Preview: All you need to know for Formula E’s crucial Gen4 pre-season testing at Jarama
Formula E first introduced the concept of its Gen4 cars to the public last November. 12 months on, the championship will undertake its first-ever official session with the Gen4 machines at the Circuito del Jarama from November 16 - 20, 2026.
It marks the culmination of a long wait, with fans and pundits alike eager to finally catch the Gen4 car in action, and an inkling of where the machine stands in comparison to the older Gen3 Evo spec Formula E cars, and to other single-seater championships around the world, such as Formula One, F2 and Super Formula.
This period has seen several teams undertake private tests spread across European venues. Teams have shaken down the Gen4 cars at Monteblanco, Andalusia, Calafat, Navarra, Guadix and Almeria in Spain, just to name a few. Ales-Cevennes in France and even the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy have seen Formula E’s Gen4 machines pushed to the limits.
In the lead-up to testing, UK-based teams have also taken to local venues, with Cupra Kiro and Andretti testing at the Bedford Autodrome, Envision Racing close to their base at Silverstone, and Fortescue Zero taking to Mallory Park on a chilly morning to test their new Gen4 challenger.
But when teams have already been testing at their own paces, why is pre-season testing expected to draw more hype?
Pre-season testing at Madrid marks the first instance of all 12 teams collectively going out on track at the same venue. 12 teams that have come about in varying degrees of timeframe. Some have committed to the Gen4 era as early as Season 10, such as Nissan, while newer teams such as Fortescue Zero and the Fusion Formula E Team have only made a mark over the last month or two.
For the entire grid, this pre-season test paints an intriguing image of who emerges on top once the season gets underway at Jeddah Mexico City in 2027. But before they dive right into taking the Gen4 cars in anger, teams will receive three days and six collective test sessions to reflect on and hone their packages for the upcoming season of racing.
So then, without further ado, let’s dive into what Formula E’s latest pre-season test has to offer!
What is Formula E pre-season testing all about?
Much like several racing series, pre-season testing allows Formula E teams to really test and explore how their machinery stacks up ahead of the season. In the past, this represented the only opportunity for Formula E’s grid to get readings of their cars’ performance and shake down machinery ahead of the new season.
Private testing has often been sporadic and less of a feature between two seasons of the same regulation cycle. But, given the scale of change taking place into Season 13, more eyes have followed such test appearances, with fans eager to see just how quick the Gen4 cars can be when pushed to the limits.
Despite the multitude of private tests taking place in the lead-up to testing at Jarama, you’d be mistaken for thinking this test was a formality in itself.
Pre-season testing isn’t just about collective test sessions, but a chance for teams and drivers to dust off the cobwebs and get back into the groove of Formula E’s fast-paced environment. Teams will look to complete qualifying simulations while doing multiple race simulations to understand how their powertrains fare on energy management, outright pace, and reliability over a race distance.
The championship also attempts to put its grid through as many simulated scenarios as possible, including a mock E-Prix, safety car, full course yellow, red flags, and now even the mandatory Pit Boost stops. With new drivers and teams coming into the championship every year, such procedures help these teams get up to speed and undertake these mandatory practices in a live race scenario.
Pre-season testing also helps rookies get up to speed with the conventions of Formula E. The maiden campaign of the championship’s Gen4 era will feature at least four rookies, in the form of Opel’s Théo Pourchaire, Envision Racing’s Zak O’Sullivan and the Lola pair of Robert Shwartzman and Enzo Fittipaldi.
Expect these figures to take a big step forward during the pre-season test, as they begin to unlock pace and discover the full potential of Formula E’s Gen4 car.
Oh, and what can emerge as the biggest talking point for Gen4 testing? The lap times. Arguably, the most pressing storyline of pre-season testing will be to see just how quick the Gen4 machinery can be over one lap, compared to the Gen3 Evo cars that took to Jarama in 2025.
An informal test in Valencia earlier this week saw Formula E’s Gen4 challengers lap up to 9.5 seconds quicker than the Gen3 Evo cars during testing in 2025. Cause for early optimism? Perhaps.
Where is pre-season testing taking place?
Formula E’s annual pre-season testing venue has been the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. But for the second time in three years, the pre-season test will take place at the Circuito del Jarama, just outside the capital city of Madrid.
Once a track known to host Formula One’s Spanish Grand Prix, Jarama has quickly emerged as Formula E’s wunderkind. A relatively new addition to Formula E, it famously served as a reliable back-up option for Formula E’s pre-season testing in 2024 for the flood-hit Valencia region.
A maiden race weekend followed in Season 12, with Formula E returning to host a race in Spain for the first time since Season 7 in 2021. The race weekend proved spectacular in its own right, with a sellout crowd and a gold standard for Formula E’s race weekends.
