Formula E

Formula E will, for the first time, race on the full Monaco Grand Prix circuit, the electric series has confirmed. The Monaco EPrix is scheduled for May 8 and is set to go ahead despite COVID-19 restrictions, which have been tightened in recent weeks in France and Monaco. Formula E has used a shorter version of the famous track in its three previous visits, turning right before the Massenet corner, cutting out Mirabeau, the hairpin and tunnel. This year’s event will utilise the full 3.32km track layout, which has been made possible by the introduction of the Gen2 car, which features increased performance and range, whilst the full circuit has already been constructed in anticipation of Formula 1’s visit just a few weeks after Formula E. The LED lights on the halo will also illuminate as the cars make their way through the famous Monaco tunnel for the first time. The circuit won’t be identical to the F1 version, with a change to the kerbs at Turn 1 (Sainte Devote), harking back to the original 1929 layout. The Turn 11 chicane on the exit of the tunnel will also be tweaked. “I’m glad to see the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship back in the Principality,” commented FIA President Jean Todt. “It is in the series’ DNA to compete on streets circuits and Monaco is one of the most iconic tracks in the world. This discipline has its own identity, that’s why, together with Formula E and the ACM, we’ve designed a bespoke layout which suits its particularities.” Formula E chief championship officer, Alberto Longo, added: “To see Formula E race around the longer version of the most historic racing circuit in the world will mark another great milestone for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. “In many ways, this circuit is made for Formula E – it’s a fast and narrow street circuit which will see plenty of opportunities for overtaking and will really test driver’s energy management with sharp inclines and high-speed sections. “The FIA and the ACM are allowing us to race around corners steeped in motorsport tradition and we are honoured that Formula E will be creating its own history on May 8.”

The rain fell in little increments throughout the only practice session ahead of qualifying for race two of the 2021 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Rome ePrix. The slippery track, from rain that fell before and during the session, led to a few moments of sliding from the drivers, mostly in Turns Four and Seven. No damage was sustained, with Qualifying scheduled at 8:45 local time (7:45 BST). Envision Virgin Racing’s Nick Cassidy set the benchmark time in Free Practice, with a 1:40.107, with BMW i Andretti Motorsport driver Maximilian Günther and unlucky Mercedes-Benz EQ driver Stoffel Vandoorne behind him. They managed to set a time on full power during a reprieve in the rainy conditions. Yesterday’s race winner, Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah) set his best time of seventh in the standings. His team-mate, last season’s ABB FIA Formula E Champion Antonio Felix Da Costa (DS Techeetah), was down in seventeenth at the end of practice. After missing race one following his crash in practice on Saturday morning, Oliver Turvey returned to the track for the NIO 33 FE Team and turned a handful of laps in a car that has been completely rebuilt around a new chassis. He ended up at the back of the timesheets but at least we are likely to have a full grid for Sunday’s race. Eight Yellow Flags were waved during the session, most of them for tyre lockups and sliding cars, due to the rain and drivers not stopping on time for the corners. It is therefore impossible to say who will be taking pole position in Qualifying later today, with mixed conditions set to persist throughout the day.

NIO driver Oliver Turvey struck the stationary Techeetah of Jean-Eric Vergne as first practice came to an end. Vergne was part of a group of drivers waiting in a queue to perform practice starts.Turvey arrived on the scene at speed and struck Vergne’s car with enough force to rip the right-rear quarter off the Techeetah, tearing its driveshaft out, and heavily damage the front of his own machine. The NIO car then struck the BMW Andretti machine of Jake Dennis. Formula E confirmed the trio were unhurt in the crash. “I’m okay and all drivers are fine,” said Vergne. However the extent of the damage meant all three were unable to participate in the second practice session. It remains to be seen whether they will be able to take part in qualifying for the first of this weekend’s two races later today. Alterations to the Rome street circuit for this year’s EPrix may have contributed to the crash. The finishing line and pits are at the exit of turn 19, but the start line – where the crash occured – is situated between turns six and seven. Formula E last visited the venue in 2019.

