- Twelfth season of Formula E is six rounds old and already rewriting records.
- Wehrlein leads, but da Costa with back-to-back wins and Evans both in touch.
- With 11 races left and new era approaching, the Gen3 Evo is going out fighting.
Six rounds into the 2025/26 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, and Season 12 has already rewritten record books, handed a new team a fairytale start and produced a title fight too close to call. Pascal Wehrlein leads on 83 points. But three drivers sit within 20 points of him. Eleven races remain.
The series has until August to find a champion.
A new-look grid and the final year of the Gen3 Evo
The season began with a changed landscape. McLaren chose not to return, opting instead to pursue its LMDh programme in the World Endurance Championship. The team found no buyer and shut down, leaving Nissan without a customer team for the first time since 2021/22.
Citroën stepped into the gap. Stellantis replaced Maserati MSG Racing with the French brand, marking Citroën’s debut in top-level single-seater racing.
The driver market moved just as quickly. Antonio Felix da Costa left Porsche after three seasons and joined Jaguar TCS Racing, replacing Nick Cassidy. Nico Müller took da Costa’s seat at Porsche after departing Andretti.
Cassidy, meanwhile, moved to Citroën alongside two-time champion Jean-Éric Vergne, who ended an eight-season affiliation with DS Automobiles.
At Cupra Kiro, Formula 2 graduate Pepe Martí replaced David Beckmann. And Sam Bird, who had raced in every Formula E season since the first, stepped back from driving to take a reserve role at Nissan.
The current season is significant for one more reason. This is the fourth and final year of the Gen3 Evo. The Gen4 regulations arrive next season. At 17 races, this calendar is also the longest in championship history.
The season opener and early momentum shifts
Brazil opened Season 12, and the racing looked sharp from the get-go. Jake Dennis won the São Paulo E-Prix from the front row, the first driver to do so in the city’s Formula E history.
Reigning World Champion Oliver Rowland crossed second for Nissan. Then came the story of the weekend: Nick Cassidy fought from 15th on the grid to reach the podium, handing Citroen a top-three finish in their very first Formula E race.
The race had darker moments too. Rookie Pepe Martí suffered a heavy crash after failing to slow for a Full Course Yellow. He hit Jaguar’s da Costa and Porsche’s Müller before launching over the cars and coming to rest on the track. A difficult beginning for the young Spaniard.
Round 2 at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the championship’s 150th race, belonged to Cassidy again. Starting 13th, he saved his battery better than anyone around him.
He activated a single six-minute Attack Mode late in the race rather than the standard two four-minute windows. It worked. He took his 12th series win and moved to the top of the standings.
The joy from the Citroën garage was real. “Wow, for the team, for Citroën, what an entrance to Formula E,” Cassidy said afterwards. “This has been a dream start, very, very happy for everyone.”
Polesitter Sébastien Buemi had looked fastest all weekend. Then Turn 1 undid his race. “The weekend started off very well with the fastest lap in the groups and then pole position,” Buemi said. “Did not end up good with that mistake into Turn 1. I just had a slow pull away compared to Barnard and braked too late in the dust. I should have just given up the position and accepted P2 after Turn 1.”
Round 3 in Miami handed the win to Jaguar’s Mitch Evans, who crossed the line 3.1 seconds clear of Müller.
Wehrlein completed the podium for Porsche. But the bigger story was what Evans had done: his win in Miami gave him the all-time record for most victories in Formula E history, surpassing the previous mark of 14.
Wehrlein makes history and Jaguar answers back
Jeddah in mid-February belonged to Wehrlein. He won the first of the Saudi double-header on his 100th Formula E start, moving to the top of the drivers’ championship in the process.
He started third and timed everything to near perfection, delaying both his Pit Boost stop and his Attack Mode activation before pulling roughly eight seconds on the field in the closing stages.
The occasion was not lost on him. “It is a very nice win today and a nice way to celebrate my 100th race in Formula E,” Wehrlein said. “It was a perfect race, I had a lot of fun. We waited a bit with the Pit Boost and then also the Attack Mode, but it was the right strategy. I just tried to extend the lead.”
The second Jeddah race, on Feb. 14, told a different story. Da Costa came alive. Rowland moved to the front first, but da Costa followed and took the lead. With Dan Ticktum holding Rowland back, da Costa built a gap and held it.
Buemi finished second. Rowland settled for third. For da Costa, it ended a wait going back to 2024 for a Formula E win.
Round 6 took the series to a brand new venue: the Circuito del Jarama outside Madrid. Da Costa backed up his Jeddah result with another win. Jaguar completed a 1-2 as Evans charged from 16th on the grid to second. Four cars finished covered by less than one second.
Da Costa started third, pitted on lap 12, held his Attack Mode late and then held off Evans by 0.386 seconds at the line. The win was personal. “Back-to-back wins, a 1-2 for the team, that doesn’t happen often,” da Costa said. “It’s kind of a home race for me, I have a lot of friends and family here, and it’s a bit of a dream day.”
Cassidy, who had started from pole, lost his afternoon to a strategic misstep. Citroën triggered his Pit Boost too late. He finished in the midfield. The error showed exactly how little room for error Formula E allows.
Where the championship stands and what lies ahead
Wehrlein leads on 83 points. Edoardo Mortara of Mahindra sits second on 72. Evans is third on 65. Da Costa is fourth on 64. Any one of those four can still win the title. None of them can afford to slip.
Jaguar trails Porsche by just three points in both the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ standings. Both battles are open.
The calendar still has Berlin, Monaco, Sanya, Shanghai, Tokyo and London to offer. Eleven races. Months of racing. And a final season of the Gen3 Evo that has not wasted a single weekend.
The championship is not close to done.