The circuit receives a double header for the Gen4 era, and was also recently named as the host for Formula E’s pre-season test ahead of Season 13.
The Circuito del Jarama is a rollercoaster, something Formula E has seldom been to before. With over 25 metres of elevation between its lowest and highest points, several winding, sweeping corners, and a long main straight, it offers a perfect curtain raiser for the championship’s Gen4 cars to test their mettle.
The 3.934 km (2.444 mi) long Formula E layout, though, will not use the full length of the main straight for testing. It will retain the chicane created for the inaugural Madrid E-Prix just before the start/finish line.
Prominent corners on the circuit include the sweeping right-hander of Fangio, Turn 2, while Le Mans, Turn 4, makes for a tricky challenge to conquer. Drivers will then come across the highest point of the circuit at Ascari, Turn 7, taking the fast right-hander into a tricky braking zone made up of Turns 8 and 9.
Drivers then take a glorious downhill section of track, navigating down to Bugatti, Turn 12, before the brace of Monza corners lead them to the final corner named after the late Maria de Villota, and back onto the front straight.
Simply put, it is an adventure, a fan favourite, and one that will officially kick off Formula E’s Gen4 era in grandeur.
The schedule for Gen4 pre-season testing at Jarama
Compared to the previous two years of pre-season testing, the schedule is more spread out for testing this time.
Teams will have six collective sessions of testing Gen4 machinery, but this will not take place over consecutive days. The first of the test sessions takes place on Monday, November 16, with Tuesday featuring no on-track action to follow, marked as “Drivers' assets gathering” on the official schedule.
Expect teams and drivers to be sifting through the data gathered on Monday, and fine-tuning their run plans for the rest of the week on Tuesday.
The teams will then return to the track for another pair of crucial test sessions on Wednesday, November 18. This day will feature the crucial mock E-Prix in the afternoon, running from 14:00 - 15:00 local time (13:00 - 14:00 GMT), with the Gen4 cars set to undergo a proper race simulation featuring FCY, safety cars, red flags, and a mandatory Pit Boost stop.
Normal testing then resumes until 17:00 local time (16:00 GMT), while Thursday is marked as a media day for the teams and drivers. Friday, November 20, 2026 marks the final two sessions of testing, with a mock Unleashed race scheduled for the same time slot in the afternoon.
Teams and drivers will take on the championship’s newest race format for the first time, in what will mark an exciting sight in Formula E’s development.
The all-female Formula E test will not feature in the schedule this year, in order to help teams and drivers maximise preparation for the upcoming Gen4 era. An alternative slot is being explored later in the year, preferably at the Shanghai E-Prix in July.
Full schedule for Gen4 testing at Jarama:
Monday, 16 November 2026:
Collective Test Session 1: 09:00 - 12:00 local (08:00 - 11:00 GMT)
Collective Test Session 2: 14:00 - 17:00 local (13:00 - 16:00 GMT)
Tuesday, 17 November 2026:
Drivers’ Assets Gathering
Wednesday, 18 November 2026:
Collective Test Session 3: 09:00 - 12:00 local (08:00 - 11:00 GMT)
Collective Test Session 4:
E-Prix Race Exercise: 14:00 - 15:00 local (13:00 - 14:00 GMT)
Test session: 15:00 - 17:00 local (14:00 - 16:00 GMT)
Thursday, 19 November 2026:
Media Day
Friday, 20 November 2026:
Collective Test Session 5: 09:00 - 12:00 local (08:00 - 11:00 GMT)
Collective Test Session 6:
E-Prix Unleashed Race Exercise: 14:00 - 15:00 local (13:00 - 14:00 GMT)
Test session: 15:00 - 17:00 local (14:00 - 16:00 GMT)
The lead-up: What’s been going on in the championship?
As expected, the run-up to Formula E’s pre-season testing for the Gen4 era has been nothing short of busy.
Fortescue Zero unveiled shots of testing at Mallory Park, UK, with Dan Ticktum behind the wheel of the team’s Gen4 machine. One of three new names on the grid for the Gen4 era, Fortescue Zero revealed their Gen4 challenger in London the week prior.
Mahindra have also been testing at the Croft Circuit in the UK, with one final shakedown before heading to Jarama. Fusion Formula E Team have been testing privately at the Porsche base in Weissach.
The vast majority of teams undertook an unofficial test in Valencia on 11 November. Nissan’s Zane Maloney topped the timesheets, over eight tenths of a second ahead of Envision’s Maximilian Günther and Cupra Kiro’s Jake Hughes, with Formula E running the usual version of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo without the chicane on the main straight. Lap times sat over nine seconds quicker than those of pre-season testing for Season 12.
