THE SEASON’S MOST GLAMOROUS RACE: GEN3 GRID BID TO MASTER THE UNIQUE CHALLENGE OF MONACO

The famous Principality will get the second half of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s 2022/23 campaign underway this weekend

Monaco may be renowned for its glitz and glamour, but it is the glory that ABB FIA Formula E World Championship competitors will be chasing on Saturday (6 May), as the Principality prepares to welcome the all-electric single-seater series for the sixth time.

The undulating and unforgiving Monégasque streets are notorious for showing no mercy, and the five Monaco E-Prixs held so far have delivered plenty of drama.

As the Season 9 field gets set to tackle the 3.337km, 19-turn harbourfront circuit – featuring such iconic landmarks as Sainte Dévote, Casino Square and La Rascasse – the title fight is gaining momentum, with Pascal Wehrlein’s advantage having been slashed to just four points.

The TAG Heuer Porsche star still occupies the top spot, but following his impressive start to the campaign, he has since gone five rounds without a podium. Wehrlein narrowly missed out on the rostrum in Monaco in 2019 – when he posted the race’s fastest lap – but he has retired from the subsequent two editions, with a technical failure forcing him out of the lead 12 months ago.

The German’s chief rival is now Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy, who has been climbing the classification of late and recorded his second career victory in Berlin. The New Zealander heads to the south of France in a fine form, having amassed four top-three from the last five starts.

DS Penske ace Jean-Éric Vergne remains an ever-present threat in third, and the Frenchman – the only two-time Formula E champion – triumphed in Monte-Carlo from pole position in 2019, backing that up with third place three years later.

Erstwhile championship leader Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti) might have slipped to fourth in the standings, but the Briton put an end to a fruitless four-race run in Berlin by taking the runner-up spoils on day two in the German capital, which will give him cause for encouragement going into the second half of the season.

Mitch Evans is the highest scorer of the past three races, with a brace of victories and a fourth place propelling the Jaguar TCS Racing driver firmly into title contention, just 24 points from the top of the table. The New Zealander has two prior podium appearances in Monaco and set the pace there in qualifying in 2022.

António Félix da Costa prevailed in the Principality two years ago. The 2019/20 title-winner has increasingly hit his stride for TAG Heuer Porsche this season, as has Jaguar TCS Racing’s Sam Bird, who reached the rostrum in São Paulo and Berlin and posted fastest lap in Monte-Carlo in 2017.

Sébastien Buemi is arguably now overdue a podium for Envision Racing after coming close on a number of occasions, and the Swiss Formula E champion of 2015/16 – is the grid’s most successful driver in Monaco, having led from lights-to-flag in both 2015 and 2017.

The most recent winner of the race, however, is Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske), with the reigning title-holder providing a strategic masterclass last year to become the only competitor ever to take the chequered flag first in Monte-Carlo without having started from pole. A similar result this time around would go some way to igniting the Belgian’s title defence.

Others to have previously shone in Monaco include Mahindra Racing duo Lucas Di Grassi and Oliver Rowland – both of whom have placed second in the race – and ABT CUPRA Formula E Team’s Robin Frijns, who returned to action in Brazil following four rounds on the sidelines due to injury, proceeding to outpace all of his rivals during a wet qualifying session in Germany just under a month later. 

The Dutchman snatched the runner-up spot from Evans on the finish line in Monte-Carlo two years ago, and came within two tenths-of-a-second of ascending the rostrum again in 2022. One other driver to watch, meanwhile, is Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Günther, who overcame a disappointing run to record a pair of top six performances on home soil in Berlin, including a fifth career podium.

Round nine of the 2022/23 Formula E campaign – the series’ first season with the groundbreaking Gen3 car – will get underway at 15:03 CET on Saturday, 6 May.

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2023

– Introduction of the smaller, lighter and faster Gen3 cars

– Races will run to a set number of laps rather than time, in a bid to make them simpler to follow while allowing teams more control over their own strategies.

– The Safety Car or Full Course Yellow neutralisations will be compensated by added laps rather than added time. 

Please find here the 2022 – 2023 Sporting Regulations.

THE 2023 TRACK

MEDIA CENTRE

Opening Hours of the Media Centre

– Friday May 5: 07:30 – 20:00
– Saturday May 6: 06:00 – 21:00

2023 MONACO E-PRIX TIMETABLE

MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES

2023 MONACO E-PRIX ENTRIES