Mercedes driver Stoffel Vandoorne charged to his third pole position in Formula E as he topped qualifying for the opening race at the Rome E-Prix. The former McLaren Formula 1 driver turned in a brilliant lap as light rain fell in the Italian capital to claim his first pole in Formula E since the 2019-20 finale in Berlin. Vandoorne’s benchmark time of a 1m38.484s saw him usurp provisional polesitter Lucas di Grassi to go four-tenths clear of the field, before Porsche’s Andre Lotterer secured second with a lap that was just over a tenth shy of Vandoorne’s effort. Nissan’s Oliver Rowland looked on course to better Vandoorne’s lap and was up on the Belgian’s time heading into the final sector, but a hit with the wall at the last corner proved costly and meant he had to settle with third ahead of di Grassi. Two-time Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne was fifth for Techeetah, ahead of BMW’s Max Gunther, who faced the worst of the rain as the first driver to set a lap time in Superpole. Envision Virgin’s Robin Frijns was seventh-fastest as he missed out on a spot in Superpole, with current championship leader Nyck de Vries only eighth-fastest in his Mercedes. A tenth further behind came Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein, while Sebastien Buemi completed the top-10 for Nissan. After winning the second race in Diriyah last time out, Sam Bird could only manage the 11th-best time ahead of Jaguar teammate Mitch Evans. It was a nightmare qualifying for reigning Formula E champion Antonio Felix da Costa, who is set to start a lowly 18th on the grid for the opening race of the weekend in Rome after he ruined his lap by hitting the wall during Group 1. Nick Cassidy was another driver who hit the wall before his Envision Virgin car stopped on track, meaning he will start 22nd, ahead of Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara who failed to set a time after an issue. NIO 333 faces a race against time to get Oliver Turvey’s car ready in time for the Rome E-Prix after he was caught up in a nasty multi-car shunt at the end of first practice on Saturday morning. The Briton will have to start the race from the pitlane if his car is fixed in time.

A new angle of Alex Lynn’s scary crash during Formula E’s second race of the season in Saudi Arabia has shown the true nightmarish extent of the incident. A video tweeted out by Formula E’s official account includes the build-up – which helps shed some light on how his Mahindra car ended upside down. The crash brought a premature end to Round 2 of the Diriyah E-Prix, which was ultimately won by fellow Brit Sam Bird, after the red flag came out. Viewers watching live were none the wiser as to what had transpired further back on the grid, as TV pictures didn’t show the chaos as it happened – or even a replay of the incident in the aftermath. Contact with Jaguar driver Mitch Evans sent the front of Lynn’s car into the air, in scenes reminiscent of Mark Webber’s notorious crash in Valencia back in 2011. Evans ended his race to go and check on Lynn, whose car was stationary, but still inside down. Thankfully, the former GP3 champion was released from hospital on Sunday morning following precautionary checks.

Some loud bangs were heard above the circuit where the two Formula E races took place this weekend. It is believed to have been a missile attack intercepted by the Saudis. Although debris damaged a house, no one was injured. Saudi Arabia, with its Patriot missiles, has the best anti-aircraft weaponry that the Americans have to offer, so in that sense no one has probably been in any real danger. But it does say a lot about the war situation in which the country finds itself. One of the Saudi generals tells Al Jazeera that the Yemeni Houthis rebel movement is responsible for this attack. These rebels have in fact conquered a significant part of neighbouring Yemen since 2014. These are Shiite Muslims and therefore arch-enemies of Sunni Saudi Arabia. The missile was launched at the middle-eastern country’s capital of Riyadh, according to the reports, and was intercepted nearby to the neighboring city of Diriyah, where Formula E was holding its crash-shortened second race of the season-opening double-header. It remains unclear how close to Formula E’s event the missile was thwarted. Three further weaponized drones were also discovered, these believed to be aiming for Saudi Arabia’s southern province, Jazan. According to ABC, a fourth drone was said to be heading for a Southwestern city. None of the attacks have been successful, say the aforementioned reports. The Formula E paddock remained out of harm’s way during the attack, the race not believed to have been the target of the missiles despite the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud presence at the night race, which saw Jaguar’s Sam Bird emerge victorious after a red flag for a crash in which Mahindra’s Alex Lynn was rolled upside-down – the British racer was discharged from hospital after visit. After Saturday’s troubling events, the status of Formula 1’s planned race in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – due to take place in fall – has been called into question. Neither the FIA, nor F1 have yet commented on the matter, but with the Jeddah race planned for December 5, it is possible the race could go unaffected, especially with the sporting bodies’ intention to make it a 10 years plus event.

