Under the night lights of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Oliver Rowland took his second victory of the season in all-British podium on Saturday.

Rowland took victory in the fourth round of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, in what completed the first double-round weekend of the season, in what was a well-managed race by the 32-year-old.

The championship leader took victory in an all-British podium with Taylor Barnard finished second for NEOM McLaren for his second podium of the weekend. The 20-year-old was not quite able to convert his first pole position into his first Formula E victory.

Maserati's Jake Hughes finished third after being fended off by Barnard in the latter stages of the E-Prix in a heated end to proceedings. It was also an all-British top four with 2023 Formula E champion Jake Dennis finishing fourth after starting 19th on the grid.

Jaguar's Nick Cassidy scored his first points of the season with a fifth place finish as his teammate Mitch Evans retired due to a mechanical problem. Antonio Felix Da Costa and Maximilian Gunther were the other retirements with three failing to finish overall.

With the win, Rowland extends his gap at the top of the championship to 17 points, with second in the standings now being Taylor Barnard after a double-podium weekend for the talented young British driver.

To conclude the first double-round weekend of the 2024/25 Formula E campaign would be race time for round four of the season's 16-round championship, in the first ever visit to Jeddah in the championship's history.

After a fantastic first race in Jeddah for Formula E, there would be expectation, that the second race of the weekend, would be exciting again. Maximilian Gunther won round three on Friday for his first win at DS Penske, converting from pole position.

Starting from pole position for round for the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship would be the NEOM McLaren of Taylor Barnard, who a few hours prior to the E-Prix became the youngest pole sitter in Formula E history.

He would have Oliver Rowland for company alongside him in an all-British front row. It would go further and become an all-British top three as Jake Hughes would go from third for Maserati. 

Both Maserati drivers ended up making it to the duels semi finals but Stoffel Vandoorne would be disqualified post-session. for not having his fire extinguisher equipped throughout qualifying. Therefore he would start from the very back of the grid.

It would be time to go racing after a delay to the five lights, following Lucas Di Grassi having a system issue but he would be able to get going and take his position on the grid.

The lights would eventually go out and Barnard would get a great start to proceedings and lead into the first corner as Rowland dropped to third behind the Maserati of Hughes who would move up into second position.

There would be drama in the next couple of corners as Maximilian Gunther would collide with the Porsche of Antonio Felix Da Costa with both picking up significant damage and they would each pit at the end of the opening lap.

Da Costa would try get going but his car would be too damaged, as well as Gunther's and both would look to be out of the race early on in Jeddah. meanwhile, Race Control would put the incident between the pair under investigation.

Out front, Barnard was managing his pwn race well as it remained an all-British top three. This would be until the DS Penske of Jean-Eric Vergne would make a tidy pass on the Nissan of Rowland. Vergne would move into a provisional podium position of third.

Lucas Di Grassi would be the first driver to take his first of two mandatory attack mode for Lola Yamaha ABT. It was working well for Di Grassi as he was making a high amount of progress. 

The experienced Brazilian racer would make his way up into second overtaking Hughes, Rowland, Vergne and Dan Ticktum to see himself into a very good position from his first Attack Mode.

Soon enough there would be additional drivers making a trip to the Attack Mode in terms of Pascal Wehrlein and David Beckmann. Wehrlein would visit Attack Mode one lap prior than Beckmann but both remaining Germans would be looking to make progress.

Rowland would soon make his way through the lead pack to take the lead ahead of Barnard who began to drop back a couple of positions in an energy saving tactic. Second would soon become fourth for Barnard as he would concede a provisional podium position to Vergne and Wehrlein.

A brief yellow flag would be waved while some debris was cleared but there was no need for an introduction of a Full Course Yellow or a Safety Car.

At the end of lap 10 of 31 Rowland would remain in the lead from Vergne, Barnard, Wehrlein and Ticktum who would be the top five. However halfway through their lap 10 of the race Robin Frijns of Envision and Mitch Evans of Jaguar would take their first Attack Modes.

Frijns would be making his way through the field and using the Attack Mode to his advantage and would take the lead of the race and would dislodge Rowland from the race lead.

Sam Bird would be then penalised for failing to follow the Race Director's instructions in the form of a five-second time penalty. It had not been the easiest Jeddah E-Prix for Bird as he had picked up damage in the opening stages and would have had to compete with it.

After starting third, Hughes had dropped back slightly in potential a tactic to save his energy by instead following other cars and staying in the mid pack. After taking his first Attack Mode consumption of the mandatory two in the race. 

The Maserati driver would make his way through to third but would go no further as Rowland would take two minutes of his eight allotted minutes of Attack Mode. Rowland would need to use six minutes in another part of the race.

Unsurprisingly Rowland would take the lead as on lap 15, Barnard and Vergne would visit the Attack Mode for the first time. It would be an important one for both drivers as they were needing to catch Rowland.

Sure enough Barnard would find his way through and into the lead meanwhile Vergne would get close but would not have enough to get ahead of Rowland and would have settle for third, for the time being. 

Nick Cassidy had made a lot of progress and made his way up to third with his second and final usage of Attack Mode. The New Zealander had yet to score a point in the first three rounds of the season, he was in a good position to potentially capitalise.

Jake Dennis who had started 19th on the grid was up and into the lead with using his final Attack Mode on lap 24. The same lap would also see Rowland and Vergne take their final Attack Modes with each driver having saved six minutes for the latter stages of the E-Prix.

The following lap and Barnard would take his final Attack Mode of the race but would have less Attack Mode remaining than Rowland despite taking it a lap later than his former mentor. This would be an intense final stage to the Jeddah E-Prix for round four of the championship.

Meanwhile at Jaguar, it would be disaster for Mitch Evans who would retire from the E-Prix with a mechanical issue and would become the race's third retirement.

Meanwhile Rowland was trying to pull out a lead after overtaking Dennis for the race lead with Barnard and Vergne charging him down from further behind. Barnard would make a double pass on Vergne and Dennis to move into the top two!

These latter stages were set to be super close with Jake Hughes taking his extra Attack Mode and making his way up to fourth overall as he was bringing himself into contention for a podium position. On lap 29, he would move into third ahead of Vergne!

Barnard would be struggling though for grip and the McLaren driver would be under pressure from Hughes as the Jeddah E-Prix was into the final two laps. Incredibly despite the Attack Mode advantage Barnard would keep Hughes behind with him getting his elbows out!

The race would move onto the final lap of the race with Rowland pulling clear out in front for Nissan as Barnard was having to withstand the pressure from Hughes as Vergne, Dennis and Cassidy were also pressuring for place on the podium in the dying moments.

A great pass from Dennis around the outside of Vergne and Cassidy through turns 13, 14, 15 and 16 and would take fourth place while pressuring for a spot on the podium in quite incredible fashion.

Out front though, Rowland had put a great strategy together and would take his second win of the season with a sensational drive in Saudi Arabia. Rowland would achieve his second win of the 2024/25 Formula E campaign, following his January victory in Mexico City.

Rowland would lead home Taylor Barnard who was unable to convert pole position into victory and would have to settle for second. Jake Hughes completed the podium for Maserati in all-British podium.

Jake Dennis would make it an all-British top four in a fantastic drive from 19th on the grid in what was an excellent drive from the 2023 Formula E Champion. Nick Cassidy scored his first points of the season as he completed the top five for Jaguar.

Following disqualification in qualifying, Stoffel Vandoorne would finish sixth after starting from the back of the grid and 22nd specifically. Jean-Eric Vergne would end up seventh as the sole DS Penske remaining in the race.

Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein would finish eighth ahead of Dan Ticktum and Edoardo Mortara who would complete the top 10 and points scoring positions.

After an exhausting but thrilling weekend at a brand new Formula E venue in Jeddah, it would not be long before the world championship would visit its next brand new venue with Miami hosting the next round of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in April.

