4 races left to prove themselves: these drivers could face the end of their Formula E careers ahead of Gen4

The twelfth Formula E season in history is drawing to a close. There are just four races remaining, to be held at two venues – Tokyo and London. As the season draws to a close, driver contracts are once again becoming a topic of interest. Ahead of the major transition to the new generation of cars, the teams want to have the strongest possible driver pairing, and not every driver from the current season appears to be good enough for that.

The switch to Gen4, in particular, presents the ideal opportunity for the teams to replace a driver with poor performance. The new technical regulations will deliver a car that relies much more heavily on aerodynamics and, as a result, is much closer in driving style to other Formula racing series. Consequently, signing a young talent with Formula 2 and Formula 3 experience now makes more sense than ever before.

Norman Nato fails to make his breakthrough with Nissan

The driver who is most clearly at risk of losing his regular seat is the Frenchman driving for Nissan – Norman Nato. He has scored points in just two of the first 13 races and currently sits second-last in the overall standings. His team-mate Oliver Rowland, on the other hand, is still in contention for the drivers’ title, sitting third in the championship with 114 points. Last season, too, Nato’s disappointing performances were a key factor in Nissan ultimately only managing third place in the teams’ championship.

Unless Nato puts in some convincing performances in the last four races, there is hardly anything left that could save him. Nissan has plenty of young talent in its ranks who could be nurtured, foremost among them Victor Martins and Gabriele Mini. Both have been or are currently successful in the junior Formula series and have already put in very good performances in Formula E rookie tests. Ultimately, this is probably a luxury problem for Nissan. However, it is clear that a change in the second driver’s role will be needed if the team is to compete for the teams’ championship.

Ticktum overshadowed by a rookie

No other team has such a wide gap between team-mates as Nissan does. Dan Ticktum, however, will be wishing he were back in Season 11: last year, the Briton was still the clear number one in the team and was even linked with a move to Porsche. This year, although he repeatedly demonstrates just how fast he can be, he almost never delivers the results.

Whilst Ticktum has been very competitive in qualifying, securing two pole positions in Monaco, he has only scored points in two races, with fourth place as his best result. His team-mate, Pepe Marti, has so far collected 30 more points than Ticktum and secured two podium finishes. On top of being beaten by a rookie, Ticktum has also recently faced disciplinary action from the team. He no longer seems nearly as indispensable to Cupra Kiro as he did a year ago.

Wide gaps, but little threat

Looking at the points the drivers have scored this season, there are other gaps as wide as that between Marti and Ticktum. Nico Müller, for example, is almost 50 points behind Pascal Wehrlein, but has already won one race and finished on the podium once more. His results have been consistently solid and, with 96 points, he is in a much better position in the overall standings than he was last year. He seems to be establishing himself as Porsche’s second driver.

Nyck de Vries, Felipe Drugovich and Jean-Eric Vergne all had a very tough and unsuccessful start to the season. However, the trend for them has clearly been upwards in recent races. De Vries won in Monaco, Vergne finished on the podium at the last race in Shanghai, and Drugovich has also been on a roll since Monaco. Although the points gap to their team-mates remains significant, it is not yet at a level that threatens their regular seats – Drugovich has already been confirmed for the coming season.

However, there is still a huge haul of points up for grabs in the last four races – a driver can still secure a maximum of 116 World Championship points. Only then will it finally be decided who stays with which team. In Tokyo, from 25 July, all drivers will once again be aiming to achieve the maximum for their teams.