 2025 Tokyo E-Prix I
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 Formula E brought street racing to Tokyo again in 2025. | ||
| Race Information | ||
| Date | 17 May 2025[1] | |
| E-Prix No. | 140 (8 of 2024/25) | |
| Official Name | 2025 ABB Formula E Tokyo E-Prix I | |
| Location |  Tokyo Street CircuitTokyo International Exhibition Centre, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Format | 100 km / 75 min | |
| Lap length | 2.575 km (1.600 mi) | |
| Distance | 35 (+3) laps / 97.850 km (60.801 mi) | |
| Qualifying Result | ||
| Pole Sitter |  Oliver Rowland
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| Team | Nissan Formula E Team
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| Time | 1:32.525 (100.189 km/h) | |
| Fastest Lap | ||
| Driver |  Nick Cassidy
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| Team | Jaguar TCS Racing
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| Fastest Lap | 1:22.283 on lap 36 | |
| ePrix Result | ||
| First | Second | Third |
 Stoffel Vandoorne
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Oliver Rowland
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Taylor Barnard
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| Winner Team |  Maserati MSG Racing
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| Time | 1:17:00.573 (76.237 km/h) | |
| ePrix Guide | ||
| Previous | Next | |
| 2025 Monaco E-Prix II
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2025 Tokyo E-Prix II
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The 2025 Tokyo E-Prix I, officially known as the 2025 ABB Formula E Tokyo E-Prix I, was the eighth round of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, staged at the Tokyo Street Circuit around the Tokyo International Exhibition Centre, Tokyo, Japan on 17 May 2025.[1] The race would be the second to be staged in the Japanese capital, and would be the first of two held in Tokyo in 2025 as the event became a double-header for the first time.[1]
Qualifying would be cancelled due to the conditions, as heavy rain swept across the Japanese capital in the morning and soaked the circuit to the point where the water could not drain away as fast as it was coming.[2] As a result the classification from Free Practice 2 would be used to set the grid, as per article 35.4 of the rulebook, meaning Oliver Rowland was left on pole position ahead of Edoardo Mortara, although the Championship leader would not get any bonus points for his efforts.[2]
The rain would stop in time for the race, although with over 25mm having fallen during the morning the circuit was still soaking wet, meaning the field needed a quartet of laps behind the Safety Car in order to get a feel for the conditions.[3] With that the field gathered back up onto the grid for a standing start, with Rowland duly easing away with the aid of 4WD to claim the lead into the first corner, while Mortara chopped one way and then the other to fend off the attentions of Norman Nato and Taylor Barnard.[3]
It was a surprisingly tame opening tour, although notably several drivers, including Sébastien Buemi and Nick Cassidy, would opt to arm Attack Mode straight away, which meant they would not only have extra power, but also the aid of 4WD for the time it was active, giving them additional grip.[3] Buemi used this to the full advantage as he battled his way up from eighth to fourth in the space of a lap, before slithering up past Barnard and Mortara to claim second before his boost came to an end.[3]
Mortara and Barnard took that as inspiration and duly armed AM for themselves, although by the time their boosts had ended, having squabbled between themselves and Buemi, Rowland had established a three second lead and looked very comfortable in-spite of the tricky conditions.[3] At the back, meanwhile, Stoffel Vandoorne was trying a novel tactic in attempting to burn through as much energy as possible, in order to hit the 70% charge mark which would mean that he could come in to serve his mandatory Pit Boost stop at the earliest chance.[3]
Vandoorne duly dived into the pits on lap ten, rejoining on the lead lap and now hoping for some intervention before the rest of the field made their mandatory stops, for the Belgian pilot would also have to work around the energy deficit he had given himself in burning energy so early.[3] The intervention came on lap thirteen as Maximilian Günther came to a stop on circuit in the sister DS Penske, the #7 car having entered a "red state" and hence triggering a Red Flag that brought the race to a temporary halt until it could be safely recovered.[3]
The race resumed after the intervention behind the Safety Car, although after just one tour the field were released with Rowland again storming into the lead ahead of Barnard and Buemi, with the rest of the field making it through the restart without issue.[3] At the back, meanwhile, Vandoorne set about recouping the energy he had spent earlier in the race, knowing that in the next few minutes he would inherit a huge 30 second plus lead.[3]
Those stops would begin with Barnard from the lead group, stopping on lap eighteen, while Rowland held out longest of the leaders, but still emerged half a minute behind Vandoorne before the last few dived for the pits.[3] Indeed, once Dan Ticktum had swept into the pits on lap 26 the Belgian racer was left all on his own out front, and with enough in hand over the chasing pack to survive a half-spin at turn two having only just inherited the lead.[3]
Instead the fight for second would become the main draw for the rest of the race, with Rowland trying his best to try and hunt down Vandoorne, only for energy issues to mean that he instead ended up having to preserve energy, allowing Barnard and Buemi to harass him, while Mortara faded as the race wore on.[3] Rowland would ultimately just hold on for a distant second behind Vandoorne, who claimed his first victory in three years, while Barnard completed the podium ahead of Buemi.[3] Ticktum would end the day in fifth ahead of Mortara, António Félix da Costa and Jean-Éric Vergne, Robin Frijns was a lonely ninth, while Cassidy rounded out the scorers with fastest lap as his and Jaguar's miserable season continued.[3]
Background[]
Less than two weeks after the chequered flag fell in Monte Carlo and the 2024/25 field would be back in action for its third double header, and the opening round of the Asian leg of the Season 11 edition of the series.[1] Indeed, for rounds eight and nine, Formula E would be back in the Japanese capital of Tokyo for the second year in succession, with the Tokyo Street Circuit near the Tokyo International Exhibition Centre remaining unchanged for FE's second trip to Tokyo.[1] Likewise, there would be no changes to the entry list for the battle around Tokyo's streets, with Pit Boost returning for the opening race of the weekend.[1]
Monaco Manifested Destiny?[]
It had been an incredibly productive weekend for Oliver Rowland in Monte Carlo, with the Britsh racer leaving the Monegasque city-state with 115 points and more importantly a commanding 48 point lead at the head of the Championship. António Félix da Costa was the man closest to the Brit in-spite of that lead, a single point ahead of teammate Pascal Wehrlein, with those two then fourteen clear of Taylor Barnard in fourth. Nyck de Vries, meanwhile, had retained his top five status ahead of Jake Dennis, while victory for Sébastien Buemi had catapulted the Swiss ace into the top ten having started the weekend in nineteenth.
