Where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday that Formula E was taking its first, trepidatious steps into the Gen3 era yet here we are, on the eve of the final season of this ruleset.
So, as the fourth season of this rules cycle approaches - the 12th in total - and with so much knowledge banked, do our experts know their attack modes from their elbows when it comes to what to expect from the campaign ahead?
We got our Formula E Correspondent Sam Smith to assemble a team of crack contributors to tackle the biggest questions about the 2025-26 season, ahead of this weekend's opener in Sao Paulo.
The panel: Sam Smith (The Race Formula E Correspondent); Andrew van de Burgt (The Race CEO); Jim Wright (Motorsport Industry Commercial Specialist and former Andretti Commercial Manager); Albert Lau (Former Mercedes and McLaren Engineer); Tom Brooks (Commentator); Georgia Williams (Formula E Reporter).
Who will be champion?
Sam Smith: Pascal Wehrlein will win his second title - but only just. I think Oliver Rowland, Nyck de Vries and possibly Mitch Evans will take it to the final event in London. Ultimately, though, Wehrlein will be just too strong and will join Jean-Eric Vergne as a double champion.
Andrew van de Burgt: This is the year where Evans finally delivers. Look at the form that Jaguar carried into the final events of last season: I think that team will take that through, and this is finally going to be Mitch's year.
Jim Wright: I think that we will see multiple winners and podium visitors, with consistency the key to putting together a sustained championship challenge. What will be interesting to observe will be which manufacturer is best-placed to put together a championship campaign while simultaneously developing their Gen4 car.
Driver: Pascal Wehrlein; Team: Mahindra; Manufacturer: Porsche.
Albert Lau: Predicting this is always difficult, especially in Formula E. So let's take a statistical approach based on historical information of a team's race pace and a driver's expected point added (did they exceed the performance expected of them based on their team's pace).
Mahindra and Jaguar had the best race pace last year. Nyck De Vries and Edoardo Mortara both sit around neutral in expected points added. Evans was great in this area in 2023 but has been dropping the past two seasons. Antonio Felix da Costa actually is a net positive here but the question will be how soon he gets up to speed with the Jaguar.
Porsche and DS were joint third in race pace last year. Of the four drivers there, Nico Mueller is generally neutral and Taylor Barnard and Maximilian Guenther are both net positive. Wehrlein is a massive positive in points above expectation. With a subtle change, to a very experienced race engineer in Rob Sattler, I think Pascal will be hard to beat. Wehrlein is my pick for 2025-26 world champion.
Tom Brooks: I think Nick Cassidy has the best opportunity to be world champion. His form at the end of last season was phenomenal.
He's finished top three in the championship over the last three seasons, and he's now in a new environment at Citroen where I think he can be comfortable and have a team that's focused specifically around him.
Georgia Williams: I think a big twist will be a new champion. Logically, Evans would be that person after Jaguar's heroics at the end of last season. If Jaguar can keep the momentum going into this season then the title might be his.
His former team-mate Cassidy has also been a close contender for the last three seasons. He is more than capable of adapting quickly in a new team and environment, but I think he might have to wait until Gen4.
Which drivers will win a race and how many?
AL: There were eight winners in 2024-25. This season, I can see that many (or more) again:
Sao Paulo: Following on a strong Valencia, a win for Mortara and Mahindra.
Mexico: Guenther ahead of a strong Porsche contingent.
Miami: There was a strong Porsche performance last season. Wehrlein opens his 2026 win column here.
Jeddah (x2): Barnard finally wins a race. Door-to-door with Rowland again...Nissan-powered cars were quick here in season 11.
Madrid: Porsche will be quick here. Wehrlein starts building his championship campaign.
Berlin (x2): Da Costa is finally up to speed with the Jaguar. Wehrlein wins again.
Monaco (X2): Rowland back to winning ways. De Vries and Mahindra back on the top step.
Sanya: Tricky, low-speed conditions. Only eight drivers have been there before. It could be one for da Costa.
Shanghai (x2): Penske was strong last year at this higher-speed circuit. Guenther and Barnard wins.
Tokyo (x2): A first win for Citroen in a friendly Japanese environment for Super Formula and Super GT champion Cassidy. Rowland wins again in front of Nissan's home crowd.
