Formula E is celebrating an anniversary this weekend: For the tenth time since 2015, the Electric World Championship is contesting a race weekend in Berlin. Germany’s capital is the only venue that has been included in the Formula E racing calendar every year. In 2024 this Saturday and Sunday, 11th/12th. May, races nine and ten of the season (live on free TV on DF1 from 3:00 p.m.). Motorsport-Magazin.com provides the most important information before the anniversary weekend.
Will the Jaguar Festival continue?
Most recently in Monaco, the Jaguar factory team was able to achieve its first double victory of the 2024 season. After successful teamwork in implementing the attack mode strategy, Mitch Evans came out ahead of his teammate Nick Cassidy. For the team from Coventry, UK, it was only the second double victory in Formula E since joining the factory in 2016.
The brand achieved its first double victory a year ago in Berlin, of all places. At that time, Evans crossed the finish line first ahead of his then stablemate Sam Bird. Cassidy also won the Sunday race in Berlin in 2023 – at that time still driving a customer Jaguar from Envision – a car with a Jaguar drive. Will the triumphs be repeated?
Formula E: Team table after 8/16 races of the season
| Pos. | team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | jaguar | 172 |
| 2 | Porsche | 128 |
| 3 | Andretti Porsche | 113 |
| 4 | Nissan | 112 |
| 5 | DS Penske | 102 |
Porsche home game with extended Andretti contract and new safety car
Porsche will definitely have something against that. The people of Zuffenhausen are celebrating their home game this weekend, just like the Mahindra customer team Abt-Cupra. However, Porsche has been denied a victory in Berlin since joining Formula E in 2019. The factory team’s last podium finish in Tempelhof was dated August 5, 2020.
After all, there was already good news in connection with the Andretti customer team before the weekend. The US racing team announced on Thursday the contract extension with Porsche, which covers the next two years until the end of 2026. Porsche is also sending a new safety car to the start in Berlin: the Taycan Turbo GT introduced this year follows the Turbo S from 2019.
Like last year, Porsche works driver Pascal Wehrlein travels to Berlin as the world championship leader. The 29-year-old leads the drivers’ standings with 102 points and is seven points ahead of Jaguar driver Cassidy. In the team world championship, Porsche takes second place, 44 points behind the Jaguar factory team.
Top 5 of Formula E 2024 after 8/16 races of the season
| Pos. | driver | team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pascal Wehrlein | Porsche | 102 |
| 2 | Nick Cassidy | jaguar | 95 |
| 3 | Jake Dennis | Andretti Porsche | 89 |
| 4 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan | 88 |
| 5 | Mitch Evans | jaguar | 77 |
Formula E Berlin: 5 regular drivers not at the start
Meanwhile, the driver field in Berlin will look different than usual. Five regular drivers are not at the start of the double-header on the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit. The main reason for this is a scheduling conflict with the WEC race in Belgium, which was annoying for all sides. The World Endurance Championship will host the 6-hour race in Spa-Francorchamps on May 11, 2024.
This means that four pilots are missing in Berlin. Abt Cupra driver Nico Müller will be at the start in Spa for the Peugeot factory team, while Mahindra driver Nyck de Vries competes in the endurance race for Toyota. Both drivers are missing from the reigning Formula E world champion team Envision-Jaguar! Sebastien Buemi (Toyota) and Robin Frijns (BMW) also prioritize the WEC. The DS Penske duo Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne as well as Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) and Norman Nato (Andretti-Porsche), on the other hand, are prioritizing the double-header in Berlin despite the WEC cockpits.
In addition to the drivers starting in Spa, McLaren-Nissan driver Sam Bird is also missing in Berlin. The Brit suffered a broken bone in Monaco training two weeks ago and will be represented again by 19-year-old Taylor Barnard.
Two debutants and DTM race winners as replacements in Berlin
Among the drivers replacing the WEC starters in Berlin are two Formula E debutants. Ex-Mercedes Junior and Formula 2 driver Paul Aron makes his debut with Envision-Jaguar, while Jordan King makes his debut for Mahindra. It is King’s first race start since December 14, 2019. Eight-time Formula E starter Joel Eriksson fills second place at Envision-Jaguar, while Kelvin van der Linde replaces Nico Müller at Abt-Cupra. Van der Linde had already completed three ePrix for Kempten in 2023 as a replacement for the injured Robin Frijns.
