Formula E 2024 Season

Season 10 of the all electric single seater series FIA Formula E began with pre-season testing at Valencia on October 23rd – 27th 2023, and a couple of major upsets in the form of the battery fire in the pits which caused the cancellation of more than an entire day’s testing and the premature end of the broadcasting deal with Channel 4.  Not to mention some shock driver moves.

Formula E have signed a deal with subscription service TNT Sports and the plan is for races to be shown live on the discovery+ channel, but unfortunately UK viewers must subscribe at £29.99 a month to be able to watch qualy and races live.  Free practice sessions can still be watched for free on YouTube, but the other sessions will only be available there 7 days after the fact.  If you don’t want to pay that much for a load of other stuff you’ll probably never watch, you can always follow the live commentary from a site like The Race, and/or join in the lively discussion on Formula E Reddit.   Unconfirmed reports on Twitter suggest that it is possible to watch races with a basic discovery+ subscription (which costs £3.99 a month), but not live; catch-up will be available immediately after the end of the race.  As Formula E races last less than an hour this isn’t a long time to wait, so if this is indeed an option we expect many to take it.

There’s also not much on what’s happening regarding the introduction of Attack Charge. This mandatory 30 second pit stop to unlock two Attack Modes is supposed to be a feature of Season 10, but which races (if any) it will actually be used at remains to be seen. The original plan was to bring it into use at Diriyah but that’s now been postponed until Misano in April, with Berlin, Shanghai, Portland and London planned to be the other races where it features.  There’s been very little testing of the fast chargers so far so we wouldn’t be surprised to see it postponed again. (UPDATE: after more testing grief it’s looking very likely to be delayed until 2025).

As the 2024 season goes on, we’ll keep a running tally of what’s been checked off so far, so if you want to play the season version of the card you can still start if it’s a few races in. Here’s a sneak preview of what we can expect to see in season 10.

Round 1 – Mexico City, 13th January

2024’s race was quite boring compared to last year’s.  Pascal Wehrlein extended his mastery of this particular circuit; he’s now has 4 pole positions and 2 wins here (but not fastest lap this time).  There was a near miss of car too damaged to start race – Sergio Sette Camera’s car had a fault and stopped on the sighting lap.  And for a while it looked like we might have a case of penalty for tech infringement and penalty demotes driver from podium, but it was decided no further investigation was necessary into Porsche’s throttle pedal mapping.  There’s one thing you CAN cross off though:

• Ticktum radio rant – He didn’t even make it to the first race without one of these, although admittedly what set him off during qualy was a rather large and dangerous piece of debris on track.

Rounds 2 & 3 – Diriyah, 26th & 27th January

This double header is an opportunity for a driver or team to establish early dominance, and Nick Cassidy’s consistency at these races and in Mexico has given him a commanding lead in the championship with nearly triple the points of his teammate.

• Rookie in qualy duels – Jehann Daruvala manged this in Round 3….
• Mechanical DNF – ….but had to retire from the race with a brake failure
• British driver wins – it was only a matter of time till the reigning champion Jake Dennis scored a win and it came in Round 2
• Car too damaged to start race – Sébastien Buemi’s qualy crash was just too heavy

Round 4 – Hyderabad, 10th February

Remarkable last year for the collision between Jaguar teammates and Sacha Fenestraz vs a rat during qualy.  This year, it would have been someone’s home race – the rookie Jehan Daruvala.  But following an issue with the local government, the race has been cancelled.

• Race calendar change

Round 4 – São Paulo, 16th March

This race was very much a return to peleton style racing and had one of the most exciting last laps ever in Formula E.  Sam Bird overtook former teammate Mitch Evans to deliver Neom McLaren’s first win in Formula E, and Oliver Rowland slipped past the scrapping Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis to grab the final podium slot.

• Penalty for energy over-use – Sergio Sette Câmara was disqualified for this (and not for the first time either).  Not that it made any difference to the results.
• Driver gets 2 penalties in 1 race – Maximilian Günther was given 2 x 20 place gird penalties for taking replacement parts, the second of which had to be converted into a 10 second stop and go due to there not being enough slots on the grid for it to be taken there.

…and why did we not have driver is penalised more places than there are on the grid on the bingo card? Not to mention last lap overtake for the win and last lap overtake for the podium!

Round 5 – Tokyo, 30th March

The drivers loved this new 18 turn, 2.582 km street circuit around the Tokyo International Exhibition Centre. And what a season this is shaping up to be, with 5 different race winners from 5 different teams in the first 5 races and only 25 points separating the top 5 in the championship!

• Penalty for tech infringement – Nick Cassidy was DSQ’d from qualy for this (but came back to score points in the race)
• Any team double DNF – or rather one DNF and one DSQ for Mahindra

Rounds 6 & 7 – Italy, 13th & 14th April

The Rome circuit that has been used for the last few years was considered to be too dangerous for Gen 3 cars following last year’s almighty mess of a multiple car pile-up, so this year the Italian races took place at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli (which is best known as a motorcycle track). And some of the drivers think that Misano is also too dangerous, with lots of contact between cars as a result of extreme peloton racing at a track where it’s possible for cars to go round corners several abreast.

• Penalty demotes driver from the podium – António Félix Da Costa lost the round 6 win after being disqualified for a bizarre technical infringement
• Out of energy on the last lap – Oliver Rowland looked set to win round 7 but unexpectedly ran out of useable energy due to a dashboard malfunction

Round 8 – Monaco, 27th April

Probably the most exciting single seater car race you’ll ever see round the iconic street circuit – Formula 1 eat your heart out!

Rounds 9 & 10 – Berlin, 11th & 12th May

Home race for Pascal Wehrlein and Maximilian Günther.  Remarkable last year due to no-one wanting to be in the lead because of energy usage.

Rounds 11 & 12 – Shanghai, 25th & 26th May

Another new venue, but not a new circuit.  The Shanghai International Circuit is a Herman Tilke designed track that was opened for Formula One in 2004.

Rounds 13 & 14- Portland, 29th & 30th June

The race at the Portland International Raceway was remarkable last year for the truly ridiculous number of overtakes – 403 to be precise.  That’s more than one overtake every 10 seconds on average – no wonder it was hard for viewers to keep track of what was going on!  This year, Portland hosts a double header.

Rounds 15 & 16 – London, 20th & 21st July

Season finale and home race for Jake Dennis, Sam Bird, Jake Hughes, Oliver Rowland and Dan Ticktum.  The only race circuit that is part indoor and part outdoor, which is especially interesting when it rains (as it often does in London).

Formula E Bingo – How To Play

Our Formula E bingo cards can be played alone or with friends, over one race weekend or over the whole season.  Here’s how to use them:

1. Choose your card size – click in the Grid Size box to see the choices or stick with the default 4×4.  We suggest 3×3 for a single race, 4×4 for a double header race weekend and 5×5 for the whole season
2. Add any extra items you like in the box where it says “Enter words/emojis” and remove any you don’t want
3. Press “Generate Bingo Card“
4. You’ll see an example, playable card (click on the squares to make them change colour)
5. EITHER choose a number of cards to print (from the drop down or enter a number in the “custom number” box).  The cards will all contain a different arrangement of items in the grid. Then press “Generate Printable Cards”.
6. OR invite your friends by entering their email addresses in the box and pressing Invite – you’ll each receive a different card.
7. Watch the race (or races) together – either in the same room or via a watchalong – and daub the items off as they happen, online or on printed cards.  The winner is the first to daub them all, or the player who has daubed the most by the end of the session.
8. Have fun!