Mahindra Formula E driver Alex Lynn has escaped serious injury after what has been described as an “aeroplane crash” at the Diriyah E-Prix. The second night race in Saudi Arabia was prematurely Red-flagged following a nasty accident involving Lynn and Jaguar’s Mitch Evans as they battled over 14th place in the closing stages. While the crash was not broadcast live with the TV feed instead focusing on a separate accident involving BMW’s Maximilian Gunther and NIO333’s Tom Blomqvist further up the road, it is understood that Lynn was sent airborne after making contact with the rear of Evans’ car. Lynn’s Mahindra flipped upside down and landed on its roll hoop before skidding along the ground and coming to rest up against the Turn 18 TecPro barriers. The Briton was taken to hospital for evaluation but was later discharged having suffered only “some bumps and bruises” according to Mahindra team principal Dilbagh Gill, who accompanied Lynn to the hospital. “The most important thing is that Alex is ok after his accident,” Gill said. “It was a nasty accident, but it’s testament to the ongoing work that Formula E and the FIA do around safety that Alex only suffered some bumps and bruises and will be back racing with us in Rome.

Sam Bird has maintained his record of being the only driver to have won an E-Prix in every season of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship by racking up his 10th E-Prix victory in Round 2 of the 2021 FE season. Robin Frijns got away cleanly from the pole position to fend off the attacks from behind. Starting from the third spot, Sam Bird made a clean move on the second-placed Sergio Sette Camara, overtaking the Brazilian at Turn 2. After the first lap, the order was: Frijns, Bird, Sette Camara, Oliver Turvey, Nico Mueller, Tom Blomqvist, Jean Eric Vergne, Antonio Felix Da Costa, Sebastien Buemi with Nick Cassidy completing the top 10. Despite the excellent qualifying speed of the NIO 333 team, Turvey and Blomqvist were unable to match the pace of the leading drivers. The British-Swedish made an error which saw him drop down the order to eighth. In the meantime, the lead duo drew out two seconds on Sette Camara in third, with Turvey running a collected race in fourth with Mueller kept at arm’s length. As Frijns activated his attack mode, he lost the lead to Bird, but was able to hold off Sette Carama. Using his power boost of 35kW, the Dutchman passed the Brit into Turn 18. Bird also took his attack mode, but that did not work out as expected as he lost second place to Sette Camara, slipping down to P3. Using the attack mode-induced chaos, Frijns pulled out a two-second gap. In the meantime, Vergne continued his charge towards the front. The two-time Formula E champion passed Sette Camara for third. Just as this manoeuvre happened, a Full Course Yellow was diployed after BMW Andretti’s Jake Dennis was crunched by Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche. On Lap 22, Bird did make an important move at Turn 18 stick when he overtook Frijns. Behind the leading duo, the DS Techeetah pair came together with Vergne coming out on top in third. Bird kept his advantage ahead of Frijns, but the final drama fell away due to a contact between Maximilian Guenther and Mitch Evans.The red flag meant handed the win Bird with the Briton taking the triumph in front of Frijns, Vergne, Da Costa, Cassidy, Sette Camara, Mueller, Turvey, Oliver Rowland (Nissan e.dams), and Rene Rast (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler) on track. However, a post-race drama unfolded as Vergne and Rast were stripped of their point-scoring positions. Both drivers were handed twenty four second penalties as neither used their second ATTACK MODE activation. This demoted the pair to 12th and 17th through no fault of their own. Speaking of his maien victory with Jaguar, Bird added: “I was a bit emotional in the car. It was a big move and a big step for me moving away from what was my family in Envision Virgin Racing to join Jaguar Racing, but they’ve welcomed me with open arms and I’m pleased to deliver this win. „The whole point of the opening two rounds was to come here and score decent points and if you’d said I’d come away with 25 points, I’d have taken that. Robin was so respectful and a pleasure to race against which is exactly what you’d expect of his calibre. It was really, really good.” After starting on Julius Baer Pole Position and being engaged in a race-long battle under the floodlights with his former team-mate, Frijns finally crossed the line in second. “I’m really happy today, especially after having such a difficult day yesterday,” the Dutchman said. „The team did an amazing job to turn it all around. „Hopefully we can keep this form for the rest of the season. We might need to keep working on the race pace as Jean-Eric and Antonio were closing on me towards the end. If we keep having good qualifying sessions, we are going to have a good season.”

