What’s changing as Formula E goes ‘Unleashed’ for the upcoming Gen4 era
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
Formula E is set to undergo one of its most extensive transformations with its upcoming fourth-generation car (or Gen4, in common parlance) bringing about a raft of changes shaping the future of the sport.
With new race formats, more points awarded on race weekends, and a 21-race calendar headlining Formula E’s new dawn, DIVEBOMB takes you through everything you need to know for Formula E’s upcoming Season 13, the first season to feature the Gen4 Formula E car.
E-Prix Unleashed? What’s Formula E up to here?
The most noticeable change for Formula E’s Gen4 era is the tweaking of formats in the way it goes about double-header race weekends. For the first time in its history, the all-electric championship will feature two different types of race formats on the same weekend.
On every race weekend, drivers are set to undertake a Shakedown session on Friday to get accustomed to the handling of the Gen4 car and its acceleration around the circuit.
Formula E’s standalone race weekends in Mexico City, Austin, Miami, São Paulo, and Sanya will feature the regular running on Saturday, with two Free Practice sessions of 45 minutes each, followed by qualifying and a race without Pit Boost.
For double headers, Saturday would see a 45-minute free practice session (up from 40 minutes in Season 12), followed by the qualifying session and a shorter, 30-minute race. Dubbed E-Prix Unleashed, it is Formula E’s take on a shorter event resembling a sprint race, where drivers can push flat out without worrying about saving energy.
Named the ‘Performance Race’ according to the 2026-27 Sporting Regulations, it will feature six minutes of attack mode and not require drivers to make a mandatory Pit Boost stop. It will also utilise the high downforce setting available on Formula E’s Gen4 car, furthering the desires of drivers to push harder through the corners and push the new car to its limits.
The same points format is followed for this race, with 25 points awarded to the winner, 18 to second and 15 to third place, with one point going for the fastest lap to a driver, provided they finish in the top 10.
In the event of added laps, the FIA have mandated a 45-minute window within which the race would have to be completed. In the event of a suspension, the length of the suspension will be added up to a maximum race time of 75 minutes plus one lap, according to the sporting regulations for Season 13.
The second race of the weekend features the format of a regular Formula E race, running to the regular E-Prix length of 45 minutes plus one lap, and featuring the same format of Free Practice, followed by qualifying and the race. Including any added laps, the total length of this race would have to be up to 75 minutes plus one lap.
In the event of stoppages or interruptions, the length of the suspension will be added to a maximum race time of three hours plus one lap, as per the new regulations.
This race will now be called “Efficiency Race”, requiring drivers to make their mandatory Pit Boost stop, and now features the staple eight minutes of attack mode, adding another layer of strategy to the equation. The race will also be run using the ‘Low Downforce’ configuration of Formula E’s Gen4 car, prioritising straight-line speed and rewarding long-term strategy in the race.
“Working in partnership with Formula E and in close consultation with the competitors, we have adapted these regulations to match and highlight the incredible performance of the GEN4, and we believe the result will achieve exactly that," Marek Nawarecki, Director, FIA Circuit Sport department, said, on the release of Formula E’s Gen4 calendar.
As interesting as it will be, the dynamic nature of double headers will mean Formula E teams have to adapt their cars on the fly and be prepared for the differing race modes. Drivers will also need to tweak their style of racing, from conserving energy to pushing to the limit, as this new test awaits them next year.
Points in qualifying - Formula Es game-changer
Much like several junior racing series, Formula E awards points to the driver who takes home pole position for a race. The pole-sitter in qualifying receives three points.
However, this will see a much larger revamp for the Gen4 era. According to the new sporting regulations, the eight drivers who make it into the duels from Groups A and B will each receive a point.
A driver will receive another championship point each for winning the quarter-final and semi-final duels, respectively, while the pole-sitter receives an additional point compared to the losing driver in the finals stage of duels qualifying.
Here’s how the qualifying format shakes up heading into Season 13:
Season 12 (2025-26) | Season 13 (2026-27) |
Pole - Three points | Pole - Five points (4 for winning the duels + 1 additional point for pole) |
second to eighth position - 0 Points | Second place - Three points |
Third place - Two points | |
Fourth place - Two points | |
Fifth place - One point | |
Sixth place - One point | |
Seventh place - One point | |
Eighth place - One point |
This new format spices up what Formula E calls a fan-favourite format, with duels qualifying producing close battles between drivers, more often than not. Several duels have been won by mere hundredths or milliseconds, with pole in Shanghai in 2024 once decided by a margin of one millisecond between Jake Hughes and Stoffel Vandoorne.
A similar margin separated Jaguar’s Mitch Evans and DS Penske’s Taylor Barnard during the quarter final in the recently-concluded Sanya E-Prix weekend. We could see more of the same in Season 13, with drivers fighting out for every point on the line.
Adding points for qualifying also provides an extra incentive for drivers to go for gold. Up to 105 championship points are available across 21 qualifying sessions for a driver in Season 13, and these could be crucial in making or breaking a driver’s championship run.
