Media report: Formula E plans rookie training in Jeddah, pit boost introduction confirmed

The FIA has informed the Formula E teams that the pit stops, known as Pit Boost, will be carried out with fast charging for the first time at a race of the double header in Jeddah. Furthermore, an additional free practice session for rookies will be held on the Thursday before the race in Saudi Arabia. Both are reported by the colleagues at The Race.

An additional free practice session for Formula E rookies, which takes place before the first "official" free practice session of an E-Prix, is already a tradition in Formula E: it was already included in the race weekend schedule in Rome in 2023 and Misano in 2024. This year, however, it will take place outside Italy for the first time.

In contrast to the rookie test day in Berlin, however, the lap times of the newcomers in the free practice sessions were always a long way off those of the regular drivers: Felipe Drugovich, who set the fastest time in Rome, was more than four seconds off Pascal Wehrlein's best time shortly afterwards. The difference was much smaller on the Misano circuit, but Taylor Barnard was also around 1.2 seconds off Vergne's best time in the first free practice session. The teams do not want to risk any accidents involving the rookies in their cars, which could potentially cost the regular drivers track time.

Jeddah lends itself to this: Unlike Monaco, for example, an additional session can be held on the Saudi circuit without any problems. In addition, the season in the junior racing series, in which most drivers compete, has not yet started in mid-February, so there are no scheduling conflicts.

Pit Boost premiere confirmed

More than two years late, the long-announced pit stops with fast charging will take place for the first time at the Jeddah E-Prix. The introduction was pushed back again and again due to technical difficulties and reliability issues. After the Pit Boost was tested again during the shakedown sessions in Sao Paulo and Mexico City and no more problems were encountered, the World Automobile Association gave the green light for its introduction. Each driver must come into the pits once during the race to have their vehicle charged with 600 kW of power for 30 seconds.

Contrary to the original plan, which only ever envisaged the pit boost in the second race of a double-header, discussions are now underway as to which of the two races should take place with and without a pit stop. In Saudi Arabia, the two races traditionally take place on Friday and Saturday.

Also deviating from the original regulations, the attack mode will no longer be linked to the pit boost: The regulations stipulated that the 350-kW mode with all-wheel drive may only be activated after the pit stop. Instead, the FIA World Motor Sport Council overturned this rule last December. Drivers now also have the option of activating attack mode from the second lap in races with mandatory pit stops, as is the case in races without pit boost.

The Jeddah E-Prix will be the first time since 15 July 2018 that mandatory pit stops will take place. Back then, at the finale of Season 4, drivers still had to change their cars in the pits during the race because the technology at the time - batteries with a lower capacity and significantly less energy recovery - did not yet allow for a 45-minute race.