Formula E

Paddock Whispers: News ticker on all the important paddock topics from Formula E in Mexico

Tobias Wirtz
Pascal Wehrlein together with a mexican Mariachi Band in Mexico City

Porsche (X)

Formula E kicks off its eleventh season this weekend with the Sao Paulo E-Prix. As always, you can find out what else is going on in the paddock in Brazil besides the action on the track in the latest edition of our popular series "Paddock Whispers". We will update this news ticker regularly throughout the weekend.

>>> Porsche drivers try their hand at music

[11.01. | 13:21] Antonio Felix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein tried their hand as mariachi musicians in Mexico. While Wehrlein tried his hand at playing the violin, Felix da Costa tested his talent as a guitarist. The result: both are obviously much more talented as racing drivers.

>>> Nico Müller & Max Günther go wrestling

[11.01. | 12:03] No Mexico City E-Prix without Luchadores: This year, Andretti driver Nico Müller and DS Penske driver Max Günther were in the wrestling ring together.

>>> Calender 2025-26: New cities also under discussion

[11.01. | 10:56] The return to Cape Town and Santiago is probably not the only topic for Formula E in the coming season; new cities are also currently being evaluated. Colleagues of motorsport.com report that Bangkok and Phoenix are considered to have good chances. Alberto Longo, Chief Championship Officer of the racing series, confirmed there that talks are currently being held with twelve cities.

The Formula E debut in Thailand should have already taken place this year, but the date for a race in Chiang Mai scheduled for March 8 was canceled. Phoenix in Arizona first appeared on the Formula E radar in the fall of 2023, when the city council decided to carry out a feasibility study for a potential E-Prix. This means that an FIA World Championship could return to the city after 35 years - Formula 1 raced there from 1989 to 1991.

>>> Wehrlein on Sao Paulo accident: “My head hit the wall”

[11.01. | 10:09] Pascal Wehrlein had more luck than previously known when he rolled over in the Sao Paulo race. "The scary thing about this one was, first of all, that I hit my head on the wall," said Wehrlein in an interview with Karun Chandhok. "The Halo got quite damaged and actually on one side it was out of the monocoque. So the Halo moved a lot, which made my head hit the wall."

"And the other thing was that I was upside down and I couldn't get out of the car,", Wehrlein adds. "Physically, I was feeling fine in that moment, with all the adrenaline in my body. But also you want to get out of the car if you see sparks flying and so on. "

>>> Formula E plans "Creators Cup"

[10.01. | 20:58] Formula E is planning an additional event in Florida's second-largest city during the long break between the races in Jeddah (February 14/15) and Miami (April 10). This is reported by FE Notebook. The event is to be called “Creators Cup”. A number of influencers will race against the clock in Gen3 Evo cars. The venue will be the Hard Rock Stadium of the NFL team Miami Dolphins.

The course is to be modeled on the Formula 1 track in Miami. It is still unclear which Formula E car will be used. However, it is expected to be a car from one of the teams; the Formula E demo car will not be used. The financial outlay for this event should not fall within the Formula E teams' cost cap.

>>> McLaren presents new reserve and development driver

[10.01. | 20:04] Irishman Alex Dunne, part of the McLaren Driver Development Program, has been unveiled as McLaren's new reserve and development driver for the 2024/25 Formula E season. Dunne won British Formula 4 in 2022 before finishing runner-up in the GB3 Championship the following year. In 2024, he competed in Formula 3, where he finished 14th overall with two podium finishes. Dunne is at the Mexico City E-Prix for the first time.

>>> New Halo messages on both Porsche cars

[10.01. | 19:24] As with every race, Porsche has come up with two new slogans for the Halo protection bars on its cars in Mexico. Antonio Felix da Costa's slogan this weekend is “Racing la vida loca” and Pascal Wehrlein's is “Pole position, por favor”.

>>> Cupra Kiro with new livery

[10.01. | 16:52] As already announced at the season opener, Cupra Kiro will compete in Mexico City with a new look. Large parts of the race car are now a vibrant brown colour, as can be seen in photos from our partner agency Spacesuit Media. There is no press release or official statement from the team on the new livery as yet.

[UPDATE 10.01. | 19:00] A press release on the new livery has now been issued. It says: "Pairing Kiro Race Co's bold fluorescent yellow base with copper branding, which is synonymous with the Cupra marque, the livery underscores the power of unity, innovation, and collaboration, while embodying the team's unstoppable determination to defy convention."

The Cupra Kiro racing car with the new livery in the paddock of the 2025 Mexico City E-Prix

Adam Pigott / Spacesuit Media

>>> Formula E in London until 2026?

[10.01. | 16:03] As FE Notebook reports, the contract between Formula E and the ExCeL exhibition centre in London, which expires in the summer, is to be extended by a further year. The plans envisage that the date for the season finale in the British capital will be moved to mid-August at the same time so that the racing series can hold more races in its twelfth season.