Brandon Whiteside 
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal

History made in Jeddah on Saturday, as NEOM McLaren driver Taylor Barnard is to become the youngest pole sitter in Formula E history as he took pole position for the round four Jeddah E-Prix.

In a dominant and super impressive performance, Barnard took pole position for the first time in his Formula E career, after beating one of his previous mentors Oliver Rowland, in the duels final by four tenths of a second.

It was an all-British final after both each beat a Maserati driver in the semi finals to reach the final. Barnard beat Jake Hughes while Rowland beat Stoffel Vandoorne. Vandoorne was later disqualified from qualifying for not having his fire extinguisher not being armed throughout the session.

Rowland is the championship leader and will have an opportunity to extend it from the front row of the grid in the round four E-Prix in the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

For the second time in as many days it was time for qualifying in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship taking place in Jeddah, on the Saudi Arabian Corniche Coast. This would also be the first double-round weekend of the season.

Following round three on Friday, Maximilian Gunther converted pole position in the most dramatic of circumstances to take victory for the first time with DS Penske. He had also topped the free practice three session, earlier in the day, starting off round four in perfect fashion.

As is common with the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the qualifying format is knockout based, with group stages and 1v1 duels determining the grid for the E-Prix later in the same day.

The grid of 22 is split into two groups of 11 with the top four progressing into the quarter finals. These eight drivers would be matched against another individual in a one-lap 1v1 duel in an attempt to make it through to the semi-finals and then the final itself.

The winner of the final would take the Julius Bear Pole Position trophy and would start round four of the 2024/25 campaign.

The two groups of 11, Group A and Group B would be as follows:

Group A

• Mitch Evans & Nick Cassidy (Jaguar)
• David Beckmann & Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kiro)
• Oliver Rowland (Nissan)
• Maximilian Gunther (DS Penske)
• Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
• Sam Bird (NEOM McLaren)
• Jake Dennis (Andretti)
• Stoffel Vandoorne (Maserati)
• Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha ABT)

Group B

• Sebastian Buemi & Robin Frijns (Envision Racing)
• Nyck De Vries & Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra Racing)
• Antonio Felix Da Costa (Porsche)
• Norman Nato (Nissan)
• Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske)
• Taylor Barnard (NEOM McLaren)
• Nico Mueller (Andretti)
• Jake Hughes (Maserati)
• Lucas Di Grassi (Lola Yamaha ABT)

The qualifying session would begin with Group A and the first 11 drivers would head out to qualify for a space in the top four over the 12 minute session.

Cars would start immediately piling out of the pit lane and onto the Jeddah Corniche Circuit once the green light came on at the end of the pit lane to signal that the session is underway.

Soon enough the first representative lap times would begin to be set with Sam Bird of NEOM McLaren laying down the benchmark lap time for McLaren with Maximilian Gunther, Stoffel Vandoorne and Zane Maloney having the top four spots provisionally.

As the session reached the halfway pint of the 12 minutes, Oliver Rowland of Nissan had elevated himself into the top four to knock Maloney out of the spot. This would be until the Jaguar of Nick Cassidy who would put himself second quickest overall.

The track was continuously ramping up with Maloney improving up to second as the boy from Barbados was having a strong qualifying for Lola Yamaha ABT. This would become third as Gunther would leap to the top of the time sheets and becoming the first driver to beat Sam Bird.

Major improvements would soon be laid down with four minutes remaining in the Group A qualifying group as Stoffel Vandoorne would go provisionally quickest with a 1:17.020, in a great effort by the Belgian driver. Gunther would drop to second as Rowland improved to third. 

Vandoorne, Gunther and Rowland would be separated by less than two tenths as Mitch Evans of Jaguar improved to a provisional fourth place. His time was good enough to be 12 thousandths of a second better than Evans.

The session would enter the final two minutes with drivers needing to find improvements and quickly as the 11 battled for the top four places. Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein would elevate himself to fourth.

Shortly, the chequered flag would be out and that would signal the end to the Group A qualifying for round four of the 2024/25 season. Only drivers on their current laps could complete them.

Vandoorne's strong time of a 1:17.020 would end the session quickest overall and would progress through to the duels stage. Rowland, Gunther and Bird would join him in progressing through to the quarter final stage.

Big shocks included Pascal Wehrlein, Jake Dennis, and both Jaguar cars in Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy all being eliminated.

Following a dramatic finale in Group A, there would be Group B to follow, with the top four from this group joining Stoffel Vandoorne, Max Gunther, Sam Bird and Oliver Rowland in the 1v1 duels.

The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and the session would be underway around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Laps would soon end up being set by drivers in a bid to reach the quarter final stages. A strong start to the session for the NEOM McLaren car of podium finisher on Friday Taylor Barnard. He would soon be beaten as time was being found by drivers.

Antonio Felix Da Costa would goto the top of the times with a 1:17.210 ahead of Barnard. The two Mahindra drivers, Edoardo Mortara and Nyck De Vries would also leap above the young Brit. 

This would be until a fantastic effort from Barnard would see him go faster than Da Costa with a 1:16.922. A lot of time was being found by many drivers as the track was continuing to ramp up. Jake Hughes would make it a 1-2 for Great Britain as he put his Maserati in second place.

Soon enough the time would count down to the chequered flag with drivers on flying laps only being able to improve as Barnard would improve and stay at the top of the times and would safely progress through to the knockout duels. 

Hughes, Mortara and Da Costa would join Barnard in progressing through to the duels with Nyck De Vries and Norman Nato narrowly missing out on progressing but they would be eliminated.

After an entertaining group stage phase it would be time for the 1v1 knockout duels where all eight drivers would make up the quarter final battles. These drivers would battle against another driver in a one-lap shootout. 

Whoever goes faster progresses to the semi final and the winner of the two semi finals will battle it out for pole position.

To begin the knockout duels format would be the quarter final 1v1 battles. The quarter finals would be matched up as follows:

• Max Gunther vs Oliver Rowland
• Sam Bird vs Stoffel Vandoorne
• Edoardo Mortara vs Jake Hughes
• Antonio Felix Da Costa vs Taylor Barnard

The first quarter final would be the top two from the round three E-Prix going head to head for the first space in the 1v1 duels semi final. It would be Gunther vs Rowland. DS Penske vs Nissan.

Gunther would head out first, as opposed to yesterday's quarter final where he went out second. Rowland would instead be the driver heading out second. Therefore, Gunther would complete his lap time first.

Gunther would lay down the benchmark lap of a 1:15.402, but Rowland's lap time would be too strong for him. The British driver would make no mistake in progressing through to the semi final stages. 

Rowland would wait to see who would progress out of Sam Bird and Stoffel Vandoorne to know who he would face in the first semi final. 

Bird would lay down his lap time first and would set a 1:15.418 but it would not be enough to book his place in the semi finals of the knockout duels. A great effort from both drivers but the 2022 Formula E Champion would progress to face Oiver Rowland in the semi finals.

For the first place in the second semi final would be the third quarter final between Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara and the Maserati of British talent Jake Hughes. Maserati would be hoping Hughes could join his teammate Vandoorne in the semi-final stages.

Mortara would lay down the lap time first and therefore all eyes would be on Hughes when Mortara laid down the benchmark of a 1:15.392. In the tightest of margins Hughes would beat it to make it both Maserati cars in the duels semi final two.

Hughes would be waiting to see who he would face in the second semi final, from the fourth and final quarter final, which would be contested between Antonio Felix Da Costa of Porsche and Taylor Barnard of NEOM McLaren.

Da Costa would be the driver to complete his lap time and therefore would lay down the benchmark time for Barnard to beat. The lap time to beat for Barnard would be a 1:15.067 and the British McLaren driver would achieve a semi final place!

