Feature by Katy Fairman
It was an action-packed couple of days around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with a brand new venue, incredible racing action, a special rookie practice session and the introduction of PIT BOOST. We also had two different drivers stand on the top step of the huge podium over the two days, and a record-breaking Julius Baer Pole Position.
PIT BOOST makes its debut
In Jeddah, a brand new innovative and mandatory mid-race feature was introduced that sees all cars given a 10% energy increase (3.85kWh) through a 30-second, 600kW boost in the pit lane.
Known as PIT BOOST, this addition will be used during one race of a double-header weekend and received plenty of love from drivers, teams and fans alike after its first use across Round 3 on Friday 14 February.
All drivers must stop during the race for this extra energy, however each team is only provided one PIT BOOST rig which prevents them from doing any double-stacking. Drivers had to stop for this boost when their battery’s State of Charge (SoC) was below 60% and above 40%, with a variety of strategies being embraced across the race.
Maserati MSG Racing’s Jake Hughes made history when he was the first driver to enter the pit lane to take PIT BOOST, with all cars having to stop for a minimum of 34 seconds as they received the ultra-quick boost of energy – a huge milestone in EV technology.
Rowland is on a roll
Oliver Rowland and Nissan have certainly emerged the early favourites as the Yorkshireman leaves Jeddah with the lead in the Drivers’ World Championship. It was another strong weekend for Rowland and the Japanese outfit, being on track for the win in Round 3 but having to settle for second after an awesome overtake by DS PENSKE’s Maximilian Guenther on the last lap.
Nevertheless, Oliver Rowland became the season’s first double winner when he took the chequered flag by almost six seconds the following day in an energy management masterclass.
After the win in Mexico City and looking set for the victory in São Paulo before a systems control problem resulted in a drive-through penalty for all the Nissan-powered cars, it’s fair to say Rowland is the early favourite in this GEN3 Evo era.
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Thanks to his impressive run of form, Rowland has pushed Nissan to the very top of the Teams’ Standings with his teammate Norman Nato yet to score a single point across four rounds. It’s a close fight though, with NEOM McLaren just one point behind their powertrain suppliers on 67, TAG Heuer Porsche with 64 and DS PENSKE on 63.
Brilliant Barnard continues to make history
When NEOM McLaren promoted Taylor Barnard from Reserve Driver to full-time racer for Season 11 of Formula E, many questioned if it was too soon. Yes, the now 20-year-old showed his skill when he covered for an injured Sam Bird across Monaco and Berlin last year, but he was still viewed by many as being too young or perhaps inexperienced.
However, Barnard has well and truly silenced any doubters by achieving three podiums for NEOM McLaren in the first four rounds of the season – already equalling the number of top three results the team have had since entering the all-electric championship in Season 9.
As well as consecutive podium results – third place on Friday and second place on Saturday – the ‘rookie’ also secured his first Julius Baer Pole Position for Round 4 after a sensational lap around the Jeddah circuit labelling his pole as "absolutely incredible”. He also sits second in the Drivers’ World Championship, 17 points behind leader Rowland.
His achievements also earned him the title of ‘youngest-ever pole sitter’ in Formula E at 20 years and 259 days, beating a record previously set by Daniel Abt in 2015.
INTERVIEW: Barnard debriefs his record-breaking pole position in Jeddah
As well as youngest driver to achieve pole position, Barnard also became the all-electric championship's youngest podium finisher at just 20 years old and 189 days in São Paulo. Add this to his record of youngest driver to start a race from Monaco earlier this year, as well as youngest points scorer in Berlin, and it's quite the collection of achievements.
Hero to Zero: what a difference a day makes
It took just three races for Maximilian Guenther and DS PENSKE to win together in Formula E. The German driver had a fantastic Friday in Saudi Arabia to take pole position, fastest lap and the all-important victory, which he managed via a masterclass move on Rowland the approach to the final chicane.
HIGHLIGHTS: The 2025 Jeddah E-Prix Round 3
With one percent more energy, Guenther launched past the Nissan of Rowland and braked later to make the overtake stick and seal the first-ever Jeddah E-Prix victory in the last moments of the race.
Things looked to be strong the following day too when he topped the timesheets for Free Practice 3, and made it through to the qualifying Duels for a fourth consecutive race day. However, starting sixth, Guenther made a send up the inside on the opening lap and collided with TAG Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa which caused them both to retire but Guenther was quick to apologise.
Regardless of the mistake, it was a promising weekend for the STELLANTIS powertrain. A first win for DS PENSKE on the Friday, and a podium thanks to Maserati MSG Racing’s Jake Hughes on Saturday.
Hughes, who joined the iconic team this season, had a solid double-header in Jeddah with a fifth place in Round 3 and third the following day; rounding out an all-British podium for the first time in Formula E. Andretti's Jake Dennis also went from 19th to fourth to add to the British success, but just missed out on a podium.
His teammate Stoffel Vandoorne also seemed comfortable with the car to join Hughes on the second-row of the grid for Saturday’s race before he was disqualified from qualifying for not having his fire extinguisher armed. Vandoorne managed to still climb up the grid, going from last to sixth in an awesome comeback drive.
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Guenther’s teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, also had a great performance which slipped under the radar amongst all the chaos, banking a sixth and seventh place finish over the two days.
Another challenging weekend for Jaguar
Nick Cassidy might have picked up his first points of the season in Jeddah – delivering a stunning drive from 17th to fifth over Round 4 – but it has still been far from the start the reigning Teams’ World Champions Jaguar TCS Racing would have wanted.
Things started well in São Paulo when Mitch Evans made headlines when he went from last to first to put himself joint top of the all-time winners list in Formula E. However, since then, Evans has failed to finish two races and classified 19th in the other.
INTERVIEW: Mitch Evans recounts his brilliant last-to-first recovery drive in São Paulo
With the struggles for Evans and Cassidy alike, Jaguar are currently seventh in the Teams’ Standings with just 35 points to their name. Customer team Envision Racing have also had a bumpy start to the GEN3 Evo era with only their driver Sebastien Buemi scoring any points when he finished seventh in Mexico City.
“Our season starts here,” Nick Cassidy said after his top five result. “It’s no secret that we haven’t been where we want to be over the last few races but today the team did an incredible job to get the car back in a place to fight for strong points. It feels so good to have a solid race. We still have work to do but I’m happy with how we executed the strategy today with what we had available.”
The team will undoubtedly be working around the clock between now and the next round in Miami, to make sure they’re back fighting for wins and podiums regularly.
SCHEDULE: Next we're heading Stateside for the 2025 Miami E-Prix Round 5
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