Testing times and an intriguing driver market: What to watch for in Formula E's month of November
The month of November marks a special moment for Formula E, with the championship on the cusp of an all-new era of racing. For the first time since the cars crossed the line in London in August, Formula E cars will take to a racetrack for pre-season testing in Jarama.
But amidst the excitement of the much-anticipated Gen4 era of Formula E getting underway, plenty of storylines will dominate the headlines even before a single lap is turned in the new machinery. Several seats are yet to be filled, while teams continue to look to prepare for testing and be in the best shape possible by mid-November.
DIVEBOMB takes you through some of these talking points and a guide to the busy, buzzing month of November.
Gen4 machinery, finally in action!
A year after Formula E unveiled renders of its Gen4 cars, fans will finally be able to catch shots of the Gen4 cars turning laps in anger, out on track.
While the concept of the Gen4 era began only on paper for much of Season 12, teams conducted two private tests in Monteblanco and Almeria in November 2025 and January 2026. This marked the latest instance of multiple teams conducting testing on track before they got onto private outings across Europe.
The regular season got underway, but teams undertook several wide-ranging testing regimes all through the year. Several drivers got their first taste of the Gen4 machinery, with Oliver Rowland first undertaking a test in May, while Jake Dennis shook down a Nissan-powered Andretti for the first time in September, alongside teammate Felipe Drugovich.
Testing regimes have varied across the board. Porsche chose to test at Monza earlier in October, in a bid to stress-test their 975 RSE concept down the straights, and later in the wet with Pepe Martí behind the wheel.
Lola have tested with a myriad of drivers at several venues, with Dan Ticktum, Sting Ray Robb and Enzo Fittipaldi all undertaking tests at Guadix, Andalusia and Ales-Cévennes from August to October 2026.
Mahindra were the last to commit to the Gen4 era, but have actively taken to the track in a bid to make up for missed time. Jake Hughes tested the first Gen4 concept for the Indian manufacturer at Abingdon base in the UK, while Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries will undoubtedly be busy testing the Mahindra cars in the lead-up to testing, across Guadix and the UK.
The month of November marks the end of a lengthy round of testing conducted across the board. Some teams appear undoubtedly more prepared, with Porsche marking six different rounds of testing in the last year. Some teams are yet to turn a lap in Gen4 machinery, with the new Fortescue Zero and Fusion Formula E Team still low on mileage going into testing.
Expect teams to ramp up their testing activities and look to iron out any rough edges before getting on the flight to Madrid and to the Jarama circuit for pre-season testing!
Five seats up for grabs (and yet more?)
Yet, even before getting to testing, several teams will face the task of completing their driver line-ups and the pairing to represent them through the Gen4 era. Formula E's driver market for the Gen4 era has showcased an unprecedented level of fluidity, keeping several fans and keen-eyed watchers on edge, not knowing what comes next.
With two weeks to go, a total of 19 drivers have been announced, while a further five are yet to be officially unveiled. This list includes two teams largely shrouded in mystery for much of the off-season: Lola Formula E Team and the new Porsche-powered Fusion Formula E Team.
The journey for both outfits couldn't have been more contrasting; Lola has undergone large-scale restructuring, following a split from ABT Sportsline at the end of Season 12, as they consolidated activities in-house at Silverstone.
The team parted ways with the retiring Lucas di Grassi, while Zane Maloney moved to Nissan in a last-gasp move to partner Rowland.
Lola have been one of the more active teams in shopping for a new pairing of drivers. Ticktum, Joel Eriksson, Victor Martins and Richard Verschoor have all been linked to a full-time seat at the team, but to varying degrees of certainty.
IndyCar's pairing of Sting Ray Robb and Nolan Siegel, and Indy NXT runner-up Enzo Fittipaldi, have undergone tests and a round of talks for a full-time seat at the team. However, the only name constantly linked to a race seat at the team is Robert Shwartzman, expected to compete a dual campaign with Peugeot's hypercar squad in 2027.
Shwartzman's name is expected to be announced, but Lola will also be keen to lock down their pair of full-time drivers before testing gets underway.
The tale of the Fusion Formula E Team has been even more shrouded in secrets, but crystallised in October. Led by former DS Penske deputy Phil Charles, the team are eyeing up the services of former DTM champion Ayhancan Güven, an active test driver for Porsche, while they haven't revealed the name to take to the second seat just yet.
Amidst this, one more name awaits unveiling: António Félix da Costa's Jaguar teammate. While several circles have reported this figure to be Stoffel Vandoorne, Jaguar are expected to make an official announcement at their livery reveal in the coming week.
The end to Formula E's silly season is near, but expect some surprised faces and more new names to make their way into the championship ahead of its lucrative Gen4 era for the upcoming season!