A fantastic effort for Barnard would see himself progress through to the semi final in a battle between the Brits as he would be taking on the Maserati of Jake Hughes for a place int he final showdown for pole position. A 1:14.840 for Barnard!

There would then be four remaining in the knockout duels and they would take part in a semi-final each, with the winner of each semi-final progressing to the final one-lap showdown for pole position. 

The semi final match-ups would be as follows:

• Stoffel Vandoorne vs Oliver Rowland
• Jake Hughes vs Taylor Barnard

First up in the semi finals would be Vandoorne vs Rowland. Both experienced drivers but only one could make it through to the final fight for pole position. Similar to his quarter final, Rowland would be the driver to go out second with Vandoorne heading out first.

In a closely fought battle for a spot in the final, it would be the Nissan of Rowland that would progress by almost two tenths of a second and therefore it would be an all-British final with one of Jake Hughes or Taylor Barnard joining Rowland.

Following qualifying, semi-finalist Vandoorne would be disqualified from the session, in the post-session investigation by Race Control. This would be due to his fire extinguisher not being armed during his qualifying session. This would lead to him starting 22nd and back of the grid for the day's later E-Prix.

It would then be time for the semi-final between Hughes and Barnard and the NEOM McLaren of Barnard was absolutely flying in this 1v1 duel. Hughes would lay down the benchmark time to beat which was a 1:15.460. 

Barnard would comfortably beat him by over four tenths of a second and would join Rowland in the final. This would be the first ever duels final too for Taylor Barnard. Could he become the youngest ever pole sitter in Formula E history?

Unlike the quarter final and semi final, Rowland would be the driver to set his lap time first as he was the one to exit the pit lane first and he would be left to create enough of a gap to allow Barnard to have enough clean air to complete his fairly.

Rowland would lay down the benchmark lap for 1:15.243. Would Barnard beat it? You bet he would, in a dominant lap from the McLaren driver! Barnard would not only take his maiden Formula E pole position but he would also become the youngest in the championship's history.

Barnard would comfortably beat Rowland and it would be an all-British front row and it would be a chance for Barnard to go one further and become the youngest ever race winner in Formula E history.

He would have the chance to do it from the front of the field in the day's later E-Prix for round four of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship under the night skies at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit - in the first double-round of the season.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal

After winning the round three Jeddah E-Prix in dramatic circumstances, Max Gunther of DS Penske started Saturday well as he was the fastest driver in free practice 3.

The German driver converted pole position to victory with a last lap overtake on Oliver Rowland in Friday's inaugural Jeddah E-Prix as Gunther picked up his first win for his new team at the newest venue in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Gunther was fastest from the NEOM McLaren talent of Taylor Barnard who finished in second place, continuing his fine form from Friday's action into Saturday's. The top three would be the same as the Jeddah E-Prix top three but with Barnard in second instead of third and Rowland in third, instead of second.

Rowland leads the championship coming into the round four action after inheriting it with his points haul on Friday, in comparison to the previous championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa

Following a fantastic first day of racing action in Jeddah where drama boiled down to the final set of corners on the final lap of the E-Prix. However, as the sun began to rise on the Corniche Coast, it was time to do it all over again.

Maximilian Gunther made a dramatic last-lap overtake on Oliver Rowland to take victory in the first ever Jeddah E-Prix in the history of the Formula E World Championship to convert his pole position.

It would be race day once again on Saturday for round four of the 2024/25 Formula E season, with the day's action beginning with the weekend's free practice 3. 40 minutes of practice ahead of the day's later qualifying and E-Prix.

The green light would be on at the end of the pit lane and immediately there would be drivers keen to head out on circuit, and get a feel for the current track conditions ahead of the qualifying in a few hours later in the day.

Drivers would be laying down lap times early with a good start to proceedings for Envision Racing would see them go 1-2 with Robin Frijns going quickest. Frijns and Sebastian Buemi would both be ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, who set the early benchmark time.

As the drivers were starting to find pace, the order would be continuously changing with both Andretti cars moving into the top three. Jake Dennis would go fastest with a 1:18.568 with Nico Mueller going third quickest. The Andretti pair would be the Jaguar driver of Nick Cassidy.

The two Envision cars would then find improvements and go above the newly formed top three, but Buemi would be bumped to fourth and Frijns bumped to third as they were beaten by Norman Nato and Vandoorne. The pair were first and second respectively.

After the first 10 minutes of the session in top spot would be Nato with a 1:17.912 who would be ahead of Cassidy, Vandoorne, Frijns and Buemi as the top five with the drivers still looking for lap improvements and with 15 drivers of 22 having set a lap time.

Gunther who won the race on Friday, would lay down his first real representative time and would go fastest overall with a time better than Nato's and the DS Penske man was the driver to beat once again.

Buemi was continuing to show strong pace and after setting the session best sector time in all three sectors he would go faetest and would beat the time of Gunther. Buemi would go top by almost 1.5 seconds in a fantastic effort from the experienced Swiss driver.

A 1:15.941 would be the time to beat and Stoffel Vandoorne would beat it for Maserati but he might have lost some time to make his gap even greater at the top, as on the start/finish straight yellow flags were out.

Jake Hughes came to a stop on the start/finish straight with a suspected mechanical problem but he was able to restart the car and get it going again preventing the introduction of a red flag.

Cupra Kiro had a disappointing race after Dan Ticktum qualifying in the top eight was unable to convert it into points scoring. However, hi teammate David Beckmann would go quickest with a 1:15.839 - just five thousandths quicker than the previous time at the top by Vandoorne.

Beckmann's stint at the top would be short-lived, as on his next lap, Taylor Barnard would go quickest by half a second, which would be once again showing his raw speed and talent. He finished third in the round three E-Prix on Friday.

Barnard's teammate Sam Bird would make it up to second and would get within five thousandths of a second. This would be until Barnard extended his gap at the top by an additional two tenths. Norman Nato would elevate himself to third for Nissan. The top three would be full of Nissan manufactured cars.

Nato would once again improve but would stay third. This would not be good enough to upset the McLaren 1-2 but he would go to within three tenths of top man Barnard.

With just 10 minutes to go, the top two would no longer be all-McLaren as Max Gunther would go second for DS Penske and Mitch Evans would go third for Jaguar. Neither would be good enough to get ahead of Barnard. Second place Gunther would still be trailing Barnard by over a tenth.

Banrard's time of the 1:15.116 would still be the time at the top of the times as the likes of Jean-Eric Vergne were pushing hard on their lap times but having no prevail. Eventually it would though as Gunther would beat the time narrowly by 0.072!

The round three E-Prix winner would go to the top with a 1:15.044 as Da Costa would elevate himself into the top three ahead of Mitch Evans. This would be until the Nissan of Rowland moved himself up to third and within a tenth of Gunther.

Soon enough the time would be up and the chequered flag would be flying from the race control tower and that would signal the end for free practice in Jeddah for the 2024/25 Formula E season.

At the top of the times, and picking up from his great results yesterday, Max Gunther ended the session fastest with a time late on to secure top spot as he narrowly beat Taylor Barnard by seven hundredths of a second. Oliver Rowland completed the top three for Nisan.

The top three from Friday's E-Prix would also be the top three in free practice, with just the different positions for Barnard and Rowland, in difference to their finishing position in the first Jeddah E-Prix.

The two Porsche cars would end up in the top five as Antonio Felix Da Costa was fourth ahead of his teammate and the reigning Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein. Mitch Evans for Jaguar would finish sixth ahead of the NEOM McLaren driver of Sam Bird in seventh.

Nissan's Norman Nato was eighth ahead of the Cupra Kiro of Dan Ticktum in ninth with 2021 ABB FIA Formula E World Champion Nyck De Vries rounding off the top 10.