Although the 6 Hours of Spa only takes place on Saturday, all substitute drivers will also take part in the Sunday race in Berlin. The FIA regulations classify both races of a double-header as a single event, meaning that drivers can only be replaced for Sunday’s race due to ‘force majeure’. The affected teams hoped for an exception, which unsurprisingly failed in a vote by the eleven teams in March.
Another energy saving battle in Berlin?
Even if the phenomenon of so-called energy-saving battles is more associated with permanent race tracks, extreme energy saving also occurred last season on the temporary circuit at the former Berlin-Tempelhof airport. Another chaotic race is expected in the run-up to the weekend, especially on Saturday. On Sunday the race will be two laps shorter, with the same amount of energy (38.5 kilowatt hours).
The race in Berlin is special this year with regard to the attack mode. For the first time in 2024, the pilots will not be allowed to use the 50 kW additional power for a period of eight minutes. Instead, only an attack mode duration of six minutes is planned for Saturday’s race, with the additional power having to be activated twice. On Sunday this will be reduced again to four minutes.
Even after the race there is activity on the track
Rookies will not only be at the two races themselves. A rookie test day will take place again in 2024 on the Monday after the Berlin ePrix (May 13th). Twenty drivers without a Formula E race start will have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the current generation of vehicles in two three-hour sessions.
Prominent names can be found among the rookies. With Thomas Preining (Porsche) and Sheldon van der Linde (Jaguar), the DTM champions of the last two years will take part in the test. Ricardo Feller, who will also compete in the DTM for Abt-Audi in 2024, will provide further DTM representation at Abt-Cupra. In addition, a number of pilots who are known from the junior series will be testing. These include, for example, the 2022 Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich (Maserati-DS), the Formula 2 runner-up from last season Frederik Vesti (Mahindra) and the current Formula 2 championship leader Zane Maloney (Andretti-Porsche).
Formula E Berlin 2024: This is the new track
There are not only changes in Attack Mode, the route in Berlin is also new. Although the length of the course has only been shortened by ten meters, the layout has been fundamentally revised. This is evident from the number of curves alone. Instead of the previous ten, the drivers now expect 15 corners. Compared to the variant presented in November 2023, the route has been shortened by another 40 meters, which is mainly due to a shortened approach from turn 8 to turn 9.
In the new Berlin version, the start/finish straight has been moved to the previous back straight. The former back straight, however, has been significantly shortened; the symbolic Douglas DC-3 aircraft now awaits the drivers in turn two. However, the challenge of concrete slabs, which often have different levels of grip due to their different properties, remains the same.
Formula E Berlin 2024: Schedule
Friday, May 10, 2024
| time | session | transmission |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00-5:30 p.m | Free training 1 | Formula E YouTube / discovery+ |
Saturday, May 11, 2024
| time | session | transmission |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00-8:30 a.m | Free training 2 | Formula E YouTube / discovery+ |
| 10:20-11:40 a.m | Qualifying | discovery+ / DF1 (from 11:00 a.m.) / DF1.de (from 11:00 a.m.) / ServusTV On (from 11:00 a.m.) |
| 3:04 p.m. – 4:00 p.m | Run | DF1 / DF1.de / ServusTV On / discovery+ / Eurosport 2 / ServusTV (Re-Live 4:05 p.m.) |
Sunday, May 12, 2024
| time | session | transmission |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00-8:30 a.m | Free training 3 | Formula E YouTube / discovery+ |
| 10:20-11:40 a.m | Qualifying | discovery+ / DF1 (from 11:00 a.m.) / DF1.de (from 11:00 a.m.) / ServusTV On (from 11:00 a.m.) |
| 3:04 p.m. – 4:00 p.m | Run | DF1 / DF1.de / ServusTV On / discovery+ / Eurosport 2 / ServusTV (Re-Live 3:20 p.m.) |