This will affect the Tokyo E-Prix, which is to be held later in the year in 2026. This year, the double header in Japan will still take place on 17 and 18 May. In 2026, however, the Monaco E-Prix will take place on the third weekend in May.

>>> Jake Dennis meets Lucien Laviscount

[10.01. | 16:17] Andretti driver Jake Dennis was travelling with Lucien Laviscount from the series "Emily in Paris" in Mexico City before the race weekend.

>>> Jeff Dodds shares childhood photo of Cassidy & Evans

[10.01. | 15:03] Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds has caused a few laughs on the X platform (formerly Twitter): The Briton responded to a post by the Jaguar team showing the two drivers, engineers and team boss James Barclay preparing in Mexico with a photo of the two drivers together from their childhood days.

>>> Nissan presents "Zerenergy"-Drink

[10.01. | 14:39] Nissan has presented a drink called "Zerenergy" for the Mexico City E-Prix. According to a press release from the team, it is the first caffeine-free drink to be developed by a car manufacturer. The flavour of the drink: cherry blossom, of course!

Nissan had already presented a persiflage perfume called "Smell my Dust" at the Shanghai E-Prix last year, which was supposed to smell like tyre abrasion, among other things.

>>> Another Pitboost test in the shakedown

[10.01. | 14:02] As at the season opener in Sao Paulo, the shakedown at the Mexico City E-Prix on Friday evening (Central European Time) will be split into two parts. Each team will take part in one of the two sessions with one car. Each car must also make a pit stop and test the pit boost. Formula E is always planning to carry out the fast-charging pit stops in the race for the first time at the second race of the double header in Jeddah.

>>> Formula E considers return to Cape Town & Santiago

[10.01. | 13:37] According to the colleagues at FE Notebook, Formula E is currently working on bringing two cities back to the race calendar: The second Cape Town E-Prix could take place in spring 2026, after the race no longer appeared on the racing calendar after 2023 for financial reasons.

A return to Chile is also under discussion: political changes in Santiago may open up the possibility for Formula E to organise its fourth race. The Parque O'Higgins, which has already hosted two E-Prix - most recently in 2020, when Maximilian Günther celebrated his first Formula E victory - is being discussed as a venue.

>>> Extreme H: 10 race cars produced

[10.01. | 13:10] Spark Racing Technologies (SRT), the manufacturer of the Formula E chassis, has produced the ten race cars for the Extreme H World Cup. This was announced by the racing series on Thursday. However, it is still unknown when the vehicles will be seen in action for the first time, as there is no race calendar yet. More information is to follow in the coming months (!).

The 2024 Extreme E season was supposed to be the last before the switch from battery-electric to hydrogen-powered cars, but was cancelled in early September after two out of five "double-headers". Two-time title winners Rosberg X Racing have already announced that they will no longer be competing in Extreme H. Previously, ABT Cupra, Chip Ganassi Racing and X44, Lewis Hamilton's team, had already withdrawn from the racing series.

>>> Intel becomes technical partner of Stellantis in Formula E

[10.01. | 12:04] Stellantis, drive manufacturer of DS Penske and Maserati, has entered into a technical partnership with Intel. The chip manufacturer provides components for controlling the inverter, which is associated with a significant increase in efficiency. At a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Wednesday ahead of the Mexico City E-Prix, Intel put the increase in energy efficiency at up to five per cent through the use of its newly developed adaptive control unit.

>>> Jake Dennis with special helmet in Mexico

[10.01. | 10:57] Jake Dennis, Formula E World Champion for the 2023 season, will compete in the Mexico City E-Prix with a specially designed head protection. Dennis is one of the drivers who regularly use helmets with special paintwork.

>>> Formula E agrees partnership with Google Cloud

[10.01. | 09:45] Formula E has signed a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud. The company will become the official Cloud Technology Partner and official Cloud Security Partner of the racing series. With the help of generative artificial intelligence (AI), Google wants to help better analyse driver performance and provide real-time feedback. This will also be made available to drivers during test drives.

Formula E is also planning to use this to improve fan engagement. This includes the virtual race engineer, who already provides predictions about possible race outcomes via the TV graphics. In addition, the racing series' cloud data is to be protected with the latest security technology and the Google cloud solutions are to be integrated into Formula E's GENBETA project. As part of this project, Jake Hughes broke the indoor speed record in 2023 with a modified Gen3 car.

>>> In the video: Antonio Felix da Costa presents helmet for season 11

[10.01. | 07:20] Antonio Felix da Costa has explained the design of his helmet for the 2024/25 Formula E World Championship ahead of the Mexico City E-Prix. For the first time in many years, he is not using the Portuguese colours green and red.

Go back

0 Comments

Add a comment

Please add 1 and 2.