Practice for the first ever weekend of Formula E action in Jeddah would be completed. Attention would build to qualifying which would set the grid for the second E-Prix in as many days for round four of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal

Pole sitter and German racer Maximilian Gunther took victory in the most dramatic of circumstances on Friday in the inaugural Jeddah E-Prix in Saudi Arabia.

Gunther made a last-gasp move around the final chicane in his DS Penske machine, to pass Oliver Rowland to win the first ever Jeddah E-Prix in dramatic circumstances. This also signifies the first win of Gunther's for his DS Penske.

The German driver converted the pole position to victory but left it late in a dramatic twist where his slight amount of extra energy did enough of a job to beat Rowland in his Nissan, who had to settle for second. How much he would have loved to have won.

Taylor Barnard completed the podium with his second podium finish of the season.

Following how the race played out with certain results for certain drivers, second place was enough for Oliver Rowland to take over the championship lead after three rounds and will head into Saturday's round four in Jeddah as the new championship leader.

The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was set to embark on a new chapter and too discover a new venue as FIA's first all-electric world series visited Jeddah for the very first time.

Jeddah is known for its hosting of motorsport events, with it playing home to the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ever since its debut on the calendar in 2021. Formula E is not exactly a stranger to Saudi Arabia as the world championship has visited the nation for racing on multiple occasions.

In previous seasons gone by, the Formula E World Championship had headed to Diriyah but this time Formula E heads to Jeddah for the first double-round weekend of the season to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Formula E would be seeing a new feature coming into the round three E-Prix for the first ever race in Jeddah. The new feature being named "Pit Boost" which would be seen in one race across a double-round weekend throughout the season.

This is where the drivers would come into the pit lane for 30 seconds to gain an extra 10% of energy. This pit stop would be mandatory for each driver to serve and it must be served when the car's energy is between 40 and 60 percent.

Double stacking is not allowed so teams will have to choose a preference in which one of their drivers gets the best case in terms of strategy which could lead to controversy if things get heated out on track. Full course yellows and safety cars don't prevent this from taking place. 

This would be something for each of the 22 drivers and the 11 teams to manage and keep well within their minds ahead of the first ever E-Prix in Jeddah in the history of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

In the day's earlier qualifying session, drama was very much existent as it would see DS Penske's Maximilian Gunther get pole position for the first time in the 2024/25 season. This would prevent reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein from picking up three consecutive pole positions in the first three rounds of the season.

On the second row,behind the all-German front row would be filled with two incredibly talented British drivers. Oliver Rowland would qualify third and start third for Nissan while the young NEOM McLaren driver of Taylor Barnard would start fourth.

While Wherlein would be set to start from the front row, his Porsche teammate and championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa would be knocked out in the group stage phase of qualifying and would end 13th in the final classification. This is where he would start the race.

There would be two 20-place grid penalties for both Lola Yamaha ABT drivers in Lucas Di Grassi and Zane Maloney due to a mechanical punishment as they had a MGU failure that broke the regulations. Therefore, they will have to undertake the penalty.

Maloney would start 20th ahead of Di Grassi in 21st but neither would start at the very back of the grid as Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara was not classified at the end of the qualifying session as he failed to set a lap time. Therefore, he would start from 22nd and last.

All 22 drivers would lineup on the grid and it would be time to go racing for the first time in the Formula E World Championship in Jeddah. Gunther on pole with reigning champion Wehrlein on the front row. Would either of them take victory or would it be one of the other 20?

The lights would go out and the race would be underway with Gunther getting a clean start and leading into the first corner complex with Wehrlein and Rowland side by side in a battle for second.

Further back would be a disastrous start for NEOM McLaren's Sam Bird who would be spun round following contact with another driver.

Rowland would filter out into second and would get ahead of Wehrlein who would be hit from behind by the Jaguar of Mitch Evans and this would cause Wehrlein to pit with damage. Evans would also pick up damage to his bodywork following additional contact with Nyck De Vries of Mahindra.

It would be a opening lap full of contact s Nico Mueller would maeke contact with the rear of championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa and would go airborn as a result. This would lead to severe damage to the Andretti car of Mueller and he would be unsurprisingly forced to pits.

Despite his team trying to find a possibility of repairing his machine but unfortunately for him it was not to be and he became the first retirement of the race of 31 laps in Jeddah.

Gunther would be managing things well out in front and would pull a gap of over a second to Oliver Rowland who was in second position as on lap 3 attack mode became active with the drivers having to do two trips throughout the 31 lap E-Prix.

Evans would continue with his damaged front wing until the end of lap five when he made the decision to come into the pits as it was affecting his performance. This would cost him track position but he would be looking for a safety car later on in the race to bring him back into contention.

The safety car would then be introduced on lap seven due to debris from the Porsche of Antonio Felix Da Costa in sector two and therefore the pack would be bunched up and this would make the advantage that Gunther had built up become null and void.

Evans would be handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision on the opening lap compounding his woes and continuing a terrible start to racing in Jeddah for the New Zealander.

After a short stoppage to racing conditions because of the safety car., the race would be back going again at green flag conditions. Gunther maintained the lead well on the opening lap from Rowland, Taylor Barnard, De Vries and Jake Hughes who would be the top five drivers.

Lap 10 and De Vries would pile the pressure on the NEOM McLaren of Barnard and would make his way into the podium positions with a calm and collected move down the inside of turn 13. 

Following contact in one of the two final chicanes of the lap, another position would be lost for Barnard as the Maserati of Hughes would fly by into fourth, demoting Barnard to fifth.

Meanwhile, Nissan's driver Norman Nato was given a drive-through penalty, for a technical infraction, his teammate Oliver Rowlnd would take the lead of the E-Prix. This would be into turn 13 which would be looking like to be a good overtaking area.

Eventually on lap 12, Attack Mode would be used for the first time in the Jeddah E-Prix as Jake Hughes would take four minutes of his allotted eight minutes and he would be looking to capitalise and move himself up the order.

Rowland would be the next driver to go for Attack Mode on lap 14 as many drivers would follow him including the Jaguar of Nick Cassidy, the Maserati of Stoffel Vandoorne and both Envision Racing cars of Sebastian Buemi and Robin Frijns.

The conclusion of lap 14 would also see history as the first drivers to head into the pit lane for the debuting "Pit Boost" format. Into the pit lane first would the Maserati of Jake Hughes, the NEOM McLaren of Taylor Barnard and the Porsche of Antonio Felix Da Costa would be the first three drivers to embark on a historic moment for Formula E.

Following their out laps, Barnard Hughes and Da Costa would also take their first attack modes of the race, as would the Cupra Kiro of David Beckmann. This would tick off one of their two mandatory visits to the Attack Mode station on the very outside of turn 13.

De Vries and Gunther would be among the next drivers and it would be a disaster for Gunther as he would fall behind De Vries in the pit lane and in addition he would fall behind Hughes and Barnard too! A nightmare for the pole sitter.

Lap 17 would be the lap of Rowland's visit to the pit lane for his 30-second stop and he would come out comfortably ahead of what were the leading drivers in the early stages of the 31-lap race.

Attack Mode and Power Boost deployments were happening throughout the field with David Beckmann, Pascal Wehrlein and Zane Maloney being the last three drivers to serve their power boost and because they were yet to stop, they would be the provisional top three in the race,

This would not last long as at the end of lap 19, all three of them would head to the pit lane as battles were starting to unfold between Hughes, Barnard, De Vries and Vergne. The field were becoming bunched up together and battles were starting to unravel in Jeddah,

De Vries who had not been afraid to make moves in earlier stages of the race and he would show no fear in passing Hughes for second with a tidy pass as the Mahindra man was setting his sights on race leader Rowland.

Hughes and Barnard would then be locked in battle but they were under pressure as Gunther with Attack Mode was hunting them down. At the start of lap 22, Gunther would fly by Barnard and further around the circuit the German would overtake Hughes.