Jean-Eric Vergne has lost his Diriyah ABB FIA Formula E World Championship podium after being hit by one of nine post-race penalties issued on Saturday night. Vergne, who finished third, is one of three drivers penalised for failing to take the second of the mandatory two attack mode deployments, with Rene Rast and Tom Blomqvist also affected. The trio have been given 24s time penalties in lieu of the drivethroughs that would have been imposed in the race. All three were caught out by the sudden end of the E-Prix, which spent a long period under a safety car following Alex Lynn’s huge accident before being red-flagged with just over two minutes to go. Vergne wrote on social media that the red flag had made it “impossible for me to respect the rule”. DS Techeetah driver Vergne drops from third to 12th, with his reigning champion team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa elevated to the podium in his place. The pair had a wheelbanging battle in the middle of the event and lost touch with leaders Sam Bird and Robin Frijns as a result. Rast also loses a points finish as his Audi was 10th on the road. NIO333’s Blomqvist was originally 13th having been punted into a spin by Maximilian Gunther moments before Lynn’s crash unfolded. Rast and Blomqvist get a second 24s penalty apiece for going too fast under the earlier full course yellow prompted by Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis colliding. They tumble to 17th and 18th, last of the classified finishers. Vergne’s demotion is one of two changes affecting the top five, as rookie Nick Cassidy also gets a 24s penalty for the same FCY offence as Blomqvist and Rast. Envision Virgin driver Cassidy drops to 14th as a result. The penalties mean Sergio Sette Camara and his Dragon Penske Autosport team-mate Nico Mueller complete the top five, and Oliver Turvey gets sixth place for NIO333. Friday race winner Nyck de Vries also moves into the points, leaping from 14th to ninth behind Oliver Rowland and Lucas di Grassi. De Vries had dominated the event through Thursday and Friday, before all the Mercedes drivers were ordered to sit out race two qualifying while the cause of Edoardo Mortara’s huge practice crash was investigated. His Venturi-run customer Mercedes had ploughed into a wall due to a brake problem that struck following a practice start at the end of the session. The Mercedes were allowed to race having made software changes to prevent a repeat of the issue, but de Vries was only able to make it up from 20th on the grid to 14th on the road. He was still able to take the bonus point for fastest lap, but reaching ninth means he now holds a seven-point championship lead over race two winner Bird. Porsche driver Wehrlein inherits the final point. The eighth penalty was to Mahindra’s Alexander Sims. He took the flag in 11th behind eventual seventh-place man Rowland, but a 24s addition for a technical infringement involving the throttle map leaves him 15th. There was also a penalty issued in the form of a grid demotion for the next race, which is scheduled for Rome on the second weekend of April. BMW’s Maximilian Guenther gets the grid drop for crashing into NIO333 driver Tom Blomqvist moments before Lynn’s crash effectively ended the race.

Mercedes EQ driver Nyck De Vries delivered an assured lights-to-flag drive to win the season-opening Diriyah E-Prix and take his first Formula E victory.Starting on pole after a dominant qualifying performance, the Dutchman earned Mercedes a second consecutive win after they won the final race of the 2019-20 season in Berlin. De Vries was fastest in both practice sessions and throughout qualifying and rarely looked under pressure, despite the efforts of Edoardo Mortara who came second in the Venturi. Jaguar’s Mitch Evans rounded out the podium, having come out on top after a gripping battle with Rene Rast of Audi, who had to settle for fourth. The race had got off to a fairly restrained start, with De Vries leading away from Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein, who started alongside him on the front row, Rast and Mortara. Wehrlein’s race came apart though as he was passed by Rast for second, before being on the receiving end of a stunning double pass on the back straight by Mortara, who jumped from fifth to third in one move, before taking second from Rast when the three-time DTM champion took attack mode. The German’s day nearly got worse as he began to feel pressure from Mahindra’s Alex Lynn and Jaguar’s Sam Bird, but the two British drivers clashed, forcing both to retire and bringing out the safety car. De Vries had an excellent restart and extended his lead before taking attack mode, a strategy that worked perfectly as shortly after BMW’s Max Guenther hit the wall and brought out another safety car which came in with just six minutes remaining. Immediately after the restart, Mortara took attack mode, falling behind Rast in the process, but he quickly reversed that to secure his second-place finish, with Evans snatching the final podium position with just a few laps to go. Wehrlein finished fifth, while Oliver Rowland of Nissan e.dams claimed sixth after a strong drive from 11th on the grid, just ahead of Mahindra’s Alexander Sims in seventh. De Vries’ teammate Stoffel Vandoorne came eighth, with Audi’s Lucas Di Grassi and NIO 333’s Oliver Turvey claiming the final two points positions. Last year’s champion Antonio Felix Da Costa finished just outside the points in 11th, with Jean Eric-Vergne stuck in 15th, as both failed to fully recover from a difficult qualifying session. Formula E returns tomorrow for the second race of the 2020-21 season as the drivers tackle the Diriyah Street Circuit once again. Qualifying gets underway at 4 pm local time ahead of an 8 pm local time start.