Porsche Formula E Team had the lead in the Teams' Championship leaving Monaco, although their advantage had once again been reduced, and would be just seven points as the weekend came to a conclusion. Nissan Formula E Team had done the damage once again courtesy of Rowland, with a fair 35 point gap to Mahindra Racing in third, whom had enjoyed one of their best weekends since Gen 3 began. DS Penske, meanwhile, had jumped back into fourth ahead of McLaren Formula E Team and Andretti Formula E, while Envision Racing were off the foot of the table after their first win of the campaign and had lept into ninth.
In the Manufacturers' Championship it was Nissan who retained control as the series headed to Tokyo, the Japanese firm holding a 29 point advantage as they headed to their home race. Porsche had retained second having been narrowly outscored by Nissan across the weekend in Monte Carlo, while Jaguar had fired back into third with their biggest haul of the season, five ahead of Mahindra. Stellantis, meanwhile, had slipped to fifth, but were just three off of the Indian manufacturer, while Lola had remained at the bottom of the chart.
Entry List[]
The full entry list for the 2025 Tokyo E-Prix I is displayed below:
Practice[]
FP1[]
FP2[]
Free Practice Results[]
Outlined below are the results from the Free Practice sessions held as part of the 2025 Tokyo E-Prix I:
- Magenta indicates that the lap was set in Attack Mode (350 kW).
Qualifying[]
Qualifying for the 2025 Tokyo E-Prix I would be conducted according to the knockout format, introduced ahead of season eight.[6] The field would be split into two groups of eleven drivers, based on Championship position, with each group then getting ten minutes on track to complete as many laps as they wished at 300 kW.[6] The fastest eight overall would then proceed to the knockout phase, now running at the maximum 350 kW qualifying mode and with AWD active, with the fastest from group A against the fourth fastest from group A and so on, until four drivers were left.[6]
Those four would move on to the Semi-Final, with the winner of A1/A4 taking on the victor of A2/A3, while the triumphant driver of B3/B2 would take on B4/B1's winner.[6] The winners from those duels would then go into the final, with the winner of that duel taking pole ahead of the runner-up, with any grid penalties applied after the conclusion of the final.[6]
Report[]
Qualifying was cancelled due to heavy rain prior to and during the time that the session was scheduled.[2] As a result the grid was set using the results from FP2, as per regulation 35.4 of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship sporting rulebook.[7]
Race[]
Report[]
Result[]
The final classification of the 2025 Tokyo E-Prix I is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold.