Attack Mode was continuing to play useful for drivers throughout the field as Mahindra's Mortara would pass Da Costa and Vergne on lap 23 and soon enough would be up into sixth place when the Attack Mode expired.

Apart from Buemi and Bird, the other 19 drivers remaining would still need to make another journey to attack mode in order to comply with the regulations and therefore the race was far from its finishing order.

Barnard needed to overtake Hughes and without delving for his second Attack Mode and he would do just that, overtaking his fellow Brit for fourth with sights on his second Formula E podium.

As for the top three on lap 25, De Vries and Gunther would take their final four minutes of Attack Mode as the two drivers in second and third were keen on impacting the latter stages of Oliver Rowland's E-Prix.

Gunther had been showing some stronger pace than De Vries before they went into their second Attack Modes. The pole sitter made no mistake and showed no hesitation as the DS Penske car moved up into second place.

The following two laps and most drivers who had Attack Mode left took their final minute of Attack Mode as the E-Prix was approaching the latter stages of the E-Prix. Rowland would be in the lead from Gunther, De Vries, Barnard and Mortara completing the top five at the start of lap 28.

Gunther's pace continued to be strong with both on their final moments of Attack Mode. Rowland had the upper hand as his Attack Mode was set to last longer than Gunther but Gunther was showing great speed and was hounding the pressure upon the Nissan driver.

Barnard having a great pace would use his final piece of Attack Mode to get into a provisional podium place as he took third from the Mahindra of De Vries as things were heating up into the final two minutes of the first ever Jeddah E-Prix.

Things would boil down to the final lap of the E-Prix with Gunther pressuring Rowland and gaining on the race leader. Barnard brought himself into the picture as the front pair were fighting and holding each other up and leaving themselves in the clutches of the youngster.

Energy would be tight for Rowland as Gunther would find a way through in the final chicane and in the most dramatic of circumstances would take the lead to take victory in Saudi Arabia. Gunther converted pole position into victory in the first ever Jeddah E-Prix. 

A historic moment for the German as he took his first victory for DS Penske in "a grandstand finish" to quote lead commentator Tom Brooks. He took victory from Oliver Rowland, who did everything he could but would have to be content with second for Nissan.

​Taylor Barnard completed the podium in third for his second podium finish in the first three rounds of the 2024/25 Formula E season. Nyck De Vries would take fourth for Mahindra in a great effort by the 2021 Formula E World Champion. Maserati's Jake Hughes completed the top five.

Jean-Eric Vergne was sixth for DS Penske in a great result and a great haul of points for the team. Edoardo Mortara made it a double points finish Mahindra in seventh with another double points finish for NEOM McLaren as Sam Bird recovered to take eighth.

To complete the points-paying positions, Porsche's Portuguese superstar Antonio Felix Da Costa finished ninth with the 2022 Formula E Champion Stoffel Vandoorne completed the top 10.

Lucas Di Grassi would be disqualified after the race for using more than the maximum energy allowed in an E-Prix.

Rowland would take over the championship lead following the points haul and the gain in points on the previous championship leader Da Costa. He would head into the second round of the double round weekend, on Saturday, as the new championship leader.

Action in Jeddah would return for free practice 3 to kick off the round four action on Saturday, and after a thrilling opening round of Formula E action around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, you would be unfortunate to miss the upcoming events.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal

In an all-German final, in the first ever Formula E qualifying in Jeddah, Maximilian Gunther would take pole position on Friday in Saudi Arabia.

Gunther would beat reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein in an intense and dramatic qualifying session, to prevent Wehrlein picking up what would have been three consecutive pole positions for Porsche.

Gunther and Wehrlein both got to the final by beating British drivers as young McLaren star Taylor Barnard and Mexico City E-Prix race winner Oliver Rowland were eliminated in the semi final stage of the 1v1 duels.

There would be a big shock in the group stage section of the qualifying session as the championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa would be eliminated and would finish seventh in his group.

It was time for qualifying for the third round of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, for the first ever Formula E race in Jeddah, at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit more specifically.

It had been an entertaining weekend already with two practice sessions in the normal weekend formalities in addition to the rookie free practice which is aiming to provide an opportunity and a pathway to young drivers hoping to compete in an FIA World Championship.

As is normal with the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the qualifying format is a knockout and duels based session. The 22 drivers would be split into two groups of 11. The top four of each group would progress through to the 1v1 duels. 

These eight drivers would form four quarter finals, with each driver competing in one quarter final each. The winner of each quarter final would progress through to a semi final and then the winner of their semi finals would progress into a 1v1 final. The driver with the quickest time in the final would take the pole position for the round three Jeddah E-Prix.

The Groups would be listed as Group A and Group B and the following drivers would compete in each.

Group A:

• Mitch Evans & Nick Cassidy (Jaguar)
• Sam Bird & Taylor Barnard (NEOM McLaren)
• Sebastian Buemi & Robin Frijns (Envision Racing)
• Nyck De Vries (Mahindra Racing)
• Maximilian Gunther (DS Penske)
• Antonio Felix Da Costa (Porsche)
• Nico Mueller (Andretti)
• Lucas Di Grassi (Lola Yamaha ABT)

Group B:

• Oliver Rowland & Norman Nato (Nissan)
• Stoffel Vandoorne & Jake Hughes (Maserati)
• Dan Ticktum & David Beckmann (Cupra Kiro)
• Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
• Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra)
• Jake Dennis (Andretti)
• Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske)
• Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha ABT)

​

Group A would be up first in the first ever Jeddah E-Prix qualifying with the first 11 drivers having 12 minutes to fight for a top four space which would equivalently see them go through to the quarter finals.

The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and the cars would pile out of the pit lane and onto the circuit for the first ever qualifying around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Soon enough the drivers would begin to lay down their first flying laps and it would be a good start to the session for NEOM McLaren as their drivers would go first and second. The young Taylor Barnard would be quickest ahead of teammate Sam Bird with seven minutes remaining.

Drivers would be looking to find time, which included the two Jaguars as their first powerful lap times would be excellent. Both would elevate themselves into the provisional top four. Nick Cassidy would go quickest while Evans would go third fastest. 

Evans would drop to fourth as Antonio Felix Da Costa leapt above him as the track was starting to ramp up and all the drivers were starting to find big improvements out in the Saudi Arabian sunshine.

Barnard would return to the top of the time sheets with a 1:17.505. His NEOM McLaren teammate Sam Bird would also jump back into the top four. Bird would be bumped out of the four due to improvements from Evans and the DS Penske of Maximilian Gunther.

Soon enough the 12 minutes would be up and the chequered flag would be flying with only drivers on flying laps that could improve and get themselves into the top four. Cassidy would improve to fourth but would be right on the fringes with drivers elsewhere on circuit improving.

Barnard would finish the session top after an additional improvement while Gunther, Evans and Nyck De Vries would join him in the top four and progressed to the quarter finals. The big shock though would be that championship leader Da Costa would be eliminated.

Da Costa would have a scruffy final lap and would end up finishing only seventh in the group and that would be a bitterly disappointing qualifying for the championship leader and would have work to do in the day's later E-Prix.

Once Group A had concluded it would be time for the other 11 drivers to compete in Group B for a place in the top four and an opportunity to compete for pole position in the 1v1 knockout duels. 

The green light would be on at the end of the pit lane signalling the start of the 12 minutes of Group B with the drivers entering the circuit almost immediately from the pit lane.

In the first benchmark lap times, Stoffel Vandoorne would be the driver to go provisionally fastest for Maserati with he and his teammate having a great start to Group B as Hughes would go provisionally third. The pair would be split by the Lola Yamaha of Zane Maloney.

