After a month away on charge, Formula E returns this weekend at a new home in Saudi Arabia. Motorsport Week has all the info you need ahead of the Jeddah E-Prix.
The first double-header of Season 11, the all-electric championship has vacated its former street circuit home in Riyadh and moved to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit – the country’s home to Formula 1.
Nissan’s Oliver Rowland arrives full of Eastern Promise, having kickstarted his World Championship aspirations with victory in Mexico City. Tag Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa is leading the title after two second-place finishes, and will be hoping to secure a cementation of his lead over both races.
Perhaps the team with the most to prove is Jaguar TCS Racing, who endured a torrid weekend in Mexico after Mitch Evans’ stunning season-opening victory in Brazil. With Porsche looking the strongest over one lap and perhaps the overall quickest in race trim too, Jaguar will be hoping for a repeat of its last visit to Saudi, where Nick Cassidy took victory in Race 2.
The circuit
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit has been truncated for FE’s debut, with the high-speed, almost go-kart-style, middle portion of the common F1 layout being disregarded which will shorten the distance by around two miles to a total of 1.865 miles.
Instead, turn three, a left-hand kink leading to turn four, will now become the start of a left-hand hairpin, which will take drivers to turns 22, 23 and 24 of the F1 circuit, which leads to the long, fast, sweeping final sector before the tight left-hander that completes the lap. However, that section on the FE circuit will be turns eight, nine, 10 and 11, chicanes abridged by one short straight.
There will also be two further chicanes on the traditional start-finish straight, one before the pit entrance and one just after.
Attack Mode will be situated at turn 13, the final hairpin before the final two chicanes.
Notable additional features
Formula E will stage a rookie test for the first time this season, with a plethora of known talents getting a fresh taste of FE, or in some cases, for the first time.
The full list of drivers are as follows:
- Jak Crawford [US] – Andretti
- Mikkel Jansen [DK] – Cupra Kiro
- Daniil Kvyat [N/A] – DS Penske
- Zak O’Sullivan [GB] – Envision Racing
- Jamie Chadwick [GB] – Jaguar TCS Racing
- Tatiana Calderon [CO] – Lola Yamaha ABT
- Kush Maini [IN] – Mahindra Racing
- Theo Pourchaire [FR] – Maserati MSG Racing
- Alex Dunne – [IE] – NEOM McLaren
- Gabriele Mini [IT] – Nissan
- Thomas Preining [AU] – Tag Heuer Porsche
Another notable point of interest this weekend is the introduction of the long-awaited Pit Boost feature, in which drivers will take a mandatory battery-charging pit stop, which is expected to last for around 30 seconds, bringing in a whole new strategic element to the races. The feature will be used in all double-headers, and expected to feature in one of the two, but Pit Boost is thought to be used in both races in Jeddah.
Last time out
At the final instalment from the Riyadh saw Jake Dennis take victory in Race 1 with the second-longest winning margin in FE history with a buffer of almost 14 seconds ahead of polesitter Jean-Eric Vergne, with Cassidy third.
As already mentioned, the Kiwi took victory in Race 2, overhauling Robin Frijns and Rowland from third on the grid to grab his first victory of the campaign. Frijns was second, with Rowland third.
When and where to watch
The local time in Jeddah is three hours ahead of the UK, with the first practice session – the FP0 Rookie Test – commencing at 15:00 local time on Thursday February 13.
FP1 will start at 21:00, before FP2 taking place on Friday at 13:00. Qualifying begins at 15:20, with the race starting at 20:05.
FP3, qualifying and Race 2 on the Saturday will follow the same schedule as Friday.
All sessions will be broadcast on TNT Sports, with both races due to be broadcast on ITV4 [coverage starting at 16:00 BST], as well as the ITVX streaming service.
Weather
Daytime temperatures are expected to reach around 29 degrees, with 24 degrees expected for both the races.
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