| 2025 Tokyo E-Prix I Race Result | |||||||
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| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Laps | Race Time | Fastest lap | Pts. |
| 1st | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne
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Maserati MSG Racing
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38 | 1:17:00.573 | 1:24.625 | 25 |
| 2nd | 23 | Oliver Rowland
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Nissan Formula E Team
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38 | +8.140s | 1:23.663 | 18 |
| 3rd | 5 | Taylor Barnard
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NEOM McLaren Formula E Team
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38 | +8.695s | 1:24.309 | 15 |
| 4th | 16 |  Sébastien Buemi
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Envision Racing
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38 | +9.047s | 1:22.817 | 12 |
| 5th | 33 | Dan Ticktum
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 Cupra Kiro
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38 | +14.499s | 1:23.735 | 10 |
| 6th | 48 | Edoardo Mortara
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 Mahindra Racing
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38 | +15.974s | 1:24.396 | 8 |
| 7th | 13 |  António Félix da Costa
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 TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team
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38 | +19.035s | 1:24.276 | 6 |
| 8th | 25 |  Jean-Éric Vergne
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DS Penske
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38 | +22.529s | 1:23.733 | 4 |
| 9th | 4 |  Robin Frijns
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Envision Racing
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38 | +23.958s | 1:24.447 | 2 |
| 10th | 37 | Nick Cassidy
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Jaguar TCS Racing
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38 | +25.039s | 1:22.283 | 2 |
| 11th* | 21 | Nyck de Vries
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Mahindra Racing
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38 | +25.871s | 1:24.169 | |
| 12th | 51 | Nico Müller
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Andretti Formula E
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38 | +29.794s | 1:24.262 | |
| 13th | 1 | Pascal Wehrlein
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TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team
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38 | +31.111s | 1:23.868 | |
| 14th† | 8 | Sam Bird
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NEOM McLaren Formula E Team
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38 | +40.763s | 1:23.253 | |
| 15th | 17 | Norman Nato
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Nissan Formula E Team
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38 | +42.345s | 1:23.712 | |
| 16th | 22 |  Zane Maloney
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Lola Yamaha ABT Formula E Team
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38 | +43.600s | 1:23.468 | |
| 17th | 11 |  Lucas di Grassi
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Lola Yamaha ABT Formula E Team
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38 | +46.468s | 1:23.240 | |
| 18th | 3 | David Beckmann
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Cupra Kiro
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38 | +51.851s | 1:24.954 | |
| 19th | 55 | Jake Hughes
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Maserati MSG Racing
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37 | +1 Lap | 1:24.412 | |
| Ret | 9 | Mitch Evans
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Jaguar TCS Racing
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21 | Collision | 1:26.161 | |
| DSQ‡ | 27 | Jake Dennis
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Andretti Formula E
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20 | Disqualified | 1:28.860 | |
| Ret | 7 | Maximilian Günther
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DS Penske
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11 | Battery | 1:30.095 | |
| Source:[5] | |||||||
- Magenta indicates that the lap was set in Attack Mode (350 kW).
- * de Vries was awarded a five second time penalty for .[8]
- † Bird served a five second time penalty for .[9]
- ‡ Dennis was disqualified from the results of the race for .[10]
Milestones[]
- First E-Prix not to feature qualifying after the session was abandoned.
- Stoffel Vandoorne claimed his fourth victory.
- Vandoorne's first win since the 2022 Monaco E-Prix.
- Maserati Formula E Team secured their third victory.
- Third win for Maserati as a brand/powertrain supplier in the series.
Standings[]
It was yet another positive day for Oliver Rowland as the season hit its halfway point upon the fall of the chequered flag at the end of the Tokyo E-Prix I, with the British ace holding a huge 60 point lead, meaning he could miss an entire race weekend and still lead the championship hunt. António Félix da Costa ended the afternoon as his closest challenger in second, four ahead of Taylor Barnard, while a pointless day for Pascal Wehrlein had seen the defending Champion slip to fourth and 67 points away from Rowland. Nyck de Vries, meanwhile, had retained his top five status ahead of teammate Edoardo Mortara, while Stoffel Vandoorne had shot up to seventh after his first triumph in three years.
It was a happy homecoming for the Nissan Formula E Team in Tokyo, as they ended the first race of the double header having re-taken the lead in the Teams' Championship, ending the afternoon five ahead of the Porsche Formula E Team. The German squad themselves had kept their scoring up to ensure they remained 40 clear of their closest challengers, Mahindra Racing, who had also managed to retain an advantage over McLaren Formula E Team in fourth, fourteen points between them. Elsewhere, Maserati MSG Racing had jumped into sixth, just nine behind the sister DS Penske team, while Cupra Kiro had managed to get back ahead of Lola Yamaha ABT Formula E Team to claim tenth.
In the Manufacturers' Championship it was still Nissan who led the field after the first of two home races for the Japanese marque, which had seen them extend their advantage out to 46 points at the halfway point. Porsche were still the closest challengers to Nissan in second, while Stellantis had won their latest round of leap-frog against Jaguar and Mahindra to move back into third, albeit just seven ahead of the British marque. Lola, meanwhile, would remain at the foot of the table.
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References[]
Videos and Images:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCal - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 'QUALIFYING: Round 8 Quali cancelled due to adverse weather in Tokyo', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 17/05/2025), https://fiaformulae.com/en/news/749517, (Accessed 24/05/2025)
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 'REPORT: Vandoorne times it right to win rain-hit Tokyo E-Prix Round 8', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 17/05/2025), https://fiaformulae.com/en/news/749528, (Accessed 24/05/2025)
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedEL - ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedResults - ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 'Updated calendar, faster racing and knockout qualifying for Season 8', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 15/10/2021), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2021/october/season-8-sporting-update, (Accessed 16/10/2021)
- ↑ '2024-2025 FIA FORMULA E WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SPORTING REGULATIONS', fia.com, (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, 2024), https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/2024-2025_fia_formula_e_world_championship_-_sporting_regulations_12.12.2024_-_clean.pdf, (Accessed 15/03/2025)
- ↑ 'Decision No.16', results.fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 17/05/2025), , (Accessed 24/05/2025)
- ↑ 'Decision No.14', results.fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 17/05/2025), , (Accessed 24/05/2025)
- ↑ 'Decision No.13', results.fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 17/05/2025), , (Accessed 24/05/2025)