There would be a sign of the track constantly improving as there would be the two Brits of Jake Dennis and Oliver Rowland that would leap up and into the top two positions with Dennis in his Andretti leading the way out of them all.

The Maserati cars were certainly looking a force to be reckoned with once again as both improved their times again but all the drivers were finding time out on circuit so the session was set to be close.

With five minutes remaining, a stunning lap time from Rowland would see him just about get ahead of reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein of Porsche. Rowland would put his Nissan 0.045 clear of Wehrlein with a 1:17.650.

The track was continuing to ramp up as Jake Hughes who would go top of the time sheets but the Maserati driver would soon be bumped to second and then third by first Dan Ticktum and then Pascal Wehrlein, who would go to the top.

Soon enough the chequered flag would be out with all drivers looking to make improvements in order to get themselves through to the duels to join Taylor Barnard, Maximilian Gunther, Mitch Evans and Nyck De Vries.

A stunning lap from Oliver Rowland would see him massively improve to go fastest where in the end three British drivers would make it through to the duels. Jake Hughes in the Maserati and Dan Ticktum in the Cupra Kiro would join their fellow Brit in going through. The three Brits would be joined by reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein.

Edoardo Mortara was unable to get a lap in and was not classified due to a suspected issue.

Following an entertaining group stage in the Formula E qualifying at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, it would be time for the 1v1 duels. The eight drivers would be set to face off against one another in a one-time lap 1v1 battle as drivers would be eliminated stage by stage until two driver will remain.

The two drivers who will progress through their quarter final and semi final would go head-to-head for the honour of pole positions and the extra championship points.

First up would be the quarter finals, which would line up as follows: 

• Nyck De Vries vs Maximilian Gunther
• Mitch Evans vs Taylor Barnard
• Pascal Wehrlein vs Jake Hughes
• Dan Ticktum vs Oliver Rowland

First up in the quarter final stages would be the Dutch Mahindra driver Nyck De Vries who would be going up against the DS Penske German Maximilian Gunther. De Vries would be the driver heading out first to set his one and only lap time.

De Vries would cross the line but would ultimately not have enough to progress to the semi final as Gunther would eliminate him with an impressive lap time from the German. In a dominant performance for the DS Penske driver he would better De Vries by over seven tenths of second. 

Gunther would await one of Mitch Evans or Taylor Barnard who would be joining him in the first semi final. Experience vs youth in the second quarter final in the round three qualifying duels. 

A 1:15.574 would be the benchmark time for Barnard to beat as Mitch Evans would set his lap first and in an incredibly close tussle for a spot in the semi finals, Evans would be beaten. Barnard in his first full season of Formula E would be through to the semi finals as he beat Evans by just 14 one thousandths of a second.

Next up in the quarter finals would be the Porsche of reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein who would go up against the British talent Jake Hughes of Maserati. This would be a battle for the first space in the second semi final of the knockout duels for the round three Jeddah E-Prix.

Wehrlein would set his lap time first with a 1:15.380 but following a mistake for Hughes that cost him a significant amount of time. Therefore, Wehrlein would progress through to the semi finals with a distance of almost a second in lap times.

The final quarter final would be an all-British affair as Dan Ticktum would go up against his fellow countryman Oliver Rowland, who won last time out in Mexico City. It would be Ticktum who would go first in setting his lap time.

Ticktum would lay down a time of 1:15.754 but it would not be enough to get through into the second semi final as Rowland would dispatch of him by four tenths of a second and would see himself comfortably through to the semi final up against Pascal Wehrlein.

Soon enough it would be time for the semi finals, which would line up as follows:

• Maximilian Gunther vs Taylor Barnard
• Pascal Wehrlein vs Oliver Rowland

The first semi final would be between the Penske of Gunther and the NEOM McLaren of Barnard with a place in the final up for grabs for each driver, for the first time in the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Barnard would be the driver to head out first and he would be the first driver to lay down his only lap time in this one-shot 1v1 semi final. Gunther would follow in a similar way to how he ran in the quarter final.

In an intense squabble with both drivers putting in great efforts but ultimately Barnard would fall to the pace of the DS Penske of Gunther who would dispatch of the Brit by almost two tenths of a second.

Gunther would await one of Pascal Wehrlein or Oliver Rowland in the duels final to fight for pole position for the first ever E-Prix at Jeddah.

In a fascinating battle between two highly talented drives, Wehrlein would have a fantastic final sector to narrowly beat Rowland in a great comeback by the reigning Formula E Champion. Therefore, it would be an all-German final between Gunther and Wehrlein.

Maximilian Gunther vs Pascal Wehrlein in the duels final for round three of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship would be set to be exciting. It would be DS Penske vs Porsche in a one-lap shootout for pole position.

​Unlike the quarter final and semi final rounds Gunther would be the driver to set the lap time first as the final duel would get underway in the final showdown for pole position. If Gunther would take pole position, he would be preventing Wehrlein taking a third successive pole position.

In an intense and closely fought battle throughout the lap of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit but it would be no three consecutive pole positions for Pascal Wehrlein as Gunther would take pole position by in the end three tenths of a secon.

A mistake in the latter part of the lap for Wehrlein would see him end a distance off the DS Penske of Gunther who would take pole position for the first time in the 2024/25 season. It would also be the second consecutive pole position in Saudi Arabia for DS Penske as Jean-Eric Vergne grabbed pole in Diriyah back in the 2023/24 campaign.

This would mean that Gunther would take pole position for the first ever Jeddah E-Prix and round three of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in a great opportunity to take his first victory for DS Penske.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal

Portuguese racing driver and championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa was fastest in the free practice 2 session, in Jeddah on Friday.

It was a heavily disrupted session with two red flags in total taking place and ruining the flow the drivers had in the session. However, Da Costa was able to show his pace when the session was flowing and he ended it fastest with a 1:15.470.

Da Costa was fastest ahead of the DS Penske of Maximilian Gunther who finished second, a total of 0.124 behind the championship leader. The Maserati of Jake Hughes was third while the two Nissan drivers of Norman Nato and Oliver Rowland completed the top five.

Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein made it two Porsche cars in the top 10 as he would finish ninth overall at the end of the 40-minute session.

Friday February 14. Often famous for being the date of Valentine's Day, in the world of Formula E, it would signify the first race day ever to be held in Jeddah in the history of the all-electric world championship.

The day would begin as race days in Formula E tend to begin and that is with free practice 2 to warm the drivers up for the later two intense sessions of qualifying and the E-Prix itself for round 3 of the 2024/25 world championship.

On Thursday, in free practice 1, it was dominant from Nissan as they topped the session 1-2 with Oliver Rowland fastest ahead of his French teammate Norman Nato. Like FP1, the free practice 2 session would last 40 minutes.

The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane meaning the 40-minute practice session would be underway with cars piling out of the pit lane and onto the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein would be the first driver to lay down a benchmark lap time of representative pace, and would put his Porsche to the top of the time sheets. Drivers were beginning to find more and more pace as they gained an additional feel for the circuit.

Wehrlein would be soon dislodged from first place with many drivers finding time. Nico Mueller of Andretti would be the next driver to have his lap time send him to the top of the timing sheets.

Jean-Eric Vergne would be the next driver to go quickest from Mitch Evans as Wehrlein would return to the top three following an improved lap time. At the start of race day in Jeddah many drivers were finding time as the track was ramping up.

At the end of the first 10 minutes, it would be the Lola Yamaha ABT car of Lucas Di Grassi that would be top of the time sheets. He would lead championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa who would be second quickest with 30 minutes remaining.

Far from ideal to the start of the session for Envision Racing's Robin Frijns as the Dutchman came to a stop at turn 13. He was reporting a issue that required a system restart. This would bring a halt to the session as the red flag was flown. 

