The 2022–23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was the ninth season of the FIA Formula E championship, a motor racing championship for electrically powered vehicles recognised by motorsport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for electric open-wheel racing cars. It saw the debut of the third generation of championship regulations.
The reigning Team's Champions, Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, did not return to defend the title. Envision Racing superseded them as the new Teams' Champions, clinching the title at the final race, ahead of their engine supplier, Jaguar TCS Racing.
Jake Dennis, driving for Avalanche Andretti Formula E, won his first-ever World Championship with one race to spare in London.
Teams and drivers All teams used the Formula E Gen3 car on Hankook tyres. TeamPowertrainNo.DriversRounds DS PenskeDS E-Tense FE23 1 Stoffel VandoorneAll 25 Jean-Éric VergneAll NIO 333 RacingNIO 333 ER9 3 Sérgio Sette CâmaraAll 33 Dan TicktumAll ABT CUPRA Formula E TeamMahindra M9Electro 4 Robin Frijns1, 6–16 Kelvin van der Linde2–5 51 Nico MüllerAll NEOM McLaren Formula E TeamNissan e-4ORCE 045 Jake HughesAll58 René RastAll Maserati MSG RacingMaserati Tipo Folgore 7 Maximilian GüntherAll 48 Edoardo MortaraAll Mahindra RacingMahindra M9Electro 8 Oliver Rowland1–9 Roberto Merhi10–16 11 Lucas di GrassiAll Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-Type 6 9 Mitch EvansAll 10 Sam BirdAllPorsche 99X Electric 13 António Félix da CostaAll 94 Pascal WehrleinAll Envision RacingJaguar I-Type 6 16 Sébastien BuemiAll 37 Nick CassidyAll Nissan Formula E TeamNissan e-4ORCE 04 17 Norman NatoAll 23 Sacha FenestrazAll Avalanche Andretti Formula E Porsche 99X Electric 27 Jake DennisAll 36 André Lotterer1–9, 12–16 David Beckmann10–11
Team changes Mercedes-EQ left the championship after competing for three seasons and winning the drivers and constructors titles in the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons. Their entry and assets were purchased by McLaren. This new entry used Nissan powertrains. On 10 January 2022, Maserati announced they would be joining Formula E in the 2022–23 season, becoming the first Italian manufacturer in the series. It was later announced in April 2022 that Maserati had agreed a multi-year partnership with ROKiT Venturi Racing. It was the first time that Maserati was a constructor in formula racing since leaving Formula 1 in the 1950s In April 2022, Nissan announced they would take a complete ownership of the e.dams team from Charles Pic (who acquired DAMS from the Drio brothers earlier in the year), rebranding the team to the Nissan Formula E Team. In May 2022, ABT Sportsline, one of the old Audi team's key partners, announced they would return to the series with Extreme E partner Cupra under the name ABT CUPRA Formula E Team using Mahindra powertrains. DS and Techeetah announced the end of their relationship after four seasons. DS would instead partner up with Penske (one of the partners of the former Dragon team). Techeetah missed the 2022–23 season, with a view to returning to the grid for the 2023–24 season.
Driver changes On 25 June 2022, TAG Heuer Porsche driver André Lotterer announced he would not return to the Formula E championship in 2023 as he was opting for a seat in the World Endurance Championship with Porsche in the LMDh Hypercar category. On 6 September 2022, it was announced that he would replace departing Oliver Askew at Avalanche Andretti. On 7 July 2022, Alexander Sims announced he would not return to the Formula E championship in 2023. On 12 August 2022, his replacement was announced to be Lucas di Grassi, switching from ROKiT Venturi Racing to partner Oliver Rowland. On 15 August 2022, António Félix da Costa announced his switch from DS Techeetah to TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, replacing André Lotterer. On 23 August 2022, Nissan announced an all-new driver lineup, consisting of Sacha Fenestraz, who debuted in the 2022 season finale for Dragon, and Norman Nato, a Formula E race-winner who last raced for Jaguar. On 23 August 2022, McLaren announced René Rast's return to Formula E. He last competed for Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler in the 2020–2021 season. On 24 August 2022, ABT CUPRA announced their driver pairing of Nico Müller, who competed for Dragon in the 6th and 7th Formula E seasons, and Robin Frijns, who left the Envision team. On 6 September 2022, Avalanche Andretti announced the signing of André Lotterer, who was initially set to leave Formula E to race exclusively in the World Endurance Championship. On 14 September 2022, NIO 333 announced Sérgio Sette Câmara's switch from Dragon Racing replacing Oliver Turvey, who became sporting advisor and reserve driver for DS Penske. On 4 October 2022, Envision Racing announced Sébastien Buemi's switch from Nissan after eight seasons. On 8 October 2022, Nyck de Vries announced that he had signed with Scuderia AlphaTauri for the 2023 Formula One World Championship, ruling him out for a seat in Formula E. On 12 October 2022, Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Éric Vergne were announced to be the driver pairing for the newly formed DS Penske partnership. Antonio Giovinazzi, who raced for Penske in the previous season, left the championship after one season. On 3 November 2022, the Maserati MSG team announced that Maximilian Günther would be joining the team after leaving Nissan. On 29 November 2022, McLaren announced that Jake Hughes would be joining the team after previously being the full-time reserve and development driver for Mercedes-EQ.