Nyck De Vries has ended the first practice session of the season fastest for Mercedes in Diriyah after setting 1.08.693 six-tenths clear of Andre Lotterer in the Porsche. The practice session was moved to Thursday to allow the teams and drivers to get some practice laps under the floodlights ahead of the first night race in Formula E’s history. In the final ten minutes of the session the majority of the field turned the motor up to 250kW. De Vries managed to get a clean lap in early without any traffic to set his fastest time. Lotterer set a 1.09.281 to end the session second for Porsche in a season where the German manufacturer will want to make a step up after a solid first season. Lucas Di Grassi ended the 45-minute session third fastest after setting a 1.09.327. The season four champion is in talks with at least two teams ahead of season eight when Audi depart the all-electric championship at the end of season seven. Edoardo Mortara finished fourth for Venturi ahead of Oliver Rowland who was fifth in the Nissan and Alex Lynn finished the session sixth for Mahindra. Mitch Evans was the lead Jaguar driver in seventh ahead of reigning champion Antonio Felix Da Costa was eighth fastest for Ds Techeetah who are running their season six powertrain. Robin Frijns finished ninth for for Envision Virgin Racing and Maximilian Gunther ended the session in tenth fastest for BMW. Alexander Sims finished 11th for Mahindra with Stoffel Vandoorne finishing in 12th in the second Mercedes. Tom Blomqvist was 13th for the NIO 333 team with Rene Rast in 14th. Jean-Eric Vergne was 15th ahead of Nico Muller and Pascal Wehrlein who is making his return to the series after leaving Mahindra in June. Sergio Sette Camara was 18th in the Dragon ahead of Sébastien Buemi. Sam Bird was 20th in the second Jaguar with Oliver Turvey in 21st in the second NIO 333 car. The three rookies ended the session at the back of the field with Norman Nato in 22nd, Nick Cassidy in 23rd and Jake Dennis in 24th.

Formula E and the FIA have made several changes to the track layout of the Riyadh Street Circuit just over a week before the season opener in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is hosting Formula E’s first-ever night races on 26-27 February having installed low-consumption LED lights across the 2.495km circuit located within the UNESCO World Heritage site in Diriyah. While the switch to night-time running was expected to be the biggest change for the third running of the Diriyah E-Prix, some corners have also received minor tweaks in the build-up to the race. This includes the pit exit that feeds into Turn 2, the Turn 9/10 right-left sequence, and the Turn 18/19 complex which follows the main straight that stages the race start. The amendments have been made to adapt to the changes the local authorities are making to the road network that forms part of the track. It is understood that all Formula E teams were informed about potential track changes last Thursday, with the final configuration of the track only shown on Monday. These last-minute changes could affect the simulator programmes of Formula E teams and would mean race drivers face a tight schedule to try the new layout on the sim before flying to Riyadh.

Alfa Romeo and Maserati are looking increasingly likely to step up their interest in Formula E, according to reports. The Race report that since both Alfa Romeo and Maserati have been brought under Stellantis, a union of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA groups, both brands could see a shift to their programmes in the near future. Alfa Romeo are currently in Formula 1 alongside Sauber Motorsport, with the terms of their deal meaning the team have been known as Alfa Romeo since 2019. That relationship has only been extended for 2021 though, which means Alfa Romeo are not yet committed to Formula 1’s new regulations coming in for 2022. But a set of regulations they may well have interest in, according to The Race, is over in Formula E with the all-electric series set to introduce the new Gen3 cars for the start of the 2022-23 season. That could tempt Alfa Romeo to leave Formula 1 behind and move to Formula E, or it could be the Maserati brand that takes the plunge. The registration deadline for the 2022-23 season arrives next month. While the widely-held opinion is that electric is the future of motorsport, it is Formula E which finds itself battling with cost issues. Both BMW and Audi are set to exit the series at the end of the forthcoming season, prompting the FIA to add financial penalties to the regulations for any manufacturer who leaves during a rules cycle, while plans for a cost cap are under discussion.

