Formula E returns to Sanya this weekend with a grid that is only partly returning at all.
The Chinese venue has not hosted the championship since 2019, and the gap is long enough that 11 drivers are set to make their first Formula E start there. For a series built around rapid evolution, that makes Sanya more than a calendar comeback. It is a live test of who adapts fastest when collective memory is thin.
A very different championship comes back
When Formula E last raced in Sanya, Jean-Eric Vergne won on his way to another title and Oliver Rowland took pole for Nissan. Only nine current drivers were on that grid: Lucas di Grassi, Sebastien Buemi, Vergne, Antonio Felix da Costa, Rowland, Mitch Evans, Edoardo Mortara, Maximilian Gunther and Pascal Wehrlein.
That leaves half the paddock facing the circuit without race-weekend history to lean on. In modern Formula E, where qualifying groups, energy targets, attack mode timing and pack-race judgement can all swing a result, that lack of track memory is not a small detail.
It also adds weight to the broader season picture outlined in ReadMotorsport’s Formula E 2025-26 guide. This is the final season for the GEN3 Evo platform, but the championship is still finding ways to throw unfamiliar problems at experienced drivers.
Experience may matter more than outright pace
Sanya’s return rewards the drivers and engineers who can build a weekend quickly. The veterans who raced there in 2019 will not have a complete advantage because the cars, tyres, software and race format have changed significantly. But they will at least have a reference point for the rhythm of the place.
For newer names, especially those still cementing themselves in the championship, the weekend is a chance to flatten that experience gap. Pepe Marti, one of the young faces on the current grid, represents exactly the kind of driver Formula E wants to showcase: quick, adaptable and still writing the first version of his electric-racing reputation.
The return also arrives after a season that has already delivered the kind of variety captured in Formula E’s drama-filled 2026 campaign. Sanya now adds another variable before the calendar heads deeper into its summer stretch.
Why Sanya matters beyond nostalgia
There is an obvious nostalgia in bringing back a venue after seven years, but Formula E cannot afford to sell the weekend only on memory. The series is pushing toward GEN4, expanding its technical story, and trying to keep its racing product sharp while the machinery approaches the end of its cycle.
That is why Sanya matters. A returning venue gives the championship a fresh competitive texture without needing a new circuit. It asks the old guard to prove their experience still counts and asks the newer drivers to show they can learn at the speed Formula E demands.
It also keeps the electric series connected to the wider endurance and single-seater ecosystem, a theme ReadMotorsport explored when looking at why Formula E’s biggest stars keep heading to Le Mans.
Sanya is back. For half the grid, it might as well be brand new.
