New calendar could end this champion's Formula E career

Is the fact that there are two clashes between the Formula E and World Endurance Championship schedules in 2027 already ringing the death-knell for Sebastien Buemi's 12-season Formula E career?

Technically it probably is. But the 2015-16 Formula E champion insists he will be "fighting hard" to make sure it isn't, so that he can continue his dual racing programme into 2027.

The WEC and Formula E have both revealed their new-season calendars this month, and yet again there are clashes between these two series that always seem to have a degree of driver overlap.

The clashes come in mid-May, when Formula E's Monaco double-header is on the same weekend as the Spa WEC event, and in Julym when Formula E's Shanghai double-header coincides with the planned Interlagos WEC fixture.

Buemi's WEC employer Toyota has general priority on his services, so he could have to miss four of next season's 21 Formula E races.

There is a precedent of sorts that could help Buemi retain his dual racing programme with Toyota and the Envision Formula E team, which is set to continue its Jaguar relationship in Gen4.

In July 2025, Buemi missed the Interlagos WEC race when it then clashed with the Berlin Formula E double-header.

But a year before when Berlin had clashed with Spa WEC in May, Buemi missed Berlin and was replaced by Formula 2 racer and now Alpine Formula 1 reserve driver Paul Aron. 

The nuanced difference was that the 2024 clash came before the Le Mans 24 Hours, and the 2025 was after it. Next year's clashes are one each side of Le Mans.

It is unclear what Buemi's specific agreements are for next season but the assumption is that Envision, while supporting Buemi, wants its drivers to give Formula E complete priority.

"Obviously it is extremely unfortunate," Buemi told The Race. 

"I'm going to fight very hard in trying to do anything I can to be on the grid next year, and then we'll see. But I'm not giving up. I'll be fighting hard."

When asked about the clashes, Buemi also made a pointed remark about the organisers of each championship, saying: "I'm not sure if everyone tried their best, but I'm not just going to give up."

Buemi's team boss at Envision, Sylvain Filippi, was cautious on the subject when asked by The Race, saying only that "we'll look at it properly once we know the calendars".

"I've been in this game too long to know that there can always be changes and things, and the calendars are very complicated, very political," said Filippi.

"There's a lot of targets from all the championships, so once we know for sure what the calendar is, then we look at it and make a decision. It's impossible to tell right now."

Envision was understood to be targeting an unchanged line-up for next season, with Buemi's team-mate Joel Eriksson set to get a second full campaign. 

Is De Vries affected too?

While Stellantis drivers and some others from different WEC manufacturers are unlikely to be as affected as Buemi, his Toyota WEC team-mate Nyck de Vries could also be in a similar situation, albeit with a more accommodating Formula E team boss at Mahindra. 

De Vries is expected to stay for a fourth campaign at Mahindra, and The Race understands the team is much more amenable to replacing a driver come clashes. 

Mahindra currently has both Kush Maini and Jake Hughes on its reserve bench, with each expected to be part of the Gen4 test and development running. It is expected to complete the first test of its new car this week.

Mahindra declined to comment on the clashes when approached by The Race this week.

Stellantis drivers meanwhile are believed to have more flexibility, with a higher likelihood of using just two drivers per car at Peugeot in the WEC if it absolutely needed to.

Nick Cassidy is presumed to have complete priority for racing in Formula E with Citroen as part of his Stellantis contract. 

Stoffel Vandoorne, who is tipped to return to Formula E next season as a replacement for the Opel-bound Mitch Evans at Jaguar, is not expected to continue in the WEC with Peugeot in 2027.

Formula E's perspective

The debate about clashing race dates between Formula E and the WEC stretches back to the early days of Formula E, with the third season in 2016-17 particularly difficult for drivers combining two programmes. 

That season, Buemi won five of the first six races and appeared to be cruising to back-to-back titles. But a combination of Lucas di Grassi staying in the title chase and Buemi missing the penultimate event in New York City because of a WEC clash ultimately swung the title the way of di Grassi, who himself will retire at the end of this season. 

Buemi rues that date clash to this day and it contributed to his infamous frustrated rant at several drivers at the season finale in Montreal, where he ultimately lost the title to di Grassi following a huge practice accident and two tumultuous races. 

But it's long forgotten that Buemi was not the only driver who was forced to miss those two races in New York. His Toyota WEC team-mate Jose-Maria Lopez, then driving for DS Virgin in FE, was also forced to race in the WEC at the Nurburgring that weekend and was replaced at DS Virgin by Alex Lynn.

Several other clashes have transpired since that time too and, while there is sympathy with drivers who compete in both categories, the extended calendars in both series have inevitably resulted in more clashes. 

Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds said ultimately his series has to prioritise itself rather than drivers' individual ambitions and that teams had been forewarned that clashes might be a long-term situation.

"[The priority is] to look at what clashes have the lowest impact on fan attendance, viewership for TV broadcast, for growing our fanbase," he told The Race.

"Unfortunately, our top priority isn't trying to ensure that drivers can race in multiple series at the same time.

"It's nice if they can do that, but that's not our top priority.

"We sat down with the teams and had that conversation with them where we said, 'Look, here's our target calendar going out to 2030. As you're contracting drivers, inevitably you need to look at what that might mean'."

Dodds also confirmed that discussions were held with the WEC earlier this year when the calendars were being formed.

"We meet with WEC, we talk with the leadership of WEC, we understand each other's calendars, there is no way of avoiding clashes on both sides unfortunately," he added.