong Kong Harbourfront – March 10th 2019
- Sanya ePrix, Sanya, China – March 23rd 2019
- Rome ePrix, Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR, Italy – April 13th 2019
- Paris ePrix, Circuit des Invalides, France – April 27th 2019
- Monaco ePrix, Circuit de Monaco – May 11th 2019
- Berlin ePrix, Tempelhof Airport, Germany – May 25th 2019
- Bern ePrix, Bern, Switzerland – June 22nd 2019
- New York City ePrix 1, Brooklyn, USA – July 13th 2019
- New York City ePrix 2, Brooklyn, USA – July 14th 2019
The Teams
Manufacturers are embracing Formula E with the number of teams increasing for the 2018-19 season, with HWA joining before becoming the Mercedes works team in season six. BMW now partners Andretti Motorsport and Nissan takes over the Renault entry. Porsche will also be joining, fielding a works team in the 2019-2020 season.
The Drivers
Reigning champion Jean-Éric Vergne defends his title against a field of talented drivers. Notable names joining the driver ranks this season include former F1 pilots, Stoffel Vandoorne, Felipe Massa and Pascal Wehrlein, as well as 2018 DTM champion, Gary Paffett.
|
Entrant |
Chassis |
Engine |
# / Drivers |
| Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler | Spark-Audi | Audi eTron | #11 Lucas Di Grassi #66 Daniel Abt |
| BMW i Andretti Motorsport | Spark-BMW | BMW | #27 Alexander Sims #28 António Félix da Costa |
| DS Techeetah Formula E Team | Spark-DS Automobiles | DS ETense | #25 Jean-Éric Vergne #36 André Lotterer |
| Envision Virgin Racing | Spark-Audi | Audi eTron | #2 Sam Bird #4 Robin Frijns |
| Geox Dragon | Spark-Penske | Penske | #6 Maximilian Günther #7 José María López |
| HWA Racelab | Spark-Venturi | Venturi | #5 Stoffel Vandoorne #17 Gary Paffett |
| Mahindra Racing | Spark-Mahindra | Mahindra | #64 Jérôme d’Ambrosio #94 Felix Rosenqvist (Riyadh only) #94 Pascal Wehrlein |
| NIO Formula E Team | Spark-NIO | NIO Sport | #8 Tom Dillmann #16 Oliver Turvey |
| Nissan e.dams | Spark-Nissan | Nissan | #22 Oliver Rowland #23 Sébastien Buemi |
| Panasonic Jaguar Racing | Spark-Jaguar | Jaguar | #3 Nelson Piquet Jr. #20 Mitch Evans |
| Venturi Formula E Team | Spark-Venturi | Venturi | #19 Felipe Massa #48 Edoardo Mortara |
In the United States, you can watch Formula E on the Fox Sports network and in the UK on BT Sport ESPN, as well as on the Formula E YouTube channel.
Look for more updates on the Formula E season over the coming months.
– MCZF1