London (x2): This is Jaguar country. Da Costa and Evans triumph - Evans winning in a curtain call with Jaguar.
Total - nine drivers: Wehrlein (x3); Da Costa (x3); Rowland (x3); Barnard (x2); Guenther (x2); Mortara (x1); De Vries (x1); Cassidy (x1); Evans (x1).
SS: I'm going for eight winners: the four title contenders I listed earlier on plus da Costa, Cassidy, Guenther and Mortara. I was tempted to go for 10 but I think Vergne and Barnard will have great seasons but just miss out on wins.
AvdB: There will be eight winners: Rowland, Evans, da Costa, Wehrlein, De Vries, Cassidy, Jake Dennis and Dan Ticktum.
TB: I think you could see six, seven or even eight drivers winning over the course of this season. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Barnard taking his first win. I think personally, he'd be disappointed if he didn't do that too.
Da Costa over at Jaguar, Rowland, of course, you can't count him out. I think Mahindra also looked really strong in pre-season testing, so Mortara or De Vries could be there. We could see Ticktum winning too. I think we're going to get one of the closest campaigns in Formula E history.
GW: I’m going for 10! It's safe to say we will have a mixture of race winners again this season. Cassidy, Rowland, Wehrlein, Evans, da Costa, De Vries, Mortara, Guenther and Barnard. (And a bonus ball: Ticktum.)
JW: There will be nine winners: Wehrlein (x3); Dennis (x2); Cassidy (x2); Evans (x2); Rowland (x2); De Vries (x2); Mortara (x2); da Costa (1); Guenther.
What will be the surprise of the season?
GW: You might be able to claim this now isn't a surprise, but Mahindra will catch people off-guard through just how consistently at the front it is this season.
The rate at which it stepped its performance up last season was significant and it will undoubtedly be expecting more of that this season. There's no reason why it can't be a serious contender for the drivers' and teams' championships.
SS: The fact that Barnard won't win a race. I hope he proves me wrong but I just think the cultural shift from McLaren to DS Penske will take a season to properly gel.
JW: The number of drivers that are in contention to win in what could be the closest world championship since Formula E's inception.
AL: Despite quite a lot of internal changes, I see Stellantis pushing Porsche and Jaguar to be best manufacturer. With four drivers all capable of winning races, it wouldn't surprise me if it won the manufacturers' crown.
What would be more of a surprise would be a world where DS Penske, in its final year aligned with Stellantis, wins the teams' championship by being more consistent with its two drivers. The difficulty for Penske is how it balances the internal requirements for Gen4 with its 2025-26 season race programme; there's more change coming there than at a lot of other teams.
AvdB: I think that Felipe Drugovich is going to have a real breakout season.
How will rookies Drugovich and Marti get on?
AvdB: See my answer to the previous question for my thoughts on Drugovich.
As for Pepe Marti, he needs time but the question is will he get it? It's a tough ask to go toe-to-toe with team-mate Dan Ticktum so he just has to focus on his own learning and try to get some decent points.
TB: Drugovich, I think, will do well. There's no reason why he shouldn't if you look at his outing with Mahindra last year in Berlin - he was in the points in his second race - and he's incredibly focused. I reckon we should see Drugovich matching Andretti team-mate Jake Dennis, if not beating the 2023 champion on occasion. Maybe fighting for podiums on a regular basis is an achievable goal for him.
Marti should be fighting for points and then hopefully top fives towards the end of the season, maybe the occasional podium as well. I think that the two full-time rookies that are coming in have got a good opportunity to shine this year. It just depends on how everybody else shakes up and what happens in the crazy world of Formula E.
AL: I think it will be difficult for both Drugovich and Marti. Formula E is historically difficult on rookies.
Drugovich scored points deputising for De Vries last year in Berlin which is a positive given that he's not been racing much in the past few years. That said, the delta to Dennis in the Valencia test was larger than expected.
For Marti, his announcement at the Kiro team was quite late so it would have been a rush to get him ready for Valencia. The gap to Ticktum there was still as expected but I can see a shock qualifying performance out of Marti - perhaps at a nice, wide-open circuit like Shanghai.
