Wheel-to-wheel racing in the Principality: Your questions about the Formula E race in Monaco 2023 answered

Terms like "Sainte Devote," "Grand Hotel" or "Rascasse" make the hearts of motorsport fans all over the world beat faster. They are the names of corners on the legendary Circuit de Monaco, where the electric motors of Formula E will be whirring again next weekend. With a championship battle that could hardly be any closer, the electric series will start its second half of the 2023 World Championship season.

In the first races of the year, Porsche already seemed to have at least one hand firmly on the Drivers' and Teams' Championship trophies. But in recent weeks DS Penske, Envision and especially Jaguar steadily caught up with the team from Weissach. Can Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix da Costa strike back in Monaco? We answer your most important questions ahead of the E-Prix in the Principality.

Where exactly will the Formula E race take place in Monaco?

The Formula E race track in Monaco is located directly next to the harbor basin. However, the course also takes the drivers past the iconic casino, around the Grand Hotel bend as well as through the tunnel known from Formula 1. The course is lined with the high-rise apartments of the "rich and the beautiful" of this world, who chose Monaco as their adopted home several decades ago, because there is no income or inheritance tax in the tiny city-state on the French Riviera.

With its casino, marina and Mediterranean atmosphere, Monaco is one of the most glamorous venues of the entire Formula E season. Thanks to an area of only around two square kilometers, the principality is considered the second smallest state on earth. Only the Vatican is smaller. Monaco gained its independence from France in 1489, although France did not recognize the prince's full sovereignty until 1861. Today, around 39,000 people have their main residence in the city.

Fast Facts | Monaco

• Monaco is the state with the highest per-capita gross domestic product in the world. Each inhabitant has an average of $190,000 per year at their disposal (as of 2019). In Germany, it is comparatively only about $46,000 per year.
• Monaco has a lot to offer for holidaymakers: The place is located directly on the sea, but only shortly after the state border, the terrain becomes mountainous. The principality even has its own alpine club with more than 300 members.
• Falsely, fans often locate the Formula E race track in the Monte-Carlo district. In fact, large parts of the track arelocated in the neighborhood with the famous casino. However, turns 1 and 10 to 19 are located in the La Condamine district.
• To disrupt rush hour traffic in Monaco as little as possible, Formula E only closes off the public roads on race day. The teams must thus, among other things, complete the mandatory track inspection in moving traffic. The usual Friday Shakedown session has been cancelled, FP1 has been moved to Saturday morning.
• Monaco has a national plant - the carob tree. A single tree crown can shade a radius of up to 15 meters. So to cover the Formula E circuit, it would take about 222 trees. Whether the saplings would survive long enough on the busy roads of the Principality, however, may be doubted.

Who will broadcast the Formula E race in Monaco on TV & Livestream?

Unlike last time in Berlin, only one race day of Formula E will take place in Monaco - all sessions are scheduled for next Saturday. Only in the night from Friday to Saturday, the track will be closed off, and a few hours after the E-Prix, the traffic will already rolling across the track again.

* all timings in Central European Summer Time (CEST)

In Germany, ProSieben will broadcast the Formula E race from Monaco as usual. Qualifying will be streamed on ran.de. All Free Practice sessions can be followed as usual via the livestream page of e-Formula.news. Eurosport 2 will also be showing the Monaco E-Prix in full, also in Switzerland and Austria. There, however, fans can also follow the race on ORF eins or in the ORF TVthek. In Switzerland, the race will be shown on the pay-TV channel MySports Edge.

What distinguishes the race track in Monaco?

On 3.337 kilometers, the Formula E drivers will have to master a total of 19 corners. Compared to other courses in the electric series, Monaco is one of the rather fast tracks: On the flatout sections on the start and finish straight, in the uphill passage towards the Beau Rivage corner and in the tunnel passage, it could be important to save energy in the slipstream of the rivals.

Experts do not expect, however, that the slipstream effect will have as great an effect on racing as it did recently in Sao Paulo or Berlin. The handling of the harder Hankook tires will probably be more decisive for the race: The compound offers the drivers significantly less grip compared to last year. At best, lap times should only be marginally better compared to those set with the Gen2 car - despite the increase in Gen3 power.

What has happened since the last race in Berlin?

The day after Sunday's Berlin race, all teams participated in a collective test day, where only Formula E rookies were allowed to step into the cars. The best lap time was achieved by reigning Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich, who Maximilian Günther's Maserati MSG car.

Since then, however, everyone focused on the aftermath and preparations for the Berlin and Monaco races. No team announced any major news, which is why there was little news.

In what order do the drivers go into qualifying?

In Formula E, qualifying takes place in two parts: Group Stage and Knockout Stage. For group qualifying, the field is first split into two halves, with all drivers in the odd championship places (places 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.) competing in group A, and those in the even places in group B.

The four drivers in each group who were able to set the fastest lap times after twelve minutes will then move into the quarter-finals, where they will duel it out for the best grid positions from then on. For the Monaco E-Prix, this results in the following composition for the qualifying groups.

What will the weather be like in Monaco?

For this time of the year, it is unusually cool on the French Riviera. Similar to the last race weekend in Germany, meteorologists currently do not expect temperatures to exceed the 20°C mark. On the Saturday of the race it is supposed to remain cloudy, and on the following day it could even rain. Will the rain clouds stay away long enough?

Who are the favorites?

In terms of their car performance, Porsche and Jaguar are traveling to Monaco on equal footing. After everything seemed to go the German racing team's way in the first third of the season, Jaguar has been able to make up a lot of ground in recent weeks with their factory as well as customer team Envision. It's tighter than ever at the top of the drivers' championship as well: Pascal Wehrlein's lead over Nick Cassidy is now down to just four points.

Last year, Porsche performed well in Monaco before Pascal Wehrlein retired with a technical problem while leading the race. Stoffel Vandoorne, who was still driving for Mercedes at the time (now DS Penske), took the race win. His new employer also competed successfully in Formula E this year, winning the Hyderabad E-Prix with Jean-Eric Vergne. Formula E fans should also have the black and gold cars on their radar for that reason.

And then there's the MSG racing team - formerly Venturi - which will be racing its home event in Monaco as Maserati's entry team. Maximilian Günther will certainly be highly motivated after his podium in Berlin to follow up with the next top result at his "second home race" in Monaco. Or will street circuit specialist Edoardo Mortara finally score the first big win of the year? In Formula E, anything seems possible. We're looking forward to an exciting race weekend in Monaco!

By the way: In the 2023 Formula E season, our readers have again organized a free community betting game. If you want to participate, you still have until the weekend to submit your first tips or sign up!