Porsche elected to skip this test, as did Lola, with both expected to run their cars in Jarama for the official pre-season test.
Several teams unveiled liveries for the upcoming Gen4 era and are expected to continue doing so in the run-up to testing. Jaguar and Andretti revealed their liveries for the Gen4 era earlier this week. Mahindra are set to become the ninth team to reveal their official Season 13 livery, doing so on Sunday, 15 November at 15:00 IST (09:30 GMT).
You can check out the other liveries revealed by teams on our website; click here.
Jaguar finally put an end to the intrigue around their driver line-up for Season 13, announcing Stoffel Vandoorne as António Félix da Costa’s teammate for the Gen4 era, in what is set to be a multi-year deal.
Lola, on the other hand, finally announced their driver pairing for the Gen4 era, with Robert Shwartzman joining Indy NXT runner-up Enzo Fittipaldi for the upcoming season. The team also unveiled its latest livery for the Gen4 era on Saturday, 14 November.
Fusion remains the only outfit yet to announce its line-up, with a raft of names doing the rounds. One such name is Taylor Barnard. The Briton wasn’t present at Fortescue Zero’s launch event, having reportedly pulled out of his contract with the team even before turning a lap in the machinery.
With this contractual wrangle set to drag out for the foreseeable future, it may be intriguing if he even drives in pre-season testing the following week.
You might have noticed Jeddah struck out earlier in the article. This comes about after Formula E opted to postpone the season opener to a later slot in the year. Consequently, the season will begin in Mexico City in January.
Elsewhere, Envision Racing team principal Sylvain Filippi becomes the new president of the Formula E Teams and Manufacturers’ Association (FETAMA), the collective body representing Formula E’s constructors’ and powertrain manufacturers. He replaces the outgoing Roger Griffiths, who completed his two-year tenure in the role.
ABB continues as the title sponsor for Formula E, going into a 10th season together, marking yet another major development within the championship.
How to watch/follow pre-season testing?
Now, Formula E are not officially live-streaming pre-season testing for fans to watch and follow remotely. That makes it difficult to actually watch the Gen4 cars in action for the first time.
However, fans can follow the updates from Formula E and the teams across their respective social media channels. Expect the teams to showcase their results from each session of running, along with photographs of their Gen4 machines out on track.
Expect teams to also utilise their media day to shoot dedicated content involving their Gen4 challengers, allowing fans to sink their teeth into content on social media.
The biggest questions to be answered at testing
Fusion Formula E Team: The identities of 11 Formula E teams have been publicly known. However, one team has yet to showcase its wares and Gen4 plans: The Porsche-powered Fusion Formula E Team.
One that has come up only in the last month, as covered by DIVEBOMB and other media sources, Fusion have already tested at Guadix and Weissach, featuring former DTM champion Ayhancan Güven.
He looks to be a favourite to sign on with the team, while GB3 champion Nikita Bedrin and Porsche reserve David Beckmann could be sharing a car at pre-season testing in Jarama.
However, with limited testing under their belt, the Fusion team may have slightly less understanding of how their package works, and the Jarama test will be an important series of days for them to accumulate consistent race and qualifying simulations under their belt.
Fortescue Zero’s second seat: With the entire contractual situation around Barnard’s future, the new Fortescue Zero outfit will have to find a potential replacement alongside Dan Ticktum.
Fortunately, Fortescue Zero will have options to choose from in this regard. Envision driver-turned-advisor Sébastien Buemi could emerge as an option, as could former teammate Joel Eriksson. Could Victor Martins secure a Formula E seat in a last-gasp attempt? It all remains to be seen in the weeks after testing, and in the lead-up to Mexico City.
Lap times - Arguably the biggest question for pre-season testing this year will be to see how the lap times stack up. António Félix da Costa set the quickest lap time in a Gen3 Evo, a 01:29.220, during testing at Jarama in 2024. Nyck de Vries holds the race lap record at 1:32.941 from the 2026 Madrid E-Prix, on the modified layout with the revised chicane.
Expect the times to be much quicker on the same configuration at Jarama. It will also make for an estimate to understand just how quick the Gen4 is expected to be all season, across every venue on the calendar.
The Unleashed E-Prix race exercise: For the first time, Formula E will be trying out an alternative race format on a race weekend. Double headers will feature the 30-minute Unleashed E-Prix, enabling drivers to push harder and go flat out with less need to conserve energy.
With Formula E trialling the Unleashed race scheduled on Friday afternoon, drivers and teams will garner a first impression of this format and utilise the data to prepare for the series of double headers in the upcoming campaign.
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