Frijns would get his car back going again but would head to the pit lane so his team could review the data and inspect his car to see what went wrong and what the underlying issue was. Soon enough the red flag period would be over and green flag track conditions would be back.

Due to the delay with the red flag, the new FIA Race Director Marek Hanaczewski and Race Control would make the decision to extend the session by an additional four minutes. 

Drivers would be out on circuit and they would be continuing to set lap times and continuing to look to improve their personal best laps and find themselves in higher positions on the timing sheets.

DS Penske would have a stint of success in the session as with 20 minutes of the session remaining both of their drivers would be in the top five. It would be their German talent Maximilian Gunther at the top of the times.

Gunther led NEOM McLaren's Sam Bird, Porsche's Wehrlein, Cupra Kiro's David Beckmann and his own teammate Jean-Eric Vergne which would round the top five with half of the session remaining in Jeddah, in FP2.

The time of 1:15.594 of Gunther would continue to be the time to beat as he was having a decent stint at the top of the time sheets, with his lap being a tenth ahead of Norman Nato in second. Oliver Rowland had made it two Nissan drivers in the top three as he moved up into third.

Nissan were looking strong throughout the season and both cars would be showing consistent pace following their successes of free practice 1.

Gunther's lap would soon be beaten as the championship leader Da Costa would put his team top of the times for Porsche, making it be a Porsche, a DS Penske and both Nissan machines in the top four with just under 15 minutes of the session remaining.

Da Costa and Gunther would remain the top two as the clock ticked down to just 10 minutes remaining in the FP2 session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Jake Hughes elevated himself to third to jump ahead of Nato and Rowland in the top five.

Most drivers would be in the pits as the time began to tick down in the final 10 with Da Costa remaining unbeaten at the top of the time sheets with his personal best lap of the session with a 1:15.479.

Five minutes remaining and this would begin to change with drivers looking to practice their qualifying runs ahead of the day's later session, which would set the grid for the first ever E-Prix to take place at Jeddah.

To bring a halt to the running would be a red flag with three minutes remaining in the session as Mahindra's Nyck De Vries and Maserati's Stoffel Vandoorne would collide with Vandoorne unaware of De Vries charging through at turn 3, while on a fast lap.

This would be investigated after the session and also the session would not be resumed with so little time left so no more free practice for the drivers before the qualifying and racing action to come for round three of the championship.

Antonio Felix Da Costa was the fastest driver in the session and ended the 40-minute session at the top of the time sheets. The championship leader put his Porsche to the top of the times ahead of DS Penske's Maximilian Gunther who was second. Jake Hughes for Maserati would complete the top three.

Another successful free practice session for Nissan, as they continued their positive start to the first double-round weekend of the season as Norman Nato finished fourth ahead of his British teammate Oliver Rowland, who respectively was fifth.

Following them was two Swiss drivers in Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara and Andretti's Nico Mueller sixth and seventh respectively. NEOM McLaren's Sam Bird was eighth with reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein and Cupra Kiro's David Beckmann rounding off the top 10.

Free Practice had now been concluded for round three of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, following the end to free practice 2. Attention would turn to the rest of Friday's action with the knockout qualifying session to come as well as the first ever Jeddah E-Prix.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal

A superb free practice 1 for Nissan, saw British talent Oliver Rowland finish fastest under the night skies of Jeddah.

Rowland shone once again and he would be part of a 1-2 finish in the opening 22-car free practice session of this weekend's double-round in the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

The British driver set a 1:15.849, which was over a tenth of a second faster than his Nissan teammate and French racing driver Norman Nato would finish second. Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara completed the top three.

Porsche racer and championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa would finish eighth, two places behind championship leader Pascal Wehrlein who was sixth.

Arrving at a brand new Saudi Arabian city in Jeddah for the very first time, Formula E had reason to be excited to race at a brand new venue for the first double-round weekend of the 2024/25 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Following the day's earlier rookie free practice test, it was time for the world championship action with the full grid of 22 drivers, and 11 teams with two cars in each team. This would conclude Thursday's action as the grid was preparing for free practice 1.

This would be the start of the double-round weekend for the full time grid with action taking place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which is known to the world of motorsport as the venue for the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. This Formula E layout would be a different layout in comparison to the one of Formula 1 Grand Prix.

For the first 40-minute practice session of this double-round weekend, the green light would be on at the end of the pit lane, meaning the session would be underway. The sun had fully set for free practice 1 and the running would be completed under the night skies with the street lights glowing up the Gen 3 cars.

As is common with Formula E free practice 1, it would begin with a test of the full course yellow being undertaken by the new Formula E FIA race director Marek Hanaczweski following the departure of the previous race director Scott Elkins.

This full course yellow test would not last long and drivers would begin looking to try and set fast flying laps to try and find the limits and where the grip will be in a different variation of layout of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Drivers would begin to lay down their first lap times and DS Penske and Maserati would look to have good pace as Jean-Eric Vergne of DS Penske, would put himself provisionally fastest overall, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne in second for Maserati.

A tough start to the weekend for Lucas Di Grassi and Zane Maloney of Lola Yamaha as they would each undertake a 20-place grid penalty for breaking the seals of the E-Motors on the car which is classed as a mechanical infringement within the regulations. Therefore, both drivers victims of punishments towards their cars.

Within the first 10 minutes of the session, the drivers would begin to find more time as the track was beginning to ramp up. With all drivers having a lap time on the board, Maserati's Jake Hughes would be fastest provisionally ahead of Mahindra's Edoardo Mortars. Half an hour of the session would remain.

The track would continue to improve as would the lap times with Jaguar's Nick Cassidy and Mexico City E-Prix winner Oliver Rowland having stints at the top of the time sheets.

At the halfway point, 20 minutes had passed and 20 minutes would remain in the opening free practice in Jeddah for round three of the 2024/25 season. Hughes would regain his place at the top of the time sheets and would be fastest overall with 1:16.627 being the lap time to beat.

Hughes would be fastest ahead of Nissan's Rowland and Porsche's Antonio Felix Da Costa that would be completing the top three. There would soon be a stint where a majority of drivers would enter the pit lane to review data and prepare for other plans to gather additional data in other areas.

Vergne would come close to Hughes' time as the multiple Formula E champion would be just over a tenth away from the top of the times. He would be shortly joined in the top three by his DS Penske teammate Maximilian Gunther.

There would be a change at the top with 15 minutes to go as Rowland would return to the top of the timing pages with reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein putting his Porsche up into second place. This was as Di Grassi leapt up into sixth.

With 10 minutes remaining, Rowland would still find himself top of the times ahead of Wehrlein and Hughes as the top three with Vergne and Envision Racing's Sebastian Buemi rounding off the top five.

Buemi would soon be dislodged from fifth place as Mahindra's Nyck De Vries would find himself in the top five by going fifth fastest.

There would be another change at the top but it would become a Nissan 1-2 with Norman Nato dislodging his teammate Rowland at the top of the times as the clock continued to tick down in FP1.

With just five minutes remaining, the Nissan 1-2 would remain in tact for Nissan but elsewhere in the top five, there would be the two Porsche cars of Antonio Felix Da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein in third and fourth with Andretti's Nico Mueller in fifth.

Soon enough Wehrlein would split the two Nissan cars to go second as once again the track was seeing big improvements made to personal best lap times but Nato's lap time remained strong at the top of the time sheet. 

Wehrlein would be bumped down to third though as British talent Dan Ticktum would go second for Cupra Kiro showing improvements were being made from drivers from all different teams up and down the grid.

Times would continue to improve and positions would be constantly changing and as the chequered flag flew from the race control tower, that signalled the end of FP1 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia.

By the end of the session, it would be an ideal start to the weekend for Nissan as they would see their cars finishing 1-2 at the end of the 40 minutes. It would be the Mexico City E-Prix race winner Oliver Rowland, who would finish fastest overall.

