Abt Sportsline and Nico Müller will go their separate ways in Formula E after the end of the 2024 season. In the week before the season finale in London (July 19-21), the racing team from Kempten officially announced their departure. It is not yet known who will replace Müller from the 2025 season, in which the team will team up with Lola/Yamaha as the new technical partner.
Concrete reasons for the separation, which had been speculated several times in various media after Müller’s private Porsche test in March of this year, were not given. As Abt CEO Thomas Biermaier admitted, the team would have liked to keep the Swiss on board. Müller and the traditional racing team already knew each other from their time together in the DTM (2016-2020), which led to them winning two drivers’ runner-up championships.
Abt CEO Thomas Biermaier: Would have liked to keep Nico Müller
“Our wish was to keep Nico in the team and to be successful again with him,” Biermaier was quoted as saying in a team press release. “Now we have to accept his decision and wish him all the very best for the future.” Despite the difficult two years of Formula E as a Mahindra customer team, Müller “always led the way and showed strong performances. Nico remains a part of the Abt family and is always welcome here.”
Where Müller will be heading next season is not officially known. “I am a free agent” – meaning I will be available from 2025 – he told Motorsport-Magazin.com on the sidelines of the WEC race in Imola. He will be competing in his second season in the World Endurance Championship for the Peugeot factory team, so the contract is likely to be for two years. Neither with the Abt Formula E team nor with Peugeot has Müller been able to repeat his successes from his DTM days as an Audi factory driver.
Nico Müller: Hot iron on the motorsport transfer market
The 32-year-old is considered a ‘hot potato’ on the motorsport transfer market. In Formula E, Müller often performed above the potential of the Abt-Mahindra, which was demonstrably the weakest car in the entire starting field. He achieved a place in the top 8 four times, with P4 in Misano as his best result. On top of that, Müller made it into the top 8 in qualifying five times, where he largely had his experienced teammate Lucas di Grassi under control.
Müller has long since made a name for himself in endurance racing and impressed with an outstanding stint at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, which has remained in the memory. But even with a completely revised version of their 9X8 hypercar, the French have not been able to have a say in the fight for podium places. Last weekend in Sao Paulo, Müller and his teammates Jean-Eric Vergne and Mikkel Jensen finished eighth in Sao Paulo.
With sadness and gratitude, Müller announced his departure from the Abts after many years together in the DTM and Formula E: “The time was extremely challenging, but it also brought us together enormously. We always pulled together and I am sure we will do that together one last time in London. We want to give it our all with the whole team, enjoy the days and try to achieve two good results.”