Mid-season changes ABT CUPRA driver Robin Frijns sustained a wrist fracture on the opening lap of the Mexico City ePrix, leaving him unable to compete in the Diriyah, Hyderabad and Cape Town ePrixs. He was replaced by touring car and GT racer Kelvin van der Linde, who made his Formula E debut after testing for Audi in 2020. Frijns returned to the team for the São Paulo ePrix.
André Lotterer missed the Jakarta double-header as he attended the 24 Hours of Le Mans test day held across the same weekend. He was replaced by Formula 2 and Porsche reserve driver David Beckmann.
After the Monaco ePrix, Oliver Rowland parted ways with the Mahindra team in a mutual agreement. Replacing him for the rest of the season was Roberto Merhi, who made his Formula E debut at Jakarta.
Calendar
The following ePrix were contracted to form a part of the 2022–23 Formula E World Championship:
RoundePrixCountryCircuitDate1 Hankook Mexico City ePrix Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez 14 January 20232 CORE Diriyah ePrix Riyadh Street Circuit 27 January 20233 28 January 20234 Greenko Hyderabad ePrix India Hyderabad Street Circuit 11 February 2023 5 Cape Town ePrix Cape Town Street Circuit 25 February 20236 Julius Baer São Paulo ePrix São Paulo Street Circuit 25 March 20237 SABIC Berlin ePrix Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit 22 April 2023823 April 20239 Monaco ePrix Circuit de Monaco 6 May 202310 Gulavit Jakarta ePrix Jakarta International e-Prix Circuit 3 June 2023114 June 202312Southwire Portland ePrixPortland International Raceway 24 June 202313Hankook Rome ePrixCircuito Cittadino dell'EUR15 July 20231416 July 202315Hankook London ePrixExCeL London 29 July 202316 30 July 2023 While it was originally planned to return to the format of starting the season at the end of a year and running until the European summer, the championship remained with a start early in the year for the third season running.
Location changes The Mexico City ePrix became the season opener for the first time ever, taking over from the Diriyah ePrix. The Hyderabad ePrix joined the calendar after signing a letter of intent in January 2022. It was the first FIA World Championship event in India since the 2013 Indian Grand Prix. The São Paulo ePrix was introduced after having already placed an unsuccessful bid for the 2017–18 season. The Seoul ePrix was originally planned to be held on a revised layout of the Seoul Street Circuit due to the redevelopment of the Jamsil Stadium area, but was then not part of the updated calendar. The Jakarta ePrix, which debuted in 2022, became a double-header event. The Marrakesh ePrix did not return for the season, as its appearance on the 2021–22 calendar was only to substitute for the cancelled Vancouver round. The Cape Town ePrix was introduced after it was originally scheduled to debut in the 2021–22 season. The Paris ePrix was due to return to the calendar after being left out of the 2021–22 calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was not included in the schedule. The round held in the United States moved from the Brooklyn Street Circuit in New York City to Portland International Raceway in Oregon. The layout of the 3.166 km circuit was slightly modified.
ePrix locations
Regulation changes
Technical changes The championship began its third generation of technical regulations. This saw the introduction of a completely new car, with the new chassis again built by Spark Racing Technology. The cars were now powered by two powertrains, with a second one added to the front axle, increasing the maximum power output from 250 kW to 600 kW. This new car was the smallest and lightest car ever used in the championship, with its weight being reduced by 60 kg. Increased power and reduced weight saw maximum speeds climb to over 320 km/h. The addition of a second powertrain increased regenerative ability from 25% to 40%, enough that the new cars had no hydraulic rear brakes. The tyre supplier changed from Michelin to Hankook.
Sporting changes In addition to the new car, a number of race format changes were also made. The format returned to races run to a set number of laps instead of a fixed time, with safety cars and full course cautions increasing the laps needed to finish the race. Fanboost was also discontinued.
Fast recharging was planned be tested in select races under a so-called "attack charge" format. During an attack charge race, each driver would have been required to pit for a recharge during the course of the race, but to compensate for this, drivers who pitted would have received two additional attack mode activation periods. However, these plans did not materialize.
Originally, each team was to be required to run a rookie driver during at least two practice sessions within the season. Several teams criticized this rule: They feared that the tight race weekend schedule would leave drivers unprepared after just a single practice session and criticized the potentially high impact a crash by a rookie could have. The rule was eventually revoked. Instead, two extra sessions only for rookie drivers were added on Friday before the Rome ePrix and on Monday after the Berlin ePrix.
Season report
Opening rounds The third generation of Formula E began in January in Mexico City with Lucas di Grassi taking pole position on his debut for Mahindra Racing ahead Andretti's Jake Dennis. Di Grassi led away at the start, before the race was interrupted twice: ABT CUPRA's Robin Frijns ran into the back of Norman Nato's Nissan, putting them both out of the race and breaking Frijns' wrist, before Sam Bird's Jaguar stopped to bring out another safety car. Dennis would take the lead off di Grassi on lap 12, building a gap before a third safety car was called when Edoardo Mortara lost control of his Maserati and hit the wall. Di Grassi could not pose a threat to Dennis on the restart, instead falling further back behind Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein. The German was also unable to close up to Dennis, who won the race by 7.8 seconds. Di Grassi put on a stern defense against McLaren's Jake Hughes to hold on to third place.