It could even push drivers towards taking qualifying sessions with more seriousness on energy-heavy circuits such as Berlin, which saw the likes of Oliver Rowland and Mitch Evans attempt to sit out qualifying and save a set of tyres for the races.
There does remain a caveat to this, though. In the event of a driver not setting a lap time at all during the duels stage of qualifying and getting pole position, they would not receive the points for pole position.
In the event of Formula E curtailing its qualifying sessions and not running the duels stages, drivers who qualify in the top four of Group A and Group B will receive a point each, as per the new regulations. This scenario featured in the Shanghai E-Prix in 2025, when drivers only took part in a wet qualifying session in their groups to set the grid.
Should qualifying not take place at all during a race weekend, these points wouldn’t be awarded.
A new way for teams to utilise Pit Boost?
An intriguing rule in the regulations for Season 13 pertains to the mandatory Pit Boost stop during the ‘Efficiency Race’.
The new rulesets now open up options for drivers and teams to take different quantities of Pit Boost during the race. These will be put up by the FIA when revealing the Pit Boost details for any double header race weekend in Season 13.
The driver will be required to press a button on the steering wheel, indicating how much energy they would like to take on during their Pit Boost stop, out of the options published by the FIA for a race weekend.
This is a marked difference from Season 12 and the Gen3 Evo car, with drivers mandated to take a fixed amount of energy and have the same length of Pit Boost stops during a race.
A variable aspect of the Pit Boost stop could certainly spice up the way an E-Prix works. It could see teams and drivers attempting an out-of-the-box strategy to gain track position over their rivals.
For instance, one driver could opt for a normal 34-second pit stop, but another driver competing for track position may opt for a shorter Pit Boost window, looking to alleviate a shorter energy gain by spending less time in the pits.
On the contrary, another driver may opt for a longer Pit Boost stop, taking on more energy and pushing harder to make up for lost time.
While it is still a novelty as of now, a dynamic pit window during races could bring more variables and unpredictability to Formula E, thereby making for more surprises during races.
Power modes used in Free Practice and qualifying
As has been revealed earlier, the new Gen4 car will feature 450 kW (approx. 603 bhp) of power in race trim, with attack mode opening up drivers to the maximum of 600 kW (approx. 804 bhp) of power in Season 13.
There are changes to the manner in which free practice allows drivers to utilise these energy modes too. During the first 30 minutes of the 45-minute session, drivers will be mandated to use the 450 kW mode.
There will be no change to the way in which qualifying sessions are run, as drivers will have to use 450 kW mode in the group stages, and 600 kW in the qualifying duels.
Drivers will have a maximum regeneration output of up to 700 kW, with 350 kW each coming from the front tyres and the rear tyres during a race weekend.
Additionally, each team will be required to nominate a Rookie to take part in the Rookie Free Practice session held during the season, a rule continuing on from the Gen3 Evo era.
Stricter crackdowns on driver conduct and reprimands for Gen4
Another important change for Season 13 sees the drivers potentially fall in line to receive a grid penalty for the next race, in the event of them receiving three reprimands over the course of a season.
Article 9.3 (h) of the regulations outlines this as “Any driver who receives three reprimands over the course of the season shall, upon the imposition of the third, receive a 10-place grid penalty for the next race in which the driver participates.”
However, this penalty would apply if at least two reprimands for driving standards over the course of the season.
Tackling manufacturer and supplier racing guidelines for the Gen4 era
The FIA has also looked at an attempt to tackle any chances of a works outfit attempting to interfere with the racing action through coded instructions to its customer teams.
Article 3.1 of the General Provisions for the upcoming season looks into this aspect, titled “Manipulation of Competition”, prohibits any manufacturer from making such agreements with its customer teams that could affect a race result.
It also entails that a team attempting to manufacture an agreement of such subservience between teams and drivers could be liable to sporting penalties or disciplinary measures in the championship.
This aims to tackle concerns of several manufacturers towards Porsche and its second factory outfit, which potentially could strike resemblances in the way Formula One’s Red Bull and Racing Bulls unit operate.
This topic has also garnered steam in the light of potential allegations between Porsche and Cupra Kiro that arose earlier this season, with the latter, a Porsche customer, accused of being subservient to its suppliers during races.
However, the instruction comes as a note to several manufacturer teams who will be supplying at least another team over the course of Season 13, with the likes of Jaguar, Porsche, Nissan and Stellantis all set to have customer teams in the championship.
The cost cap for the Gen4 era’s debut season
Teams will be required to adhere to a cost cap of € 16.5 Million over the course of Season 13. This figure goes up from the earlier cap of € 13 million set for Season 12, the final year of the Gen3 era of Formula E.
This revised figure keeps in mind the additional four rounds added to the new calendar, plus the costs of operating the larger Gen4 machine during a season.
In the event of a minor overspend (less than 5% of the cost cap), a financial penalty is expected to be imposed on the team. However, should there be a material overspend (more than 5% of the cost cap), the team will be expected to receive a penalty that sees a deduction of championship points for that season.
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