Pre-season testing: The first moment of truth
This is it. The moment of reckoning.
For the first time since its official reveal in November 2025, fans will be able to catch the Gen4 cars all out on track at once, with teams and drivers expected to complete a range of testing regimes at Jarama in mid-November.
Spanning five days, the test will take place between 16 and 20 November 2026, and will see several teams also make their first public appearance on the grid. Fortescue Zero's Gen4 concept will take to the track for public viewing in Jarama, and so too will the Fusion Formula E Team.
Formula E has yet to reveal a full schedule for its test, but several sources have reported a vastly different testing schedule for the Jarama test. Monday, 16 November, features the first day of pre-season testing, with a morning and an afternoon session spanning three hours each.
The morning session is expected to run from 09:00 - 12:00 local time (08:00 - 11:00 GMT), while the afternoon session will run from 14:00 - 17:00 local time (13:00 - 16:00 GMT).
Tuesday will feature a rest day for teams to reflect on and fine-tune their plans after sifting through data, while Wednesday will feature a second day of testing. This day will also feature a mock E-Prix, running from 14:00 to 15:00 local time, and testing drivers through a variety of race simulations.
Thursday will be reserved for media activities, while Friday will feature another day of on-track testing. The highlight of the final day will be the mock 'Unleashed' race format, with drivers set to run high-downforce configurations and six minutes of attack mode for the race, from 14:00 to 15:00 local time.
All in all, teams and drivers will be put through the stress test to remain best prepared for the year of racing ahead. This test will also be the first official appearance for several rookie drivers, with a count of anywhere between three and six different rookies expected to drive the Gen4 cars at Jarama.
Apart from the official pre-season test, another informal test is set to take place at Valencia a week prior, although teams such as Porsche and Fortescue Zero are expected to skip this test, in a bid to prepare for official pre-season testing at Jarama later in the month.
Livery reveals
While pre-season testing will be the first time all 12 teams take to a racetrack, it will also be a special sight to see several different liveries sported by teams out on track. It will also be interesting to see if teams look to adopt camouflaged testing liveries, as Porsche did early on in testing in 2025.
Four teams have revealed liveries in the off-season: Citroën Racing, Opel, Envision Racing and Cupra Kiro. Fortescue Zero have revealed shades of their livery, sporting green and black hues, and are expected to unveil their livery at a launch event on Friday, November 6.
Meanwhile, Jaguar have teased streaks of blue on black on their livery, expected to be unveiled on Tuesday, 10 November.
But it will also be interesting to follow the hues sported by several other teams on the grid. Mahindra shared a teaser of a Gen4 livery featuring the Indian tricolour at the London E-Prix weekend in August. It will be interesting to see if they retain this livery going into the upcoming season, or opt to go in a different direction.
Likewise, with several teams yet to reveal their liveries, the month of November will be an exciting time for all of them to do so and spark hype in the lead-up to the Gen4 era, expected to begin in December.
An update on Formula E's season opener
Formula E may have pencilled in a start date for its famed Gen4 era to commence, with Friday, 18 December under the lights at Jeddah set to mark this occasion. Tickets for the event have also gone live, starting at SAR 115 ($30) and reaching SAR 195 ($51.91).
But amidst all the excitement and intrigue, a cloud of uncertainty still hangs over the event. While Formula E and Jeff Dodds have remained confident in the season opener playing out at Jeddah, recent events in the region have escalated security threats.
Several motorsport series have cancelled or diverted events from the region. The Paris-Dakar rally is one such example, with its endpoint now shifted to Morocco instead of Yanbu, as was the case in 2026.
The World Endurance Championship had cancelled its finale in Bahrain, rescheduling with two events in Barcelona and Monza to round out the season. The World Rally Championship also cancelled its finale in Saudi Arabia in November.
This comes as part of a wider move, with several other sporting events being called off in the nation, which has seen missile strikes on several airports, including an October 10 strike on Riyadh Airport that killed 14 and injured 300 people.
Governments in the USA and UK have issued advisories against non-essential travel to several Middle Eastern regions, with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on a Level 3 risk setting, an advisory against travelling to the region.
The advisories will affect several Formula E teams, drivers and personnel based in the UK, and their travel plans for the season opener.
While MotoGP has remained persuasive in its bid to host the Qatar event this weekend, Formula One and F2 have also delivered firm reassurance of their rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi going ahead. Formula E may draw confidence from these decisions, cautiously optimistic about its chances.
What if a Formula E event in Jeddah doesn't get underway? The start of the season will then be pushed to the Mexico City E-Prix on January 16, with Jeddah expected to take over the slot held by the current Sanya E-Prix in April, as reported by eformulanews and other sources.
Expect an update on this topic later in the month, with Formula E shoring up plans for its upcoming Gen4 era.
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