YOUR GUIDE TO THE NEW SEASON 8 FORMULA E SPORTING REGULATIONS

At the same time as announcing the biggest ever calendar for Season 8, Formula E and the FIA revealed some key changes being made to the series’ Qualifying format and the race periods under the safety car or a full course yellow. Let’s take a look at the key changes and what they mean:

FASTER THAN EVER BEFORE

The base power of the Gen2 Formula E car has been increased to 220kW (from 200kW) in the race and to 250kW in Attack Mode.

QUALIFYING

The new format, created to add even more excitement and showcase the best performance of the teams, consists of both GROUPS and HEAD-TO-HEAD DUELS.

There will be TWO groups – each with ELEVEN drivers, and these groups will be created based upon the Driver’s Championship standings; with drivers in the odd numbers of championship positions in Group A and evens in Group B.

Each group will have TEN MINUTES of track time, with no restriction on the number of lap opportunities to achieve a quick time. This will be completed at 220kW power level.

The fastest FOUR from each group will then progress to duels, which step up to the 250kW power level.

The duels will be completed on a KNOCKOUT basis, starting with four QUARTER-FINALS, followed by two SEMI-FINALS and the FINAL which will determine pole position. The losing driver in the final duel will line up second. Losing drivers in the Semi-Finals will qualify in third and fourth, with the drivers who lost in the Quarter-Finals qualifying from fifth to eighth.

Drivers that don’t make the quarter-finals will line up according to group qualifying ranking (positions 9-22).

TIME UNDER SAFETY CAR OR FULL COURSE YELLOW

In order to compensate for Safety Car or Full Course Yellow periods, there will now be an ADDITION OF RACE TIME rather than an energy reduction.

This change means that these conditions will have less effect on the overall time of the race but will still keep the role of strategic energy management that is so key in Formula E.

For EVERY MINUTE under Full Course Yellow or behind the Safety Car there will be an additional 45 SECONDS added to the race time, up to a maximum of 10 minutes.

If a Safety Car or Full Course Yellow period extends into or occurs during or after minute 40 of the race, there will not be an extra time calculation.