Former Formula 1 driver Jerome D’Ambrosio is enjoying his new role as deputy team principal for the Venturi Racing Formula E team as much as his career as a full-time racer. D’Ambrosio who was formerly driving for Marussia and Lotus on the F1 grid switched to Formula E back in the inaugural 2014 Formula E championship held in Beijing. He has managed to do the 68 out of the 69 Formula E races up to date after failing to start in the second round of Saudi Arabia last season due to the unreliability of the Mahindra FE car that he was driving then. Later on October last year, he announced his formal retirement from professional driving to take up a managerial position at Venturi, reporting to team principal Susie Wolff. When asked by Autosport.com if he was enjoying his new role as much as his racing career, he said: “Yeah, actually I do. “It’s been a fantastic opportunity for me, and it’s been amazing to be able to walk away from the driver role into a new role and such an exciting one with such a short transition period. “I still have the racing side of things – I’m a competitor. I want to win and I want to get that feeling of competition. “At the same time, I’m able to touch all the other aspects of motorsport, which I really enjoy as well and always did.” The Monaco-based Venturi squad finished ninth of the 12 teams last season and has replaced 11-time F1 race winner Felipe Massa with FE rookie Norman Nato for 2021. The team has also been sold to an investor group led by Scott Swid and Jose Maria Aznar Botella, son of the former Spanish prime minister and FE co-founder Alejandro Agag’s brother-in-law. The 35-year-old added, “I feel like I can contribute in a different role but just as much, if not even more, than I used to in the past as a race driver. “I joined Venturi and there were some challenges last season and I think we’ve worked hard to address a lot of them and to progress and to fight at the front for the podiums when we can. That’s our goal.”

Formula E has announced its first ever race on a permanent circuit as part of a reorganised calendar of events for 2021. The series, which has previously raced exclusively on street tracks, will hold the fourth round of its 2021 season at the Ricardo Tormo permanent circuit in Valencia. Formula E will use a new configuration of the circuit which it has tested at in recent seasons, and which Formula 1 last visited for testing 10 years ago.The move comes as Formula E has scrapped plans to hold a race in Paris this year, while its events in Sanya and Seoul have also been postponed. The championship therefore intends to follow its previously-announced double-header in Saudi Arabia next month with a race in Rome’s EUR district in April. The Valencia race, Formula E’s first championship round to be held in Spain, will take place two weeks later. Formula E has also announced it will race in Monaco and Marrakesh in May. A double-header in Santiago, Chile, will follow on the first weekend in June. A further update on the championship is planned in early spring.“We are committed to delivering a global calendar that befits our first season as a world championship,” said Formula E CEO Jamie Reigle. “We are working closely with all our partners across teams, manufacturers, sponsors, broadcasters and host cities to adapt to external circumstances and ensure the health and safety of everyone involved. “We will do so while maintaining what fans love most about Formula E: unpredictable racing, iconic locations and the blend of the real and virtual worlds, all underpinned by our race for better futures.”

Formula E is set to reinstate the Santiago E-Prix for early June, according to a letter sent out by the president of the Chilean motorsport federation. The FIA and FE issued a provisional draft of the 2020-21 season calendar last June. A single race in Santiago originally occupied a 16 January date and was set to be the opening round of the campaign. But, in October, the Mexico City and Sanya races were postponed – ostensibly due to the global health crisis – with the Santiago event being boosted to a double-header. Then in December, the races in the Chilean capital city were postponed from the revised 16-17 January slot, owing to the travel restrictions enforced by the national government following the detection of the rapidly spreading variant of COVID detected in the UK. A statement from FE said that the championship was “working with the city to finalise dates on which to stage the races later in Q1 of 2021”. However, it now appears that a two-race event in Santiago will be reinstated for 5-6 June. This follows a letter sent out on Wednesday by Mauricio Melo Avaria, the president and director of the Chilean federation for motorsport, which precedes a request for “more than 300 registered officials”. The letter read: “[In December] we reported the postponement of the Formula E date to be held in our country, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the commitment to communicate the new date as soon as we were informed. “Formula E has confirmed that the new date of the Santiago E-Prix will be held on June 5 and 6, 2021. “Once this new date has been approved by the FIA World Council, a statement will be sent to you in May, requesting the more than 300 registered officials to reconfirm their availability and willingness to be part of this FIA event.” On the original FE schedule issued last summer, the 5 June slot was listed as “to be confirmed”. With FE and the FIA subsequently retracting the calendar to instead announce dates for this season in batches, currently only the double-header night races in Saudi Arabia (26-27 February) are confirmed.