Tokyo EPrix review: Guenther denies Rowland and Nissan

Nissan boss Tommaso Volpe joins host Andrew van de Burgt and chief reporter Sam Smith to analyse Oliver Rowland’s superb smash ‘n’ grab victory at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City E-Prix. Questions such as would Rowland have caught the Porsches without the intervention of the first safety car and will Nissan mount a serious challenge to Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix da Costa for the title are also dissected with Volpe. A poor race for Jaguar TCS Racing is mulled over, as are the prospects for the DS Penske team and Envision Racing who had contrasting fortunes in Mexico City.  New venues such for 2026 and beyond such as Toronto are expanded upon, and could Cape Town and Santiago really return to the calendar? All this and the latest news and views from a busy paddock are tucked in to as Formula E enters 2025 with its usual vibrant twists. Want extra podcast content? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon! Head to Patreon.com/therace - we even have an F1-only tier! Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2024-25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship began with a bang in Sao Paulo with Mitch Evans taking an extraordinary last to first win in his new Jaguar Gen3Evo machine. That was only part of a dramatic landscape to a race that also included two red flags, the last of which was for Pascal Wehrlein’s inverted Porsche. The reigning champion emerged unscathed from the wreck after tangling with fellow assumed title rival Nick Cassidy’s already damaged Jaguar. Other stellar performances analysed include Taylor Barnard’s remarkable third place and Oliver Rowland’s strong weekend which was devalued and unrewarded due to team errors and poor reliability. We hear from Rowland and Barnard, as well as Jaguar TCS Racing boss James Barclay who describes some of the trickier moments from another complex and scintillating race. Host Andrew van de Burgt and reporter Sam Smith dive in to the fall-out from a spectacular opener that saw the true return of potent attack mode and an upswing in lap time largely thanks to All-Wheel-Drive and a new tyre compound. Want extra podcast content? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon! Head to Patreon.com/therace - we even have an F1-only tier! Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A big fat 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E season preview from The Race’s Formula E team sees a team-by-team prospect guide dug in to as anticipation for what could be the closest ever campaign reaches a crescendo. Sam Smith and Andrew van de Burgt are joined by one of the pre-season favourites Oliver Rowland as the Nissan driver talks about his hopes and aims after an excellent season last time around. The British ace also gives his opinions on Formula E’s capturing of a new ITV broadcast deal on the eve of the world championship starting in Sao Paulo. Also joining the show is Andretti commercial director Jim Wright who discusses where Formula E is in terms of a spectacle and how it can kick on this season to attract even more interest. Also analysed are the new rules for this season and the areas in which Formula E can gain more fans across the globe. Want extra podcast content? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon! Head to Patreon.com/therace - we even have an F1-only tier! Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just how did Formula E pivot from Valencia to Jarama to ensure its pre-season test happened at all? This and many other topics from this month’s test week are examined by Sam Smith and Andrew van de Burgt. They are joined by Formula E digital reporter Alexa Rendell as news strands such as the pit boosting pit stop practice, David Beckmann’s deal to race with the new-look Kiro team and a potential crisis on tyre allocation is dug in to. The well-publicised all-female test at Jarama, which was headed by F1 Academy champion elect Abbi Pulling, is also looked in to and discussed along with the future of the initiative and how it might expand in the future. Want to listen ad-free? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon! Head to Patreon.com/therace to take advantage of our special Black Friday offer, where you can get 30% off your first month Get your 2025 F1 calendar from The Race Shop! Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the new Formula E season approaches The Race Formula E podcast hosts Sam Smith and Andrew van de Burgt speak to new Maserati MSG duo Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes as they ready for the first season of the Gen3Evo era. Hughes tells The Race about how the sheer violence of the enhanced acceleration of the All-Wheel-Drive element of the new package a game changer for the all-electric series, while Vandoorne evaluates how he will fightback from a tough two campaigns at former team DS Penske. As well as the pre Valencia insight, there is also an in-depth analysis of the latest news topics, primarily the abandonment of the contentious ‘Golden Laps’ initiative, another yawning two-month gap in the calendar and both Nissan and Jaguar getting busted for overspending in the first ever audit of the world championships financial regulations. Want extra podcast content? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon! Head to Patreon.com/therace - we even have an F1-only tier! Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second part of The Race Formula E Podcast’s celebration of a decade of the all-electric world championship looks at the Gen2 and Gen3 eras. Joining hosts Sam Smith and Andrew van de Burgt is double champion Jean-Eric Vergne, 12 time EPrix winner Sam Bird and Andretti boss Roger Griffiths. They offer up some fascinating personal memories of their time in Formula E with a combination of victorious memories and honest reflection. Smith and Van de Burgt recall some of the more entertaining misadventures along the way in their time working in the series, while an appraisal of where Formula E is heading next is also ruminated upon. Want extra podcast content? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon! Head to Patreon.com/therace Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first of a special two-part series looking back at a decade of Formula E focuses on the early years of the all-electric series and features current broadcaster Nicki Shields, former commentator Jack Nicholls, and 2019-20 champion Antonio Felix da Costa. Sam Smith and Andre van de Burgt host over an hour of memories about how Formula E got together in the first place, how it almost died after three races and then boomed in the first five years of its existence. Memories of the first season are majored on, as are some of the hair-raising moments from a championship that broke the mould to become one of the more successful sporting start-ups of the century so far. Among the more amusing moments are recollections of Nick Heidfeld and Nico Prost’s infamous accident at the first race in Beijing and how da Costa almost left the nascent series before it had even started. Want extra podcast content? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon! Head to Patreon.com/therace to activate your 7-day free trial Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's season review time on this bumper episode of The Race Formula E Podcast as we look back at a wild 2024 campaign featuring eight different winners. For host Andrew van de Burgt, The Race Formula E Correspondent Sam Smith and Formula E's lead commentator Tom Brooks, that means revisiting their forecasts from the start of campaign to reflect on just how accurately they predicted this most unpredictable of series. That's followed by a team-by-team analysis, with a particular focus on Andretti's middling season after its drivers' title success with Jake Dennis in 2023, Oliver Rowland's Nissan heroics and the stark contrast with under-pressure team-mate Sacha Fenestraz's form, and whether Jaguar's teams' title was tinged at all by both its drivers' championship hopefuls being beaten to the crown by Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein. And our review is rounded off with the panel's combined top 10 driver ranking, the contenders for surprise of the season, standout moment and more, plus the latest off-season developments in the Formula E paddock. Want extra podcast content? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon! Head to Patreon.com/therace Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newly crowned Formula E World Champion Pascal Wehrlein joins Andrew van de Burgt and Sam Smith to describe how he claimed the big prize and what it means to bring Porsche its first all-electric title in London. Also joining the show is TAG-Heuer Porsche Formula E Teams director Florian Modlinger. He goes in to detail on how the title was won and what it means after a five year quest for glory. The fall-out from the Jaguar strategy missteps are also analysed, along with the detail of how the Big Cat found itself in a complicated situation of celebrating the teams title but having to manage two disappointed and angry drivers in Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy. Other stand-out performers like Oliver Rowland and Maximilian Guenther are also discussed in the finale which saw all manner of action, including a fraught weekend for out-going champion Jake Dennis. The latest comings and goings in the driver market are also discussed, with Guenther and McLaren’s Jake Hughes at the centre of the intrigue. Want extra podcast content? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon! Head to Patreon.com/therace Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2024 ABB FIA Formula E world championship title fight was blown wide open at the expansive Portland International Raceway as Antonio Felix da Costa scored a remarkable double for Porsche. After scoring zero points in the first three races and having even his position in the Porsche team questioned, da Costa is now an outside bet to become a double Formula E champion in the most unlikely of scenarios. But realistically it’s a scrap between Jaguar teammates Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy, as well as da Costa’s teammate Pascal Wehrlein. Just 12 points separate them heading in to the final rounds at London ExCeL Arena in two week’s time. Cassidy could and should have put the crown to bed in Portland but both Sam Smith and Andrew van de Burgt analyse how he managed to spin away his chances on the penultimate lap of Saturday’s race. The controversial penalty that lost Mitch Evans the win is deep-dived in to, as is the performances of Sunday polesitter Jean-Eric Vergne, Abt miracle maker Nico Mueller and a rejuvenated Robin Frijns from Envision. Want extra podcast content? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon! Head to Patreon.com/therace Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices