Formula E to use the chicane at Jarama for pre-season testing ahead of Season 13
Formula E is only three weeks away from pre-season testing for Season 13, the first time its much-awaited Gen4 machinery will take to the track. As such, given the magnitude of the occasion, all eyes will be on the pre-season test for a first glimpse of the Gen4 cars.
The championship has confirmed it will use the same layout from the inaugural Madrid E-Prix weekend that took place in March earlier this year for the upcoming pre-season test. The layout features a wide chicane splitting the main straight into two parts before the finish line.
This measure marked a difference from the stop-gap measure used during pre-season testing in 2024, when Formula E had placed barricades along the main straight, bringing up a sharper change of direction that saw drivers veer towards the entry to the pits, and then steer left and right before continuing along the main straight.
Ahead of the inaugural Madrid E-Prix, the organisers began scooping up an area to the left of the main straight, a parking lot, to introduce the newly reprofiled sequence of corners. A makeshift barrier and kerbing saw the drivers initially face a slow left-hander, before a sharper right-hand change of direction awaited them.
The drivers then took a faster kink that brought them back onto the main straight, and across the line for a lap of the Madrid E-Prix.
The continuity has been confirmed, with Formula E publishing the same track map as it did for Season 12, maintaining this piece of tarmac for testing, at the very least.
Will Formula E use the Jarama chicane for the Gen4 era?
Formula E has been no stranger to running race weekends on road courses in the Gen3 era. However, it has used a modified or shortened version of such venues, in a bid to suit the capabilities of the Gen3 and the Gen3 Evo cars, and allow them more opportunities to harvest energy over the course of a race.
These measures have seen Formula E run a shortened lap at the Shanghai International Circuit for three seasons. The championship utilised modified versions of the Miami-Homestead venue in Season 11, and a shortened Misano circuit back in Season 10 that removed Turns 2 to 6 on the conventional track layout.
The championship raced on a completely unmodified road course for the first time at Portland in Seasons 9 and 10, marking a significant milestone in its journey. However, few other circuits have run in that manner in the recent past.
Jarama will continue to feature the chicane in pre-season testing, while the championship’s upcoming rounds in Austin and Zandvoort are also expected to feature shortened versions of the full Grand Prix layouts used by Formula One on both tracks.
Further modifications are set to be made to Formula E’s first event at Brands Hatch in 2027, with a series of chicanes opening up opportunities for drivers to harvest energy. A chicane is also expected to be introduced at Pilgrim’s Drop, to avoid drivers going in too quickly into the right-hander ahead.
But a strong case can be made for the Circuito del Jarama, set to host its second Madrid E-Prix in June. The chicane in between may not allow Formula E to explore the full potential of the cars down to Turn 1. Formula E’s Sporting Advisor James Rossiter had clocked 200 mph (approx. 320 kph) down the unmodified straight in an unofficial Gen4 test earlier this year.
It makes a strong case for Formula E to run with a full front straight for the Madrid E-Prix in June, opening up more overtaking opportunities down to the winding Turn 1, and allowing for more side-by-side racing into the in-field section of the track.
Yet, Formula E will evaluate the capacity of the Gen4 cars and whether they can run efficiently down this front straight without exhausting their energy levels. But if Formula E continues with a chicane into Jarama, it opens up another overtaking opportunity and an additional challenge to navigate before the drivers get across the start/finish line.
This chicane brought several overtaking opportunities during the inaugural Madrid E-Prix. The most notable ones proved to be Mitch Evans making his way past Pascal Wehrlein early in the race, while Wehrlein made a last-lap pass on Dan Ticktum at the chicane to claim a podium.
Expect the Gen4 cars to provide more confidence to drivers to make a late dive into this chicane, or set up overtaking opportunities across the rest of the main straight during Formula E’s next Madrid E-Prix event in June.
What can we expect from pre-season testing?
Formula E will run a five-day pre-season testing programme in mid-November, from 16 - 20 November, 2026. This opportunity will provide teams and drivers with an opportunity to test the Gen4 car in front of a public audience for the first time, and gain valuable understanding about the reliability and the pace of their machines.
Some teams are in a race to put up two Gen4 cars and make testing at Jarama, including Fortescue Zero and the newly announced Fusion Formula E Team. For them, pre-season testing may be the first opportunity to get their cars out onto the racetrack and test their machinery.
While teams may come in to test for the first time, several drivers may come into the official pre-season test with little experience of testing the Gen4 car. Fortescue Zero’s Taylor Barnard has yet to test the Gen4 machine, while new teammate Dan Ticktum hasn’t sampled the Jaguar concept machine for the Gen4 era.
This comes before we consider the outcome of the Lola Formula E Team and Fusion, who haven’t crystallised their driver line-ups for the upcoming season, and a multitude of names have sampled Lola’s Gen4 machine already.
Formula E’s pre-season testing outing will feature three days of track time on Monday, November 16; Wednesday, November 18; and Friday, November 20. A first mock trial of the championship’s new ‘Unleashed’ E-Prix event is expected to take place on November 18, as reported by Formula E Notebook.
The Thursday in between is expected to be a day reserved for media commitments among the teams, while the time gap between testing days will allow teams and drivers to understand the data and hone their packages for the upcoming season.
It also represents a significant block of time that teams and drivers will want to maximise, ahead of the championship’s inaugural weekend in Jeddah on December 18 - 19, 2026. Should this event not go ahead, though, due to uncertainties in the Middle East, teams and drivers will begin the season in the new year, with the Mexico City E-Prix weekend on January 15-16, 2027.
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