It seems like yesterday but the Formula E which restarts this weekend from Mexico City is the tenth season. Perhaps this is precisely the most incredible thing about the world championship because when it was born, few people appreciated the ABB FIA Formula E. They told them all sorts of things. They don't walk, they're ugly, they don't play, they look like drills. However, with their heads down and working hard, the organizers went ahead and solved more or less all the problems: the cars are now beautiful, they look like arrows, they go fast (not like an F1 but enough to no longer be able to race safely). on circuits like the one in Rome) and the sound… Well, miracles are obviously impossible there.
Instead, a lot of work has been done on the entertainment front, and it is no coincidence that the last season was the most competitive ever and only in the last stage was the title of World champion decided. For the record, it was the British Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti) who triumphed in London in July, winning his first world title. Furthermore, with the changes that have occurred throughout the season, this year his two closest rivals – Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans – will be teammates in Jaguar TCS Racing, following Cassidy's move from Envision Racing.
A nice movement (eight of the 11 teams that will change drivers), like the one seen for Season 10, the return from F1 to Mahindra Racing also of the former Formula E world champion Nyck de Vries.
Same work also done on the slopes. Starting with the first as Saturday's 2024 Hankook Mexico City E-Prix will be fiercely competitive and difficult to predict. Around 40,000 spectators will crowd the stands of the famous Foro Sol in what is the eighth round of Formula E at the historic Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, one of the favorite circuits of fans and drivers. The updated Season 10 calendar, which includes 16 races in 10 iconic cities around the world, then features a debut race on the streets of Tokyo, an eagerly awaited return to China with a first race in Shanghai and a new Italian headquarters in Misano. The season will conclude once again in London on the weekend of Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st July.
Will this be enough to fascinate the fans? Here on FormulaPassion every report on Formula E (including this one, so we are resigned) will be inundated with insults, but something is changing because actually last year the GEN3 – the fastest, lightest, most powerful and efficient electric single-seater ever built – beat one record after another during his first season. And a faster car, as motorsport fans well know, means knife-between-teeth racing: in Season 9, on a grid of 11 teams and 22 cars, there were seven different winners and 11 drivers on the podium in 16 races, while 19 different drivers have led a race for at least one lap.
In short, the battle is there. But now all the cards are changed again. Only three of the 11 teams maintain the same pairs as Season 9: the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team with Pascal Wehrlein and Season 6 champion António Félix da Costa; DS PENSKE with Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Éric Vergne (three Formula E titles between them); and ERT Formula E Team, formally NIO 333 Racing, with the return of Dan Ticktum and Sergio Setté Câmara. Nick Cassidy appears to have settled in well at Jaguar TCS Racing, recording the second fastest time in the Valencia test behind new teammate Mitch Evans.
Robin Frijns, Cassidy's replacement at Envision Racing and a double Formula E race winner, placed seventh and will line up alongside Sébastien Buemi. One of the most interesting news for Mexico City is the return of Nyck de Vries. The Season 8 champion left the all-electric championship for a spell in Formula 1, but he will return this year to the series he has called home for so long. Many things have changed since the time spent in Formula E, including a new single-seater. He will have everything to do alongside Edoardo Mortara, who moves from Maserati MSG Racing to the Anglo-Indian team that struggled to adapt to GEN3 in Season 9. Mortara still achieved a promising sixth place in testing.
Maserati will once again field Maximilian Günther, with great optimism after the team reversed course in the second part of Season 9 thanks to Günther, who won in Jakarta and took the podium in Rome. Indian rookie Jehan Daruvala is Günther's teammate. Norman Nato managed a faster time than season nine champion Jake Dennis in Valencia testing in his first outing with Andretti Formula E, while Oliver Rowland looks set for his return to the Nissan Formula E Team, alongside Sacha Fenestraz.
For NEOM McLaren Sam Bird, who finished pre-season testing in 14th place, joins Briton Jake Hughes, who impressed with two poles in his debut season. Lucas di Grassi made an exciting return to the team with which he won the Season 3 title; the Brazilian joined Nico Müller in the ABT CUPRA. Di Grassi is the most successful Formula E driver on Mexican soil.
We write this sort of list because to best follow the first race it is essential to understand how the drivers and teams moved. Now everything is in the hands of the fans: it is they – as always – who determine the success or end of a championship. We'll see what they say. Only one thing we are certain of: racing fans are unforgiving.
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