With ABB FIA Formula E returning in Sao Paulo this weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to give you a Beginners Guide as to how the all-electric series works plus give a reminder of what’s already happened in Season 10 (as it’s been a while since Diriyah).
The Weekend Format
For the most part, an E-Prix takes place on a Saturday. The day before (usually a Friday), sees one 30 minute practice session before a second practice session takes place Saturday morning. A few hours later sees Qualifying take place before the Race itself gets underway around 3 hours later. It’s worth mentioning that FE also host double-headers at times, and when that happens, a third practice session takes place on the Sunday morning followed by the usual Qualifying and Race.
The Qualifying Format
In Formula E, Qualifying takes place in a format very different to most other World Championships. There are two groups and those groups are split based on their Championship position. What that means is all of the odd drivers are paired together as well as the even drivers (as in P1, P3, P5; P2, P4, P6 etc). How this then works is each session, labelled Group A and Group B, lasts for 10 minutes and the drivers have 300kW of power to try and make it into the Top 4 in order to qualify for the Duels!
For a lot of people, the Duels are the most exciting part of the Formula E weekend. This basically works as a knockout, 1 lap shootout were the drivers compete 1-on-1 to advance through the Quarters and the Semi-Finals in the hope that they advance to the final and grab Pole Position. It’s worth mentioning that the Duels sees the cars go up to 350kW of power (which does make a big difference) and the Grid is determined by who’s the fastest loser. For example, if you lost in the Quarters but were quicker than all of the other losers, you’d start P5. For the rest of the grid, that is determined on who gets Pole (I.e. if a driver from Group A gets Pole, all of the remaining drivers outside of the duels will start in the odd numbered positions).
Finally, you get three extra points for taking Pole Position and you also get the Julius Baer Pole Position trophy as well which is very cool!
The Race Format
Since Season 9, Formula E has followed the format of most Championships in the form that there are a set amount of laps for each E-Prix. However, it is worth mention that FE has a thing called “Added Laps”. What that means is if a Race spends a long enough time under a Safety Car (or Full Course Yellow), more laps will be added in order to allow fans to enjoy as much racing and wheel-to-wheel action as possible.
In terms of points, Formula E is the same as what you would see in the likes of Formula 1, with 25 points for a win, 18 point for second all the way down to 1 point for 10th with an additional point for Fastest Lap.
The Strategic Elements
In Formula E, the drivers don’t start with enough energy to finish the Race meaning they have to do a lot of lifting off the throttle in order to save energy. That’s why a lot of the time if you watch FE, you’ll notice that it’s a very strategic series. For example, a lot of the time drivers don’t want to lead the E-Prix as it’s actual more efficient to sit behind the leaders as you’re effectively using less energy (like in Cycling).
Also, to help aid overtaking, Formula E uses a system called “Attack Mode” which allows the drivers to have more power for a set amount of time. To activate Attack Mode, drivers have to drive off line at a certain spot on the track and press a button to enable Attack Mode (this only works if they hit all the loops/sensors though). How this becomes strategic is the teams and drivers have the option of how long they want to take each Attack Mode. For example, if you were allowed 8 minutes of Attack Mode during the E-Prix, you could do 1x6 minutes followed by 1x2 minutes, 1x2 minutes followed by 1x6 minutes, or just go with an even split of 4 minutes both times.
Currently, there are no mandatory pitstops in Formula E, with the only real reason to enter the pits being for damage or a drive-through penalty. However, all of that is about to change from Misano onwards (Round 6 and 7) as Attack Mode will be replaced by “Attack Charge”. How Attack Charge will work is drivers will have to make a mandatory pitstop which should last around 30 seconds and this in theory will recharge the batteries and give the drivers more power for the rest of the Race. Whether this will be a good thing for Formula E or not, we will just have to wait and see!
The Car
Right, let’s talk about the cars themselves. Since Season 9, Formula E has used the Gen3 car which is by far Formula E’s most powerful, efficient, but also lightest car. The car is also very good for racing and overtaking, but it has to be said that the Gen3 car is maybe not as robust as the Gen2 car. I should also mention that FE currently uses Hankook tyres, something that was brought in alongside the Gen3 car at the start of Season 9.
Season 10 So Far
If you want some context as to how long ago the last Formula E round was, Lewis Hamilton hadn’t signed for Ferrari yet! Unfortunately, due to the Hyderabad E-Prix getting cancelled, it’s been 7 weeks since we’ve seen the lights “go green” so here’s a little reminder as to what’s happened so far:
Nick Cassidy currently leads the Championship after finishing on the Podium in every race as a Jaguar driver so far. Pascal Wehrlein and reigning World Champion Jake Dennis have also won in 2024 whilst Jean-Eric Vergne and Oliver Rowland have both taken Pole Position (along with Wehrlein).
In the Teams’ Championship, Jaguar TSC Racing currently hold a nice 31 point gap to DS Penske in second whilst Mahindra Racing and ABT CUPRA are yet to get off the mark.
An interesting and helpful read for someone with little knowledge of the sport!