Exclusive interview with Porsche driver Elia Weiß after 2nd rookie test: "Fantastic to work with a factory team"

After making his Formula E debut at the rookie test in Berlin 2025 - just a few days after his 16th birthday - young German talent Elia Weiß was able to gain further experience in Formula E at the rookie test in Madrid. However, the winner of the 2024 German Kart Championship in the X30 Senior class also made mistakes and caused two red flag situations during the test drives.

White finished 16th overall in Madrid with a best time of 1:31.993 minutes and was around 2.8 seconds slower than Theophile Nael, who set the fastest lap time of the day in his Mahindra car. e-Formula.news spoke exclusively to the young German.

Elia, what are your impressions of your second rookie test in Formula E?

The start was a bit mixed. I tried to feel my way towards the limit and was perhaps slightly over the limit once or twice. But on the whole, I learnt a lot. It's a beautiful track and it's nice to work with the team here. I had a lot of fun this weekend.

You caused the testing to be interrupted twice. How did that come about?

Yes, both times were rather minor slip-ups. The first time, I braked a little too late and then just got stuck in the gravel. But it was nothing dramatic - just one or two metres off the track and that was enough. The second time, I tried to carry a bit too much speed into turn 3 and came off the banking a bit. Then I had oversteer, corrected it and was back in the gravel.

Of course, that's not ideal, but I think you have to find the limit. I was a little over the limit, which was obviously not ideal, but now I know what shouldn't happen.

There was even contact with the tyre stack in turn 3. How did you experience the situation?

I wouldn't call it an impact, but rather a slight contact with the wall. I think I was only travelling very slowly and just came to a standstill. I was already slow and braked, even in the gravel I slowed down. I didn't hit it head-on, but rather from the side. It didn't look like it was really bad from the cockpit.

This is your second time in Formula E and you are obviously still very, very young. What significance does a test like this have for your further development?

At the moment, the focus is clearly on the fact that I now have my second year of Formula 4 ahead of me. Even on a weekend like this, I just try to take as much as possible with me. It will certainly help me in my career to know the processes here. And working with a factory team for once is obviously fantastic. But first of all, I want to bring my Formula 4 season to a successful conclusion. And then we'll see what happens next.

Thank you and good luck!