But with any Formula E rookie, the challenge will be in the races. Can they be energy efficient while racing wheel-to-wheel? There's a ruthlessness that's required and a lot of this is honed in their early karting careers. Digging a bit more into that, I didn't see anything there that suggests either would open eyes like Barnard (who himself had an exceptional karting career) did last season.
JW: Drugovich will start slowly and build to being a podium visitor; Marti will start slowly and improve to be close to Ticktum by the season's end; Joel Eriksson (contesting his first full season) will be nowhere, he will disappoint.
I think that Dennis could return to 2023-spec Jake (at least at some events) and Drugovich will have to work hard to get near him (which he will eventually do).
SS: Coming in for the final year of a ruleset for a rookie driver is a is a tough thing to be doing. You're up against it. You're on the back foot. You haven't got the knowledge, the data acquisition and many other things.
For Drugovich and Marti, going up against Dennis and Ticktum respectively is majorly tough. I think they can both score points and I expect Drugovich to score more.
There's possibly a podium or two for Drugovich for the taking and I think Marti will get 25-30 points. That will be a strong season for him. Essentially, I think they will both be OK and will retain their seats for Gen4 or at least put them themselves in the position to.
GW: It'll take both rookies some time to get to grips with things. Not just the car, as both are experienced drivers, but the complexity of Formula E as a whole will take a bit of getting used to.
In the first handful of races, Marti will be getting a deeper understanding of the package and the dynamics of this type of racing. By Berlin, in early May, he should have points, but Drugovich will easily be the standout rookie.
What would a successful season look like?
TB: Similar to what we had in 2024-25 in terms of the on-track product. That means ultra-close racing, and hopefully a title battle that goes down to the final round.
I'd like to see a bit more noise made about Formula E as well: more people talking about it online, and a bit more of a buzz around it. There's a lot to be excited about - not only this season, but also going into the Gen4 era as well. I'd love to see a bit more conversation shaped around Formula E, so hopefully that culminates with an exciting on track product.
A careful ramping up of the Gen4 era, which has begun already, will be crucial. Formula E can't go too soon on it and dilute what will be a mega title fight.
I also think keeping the London E-Prix is going to be a key aim and objective of the season, whether that's at the ExCeL or not. I hope it is. I hope Formula E can find a way of still racing there.
And getting a Chinese manufacturer onto the grid, that's crucial for the future health of the of the championship, too. So hopefully that happens and BYD or Geely or some such can join in the fun.
SS: I think inevitably a close title fight will go down well. Last year was an anomaly with Rowland taking it with two races to spare. That just doesn't happen in Formula E, so I expect this time, heading to the ExCeL, in August, we're going to get a real fight between at least two or three drivers - maybe even more.
AvdB: Just a really mega title fight and also lots of anticipation for Gen4. No calendar comedy gaps for 2027 either, please!
JW: A highly competitive season with multiple winners although few, if any, real shocks. It should be low-key from a Liberty Global/Formula E Operations perspective, prior to a big build up to Gen4 - which will be a shame, because I believe the racing product will be superb but will go largely unnoticed.
The amount of driver/team interest for Gen4 could be interesting to monitor.
GW: From Formula E's perspective, there have already been positive conversations and commitments for the future of the series. From Gen4, Porsche will be investing in another team - which in theory is great news for the championship to have a big manufacturer doubling down.
Formula E's biggest struggle has been to make people who love racing care about an all-electric racing series. That's something for it to home in on this season, with hopefully some new ideas (and existing ones like the Driver documentary series) which will be so important for growing the series.
Though many of the conversations will naturally start to shift to Gen4, keeping the momentum and excitement for the final Gen3 Evo season is just as important. Ensuring the balance is found to not overshadow a season which will be filled with close battles, alliances and rivalries. It wouldn't be Formula E without it!
AL: In the final year of this car generation, the teams and drivers will have fine-tuned their preparations ahead of their assault on the championship. The competition will be razor-sharp so operational and strategic mistakes (or a lack thereof) will define the championship.
A successful season will be sensational wheel-to-wheel racing at both classic street circuits and higher-speed permanent circuits that offer a glimpse into Formula E's Gen4 future. Taking everything down to the wire in the final race in London is what everyone wants to see.