Rowland would top the times from his French teammate Norman Nato in a 1-2 finish with Mahindra's Swiss driver Edoardo Mortara completing the top three at the end of the FP1 session.

NEOM McLaren's Sam Bird and Cupra Kiro's Dan Ticktum made it three Brits in the top five as they were fourth and fifth respectively, in the final FP1 order.

Reigning Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein was sixth for Porsche ahead of the Maserati talent Stoffel Vandoorne, who was seventh. Wehrlein's Porsche teammate and championship leader Antonio Felix Da Costa was eighth.

Da Costa was eighth for Porsche with DS Penske's Maximilian Gunther in ninth and the Jaguar car of Mitch Evans completing the top 10 for the opening free practice in Jeddah.

With FP1 complete in Jeddah and Thursday's action finished around the three kilometre circuit, the attention turns to Friday where round three of the FIA Formula E World Championship is set to unfold.

​

Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal

Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal

For the first time in a month, Formula E is to return to racing action, as the world championship descends on Saudi Arabia for the first double round of the 2024/25 season.

After the first two opening rounds of the season in Sao Paulo and Mexico City, the championship is building up to be another close title fight as the championship heads to the Middle East for the first double round of the year in Saudi Arabia.

This visit to Saudi Arabia will see a very first visit to Jeddah, for the first ever all-electric FIA world championship. Jeddah will be the second Saudi Arabian city to host a Formula E event following Diriyah. This makes Saudi Arabia the sixth different country to have hosted a Formula E event at two different cities.

Jeddah will also see the first rookie test of the 2024/25 Formula E season which is to take place on Thursday February 13th, with all 11 teams fielding one driver who will participate for a 40-minute practice session.

A visit to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit is upon Formula E for the very first time in the championship's history, with a relocation from the Diriyah E-Prix venue that Formula E has hosted many rounds of the world championship in the past.

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is known for hosting the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Formula 1 since its first appearance into the famous world championship back in 2021. Now Formula E will embark on a different layout to Formula 1 as they prepare to host an E-Prix in Jeddah for the very first time. 

Under the night skies, the street lights will join on the all-electric machines in a double-round weekend as rounds three and four of the 2024/25 championship are set to take place this coming weekend. 

The circuit itself is made up of 19 corners and it has a lap distance of just over 3km, with many different challenges and complex turns for the drivers to navigate and get to grips with as the majority of drivers on the Formula E grid have never raced here before.

Action around the Formula E layout is said to be exciting with two E-Prix races. The two races will also take place on Friday and Saturday. With the first free practice session of the weekend and the rookie practice session will take place on Thursday.

Last year in Saudi Arabia, in Diriyah, it was also a double-round weekend of the championship, with the venue playing host to rounds two and three of the 2023/24 Formula E Championship.

Jake Dennis and Nick Cassidy both took a win each in the Middle East, with both coincidentally winning from third on the grid in their respective races. Dennis won from Jean-Eric Vergne who finished second with Cassidy in third.

As for Cassidy's race win, he would beat Robin Frijns and Oliver Rowland to glory, whilst also taking the bonus point for the fastest lap.

This coming weekend of action at Jeddah will see the first double-round of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. In addition to this, it will also see the first rookie test of the regular racing season.

All 11 of the teams on the current Formula E grid will participate in the session, to give rookie drivers who have never raced in Formula E before, a chance to test their worth and show their teams that they could be an option to race in the championship should teams need a replacement for one of their current lineups.

If drivers impress in their rookie test opportunities they are given, this could potentially give themselves a good opportunity racing next season like Zane Maloney and Taylor Barnard, who now find themselves as rookies on this year's grid.

The 11 drivers competing in Thursday's rookie test come from a variety of different backgrounds including FIA Formula 2, W Series, Endurance racing and even former Formula 1 podium finishers.

The lineup for the 2024/25 rookie free practice test in Jeddah, is as follows:

• ​Andretti - Jak Crawford (USA)​
• Cupra Kiro - Mikkel Jensen (Denmark)
• DS Penske - Daniil Kvyat (Russia) *NEUTRAL FLAG*
• Envision Racing - Zak O'Sullivan (Great Britain)
• Jaguar TCS Racing - Jamie Chadwick (Great Britain)
• Lola Yamaha ABT - Tatiana Calderon (Colombia)
• Mahindra Racing - Kush Maini (India)
• Maserati MSG Racing - Theo Pourchaire (France)
• NEOM McLaren - Alex Dunne (Republic of Ireland)
• Nissan - Gabriele Mini (Italy)
• Thomas Preining - Tag Heur Porsche

 The most recent round of action in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship 2024/25 campaign came in North America for the Mexico City E-Prix for round two of the season.

This would be the first round of 2025 too following the season opener in Sao Paulo back in December. It was a weekend that was expected to produce a lot of drama and it had a tough act to follow, with Sao Paulo putting on a show that saw Mitch Evans win from the very back of the grid.

It would be a domination for Porsche in qualifying as they would see both cars reach the duels final, with Pascal Wehrlein beating Antonio Felix Da Costa in the final after disposing of Jean-Eric Vergne and Oliver Rowland in the semi finals.

It would be Rowland who would shine brightest in the E-Prix though as he would take victory from fourth on the grid in a well disciplined drive o continue his impressive pace in the first two rounds of the 2024/25 season.

Rowland would beat both Porsche drivers to victory with Portuguese driver Da Costa finishing second ahead of his teammate and reigning champion Wehrlein, who won the previous Mexico City E-Prix in 2023/24.

The second place finish for Da Costa would see him take the championship lead heading into the double-round at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit as he goes in search for his second Formula e championship title.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal 

Formula E Race director Scot Elkins has decided to step back from his role after 10 years, the championship confirmed on Thursday.

Elkins has served for 10 years at the head of the race weekends in the Formula E World Championship and has seen the championship go through many eras of cars and has seen many different champions be crowned.

The race director has decided to make the step back following the conclusion of the Miami E-Prix on April 12 and the decision has been made based on personal reasons and following the passing of his father back in December.

He will be replaced by his deputy race director from 2021, Marek Hanaczewski, who has been involved in various different roles within Race Control since the championship began in 2014.

On his decision to step side, Elkins spoke to Formula E media about his reasons why.

Elkins said: "After 10 years in Formula E, the time has come for me to retire as Race Director. With the recent loss of my father this past December, I have new responsibilities that require my time and attention at home.

"While I had hoped to complete Season 11 and retire at its conclusion, my plans have now been accelerated and my focus remains on my family."

Elkins continued his statement by saying: "Although I am very sad to leave, I am confident in the staff that will remain. We have worked closely together and I know they are committed to making the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship a success, this season and in the many to come."

Elkins is to have three more rounds in his role. The two in Jeddah before saying goodbye to the role in Miami in what will be an emotional farewell for him on his own country's soil. He has served this sport a great deal and was a well respected man in the paddock. 

There is no doubt that respect will continue from the paddock as he steps aside and puts aside his family related troubles, which shows a great human side to the guy in charge of one of the fastest growing motorsport championships around the globe.

In his replacement, Hanaczewski will be hoping to fulfil the role just as Elkins did in the championships. On his new chapter awaiting him, Hanaczewski spoke to Formula E media.

Hanaczewski said: "Stepping into the role of Race Director is an exciting new chapter in my motorsport career and the continuation of a ourney that began 13 years ago. 

"Since 2017, I have had the privilege to work alongside Scot, who has been not only a great leader but also a mentor, teacher and friend. I am incredibly grateful for the knowledge, experience and trust he has shared with me over the years. His contribution to Formula E is undeniable, and I deeply appreciate the time we have spent working together."


Formula E returns on February 13th for the rookie free practice at the Jeddah E-Prix weekend, at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Brandon Whiteside 
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal