2026 London E-Prix Preview: Nine Drivers, Five Points, One Championship Left to Decide

Formula E’s Season 12 title fight comes down to one weekend at the 2026 London E-Prix, with nine drivers still mathematically alive for a Drivers’ Championship that the GEN3 era leaves behind. Jake Dennis holds the lead on 146 points, two clear of Mitch Evans and five clear of Pascal Wehrlein, the tightest top three the series has produced. Jaguar TCS Racing carry a 14 point cushion over Porsche in the Teams’ fight, though Porsche have already wrapped up the separate Manufacturers’ title in Tokyo. Oliver Rowland arrives fourth, 14 points off Dennis, chasing a second Drivers’ crown at the venue where he won in 2024. Lucas di Grassi ends his racing career after being part of Formula E since its first race in 2014, and DS Automobiles bows out after 11 seasons. Formula E also confirmed this week that Disney+ and ESPN+ become its global streaming home from next season, arriving alongside the GEN4 car. Rounds 16 and 17 at the Excel London settle a championship and close a chapter at the same time.

Key Points: 2026 London E-Prix Preview

• Nine drivers remain mathematically able to win the title. Jake Dennis leads on 146 points, two ahead of Mitch Evans (144) and five ahead of Pascal Wehrlein (141)
• Jaguar TCS Racing lead Porsche by 14 points in the Teams’ Championship. Porsche have already secured the separate Manufacturers’ title in Tokyo
• Rounds 16 and 17 close the GEN3 era before Formula E introduces the GEN4 car and moves the calendar to Brands Hatch next season
• Disney+ and ESPN+ become Formula E’s global streaming home across 144 territories from the 2026/27 GEN4 season, a multi-year deal announced this week
• Lucas di Grassi ends his Formula E career this weekend, more than a decade after winning the series’ inaugural E-Prix in Beijing in 2014, while DS Automobiles contests its final races after 11 seasons
• Oliver Rowland sits fourth, 14 points off the lead, defending his Drivers’ title at a circuit where he won in 2024

The Title Fight

Five points separate the top three in the Drivers’ Championship. Jake Dennis leads on 146, Mitch Evans sits second on 144 after a run of unfortunate DNFs, and Pascal Wehrlein completes the trio on 141. Nine drivers remain mathematically in contention heading into the final weekend of the GEN3 era, but the real fight is at the front, and it is happening at the circuit where Dennis has the strongest record of anyone in the championship.

London is Dennis’s strongest venue in the sport. He won his first Formula E title at the Excel in 2023 and remains the highest scoring driver in the event’s history with 128 championship points there, two victories, two poles, four front row starts, five podiums and three fastest laps. He arrives having scored 80 points across the last five races, 29 more than any other driver during the Asian leg of the season, the form that pulled him past Evans and Wehrlein in Tokyo.

Andretti’s Team Principal Roger Griffiths pointed to the intensity building in his driver as the points have come. Dennis staying later at the track, questioning every engineering call, the visible pull of a second title he knows is within reach. Evans, by contrast, arrives having led the standings for most of the season before a string of retirements let Dennis through. Wehrlein has the smallest gap to close but the fewest recent results to lean on. Three drivers, three different championship stories, decided over two races at a circuit that punishes mistakes more than almost anywhere else on the calendar.

Evans arrives at London with an extra layer to his weekend. He is widely reported to be leaving Jaguar TCS Racing for Opel’s new GEN4 entry next season, meaning this is very likely his last race for the team he has carried to the front of the Teams’ Championship. He is chasing a first Drivers’ title in what could be his final weekend in Jaguar colours.

Rowland’s Chase for a Second Crown

Oliver Rowland heads into London fourth in the standings, 14 points behind Dennis and still mathematically alive in his title defence. Two solid points finishes at Nissan’s home event in Tokyo last month kept his run going. Teammate Norman Nato will look to build on his own charge through the field in Sunday’s Tokyo race, a drive that brought him home sixth and added valuable points for the team.

London has not always been straightforward for Nissan, but both drivers carry genuine form there. Rowland won at the Excel in 2024. Nato has scored points on each of his last three visits to the circuit. The venue has hosted the season finale throughout the GEN3 era, and for Rowland it now arrives as the last chance to close a 14 point gap before his title defence runs out of road.

Farewell to GEN3

London closes more than a season. It closes the GEN3 era. Lucas di Grassi ends his driving career this weekend, 30 years after he first started racing and more than a decade after he won Formula E’s very first E-Prix in Beijing in 2014. He has been part of the Championship since that inaugural race, taking the 2016/17 Drivers’ title, 42 podiums and 14 victories along the way, his most recent coming in Shanghai this year when a gamble on a dry setup delivered Lola Yamaha ABT their first ever Formula E win. He starts his 163rd and final E-Prix in London.

DS Automobiles leaves alongside him. The brand joined in Season 2 as the first premium manufacturer in the Championship and leaves with two double titles, 18 victories, 55 podiums, 26 pole positions and a record seven Teams’ Championship podiums across 152 races. Maximilian Günther and Taylor Barnard mark the occasion in a specially commissioned gold liveried DS E-TENSE FE25, with all three generations of the brand’s Formula E car, the DSV-01, the FE19 and the FE25, on display at the Excel across the weekend.

Opel already has the answer to what fills the gap DS Automobiles leaves behind. Opel GSE Formula E Team makes its Championship debut when GEN4 arrives, part of a wider Stellantis reshuffle that sees the German manufacturer step into the entry DS vacates. Théo Pourchaire, the 2023 Formula 2 champion, was confirmed this week as the team’s first signing, with reports across the paddock linking Mitch Evans to the second seat once his current campaign with Jaguar TCS Racing concludes.

Formula E’s Next Chapter: Disney+ Arrives

Formula E confirmed this week that Disney+ will become its global streaming home from the 2026/27 season, a multi-year agreement covering 144 territories including the United States, where it streams alongside ESPN+. It lands as the GEN3 era ends and the GEN4 car arrives, a car Formula E describes as producing 600kW, more than 815 horsepower, with a 0 to 60mph time of around 1.8 seconds. The new season opens in Jeddah on 18 December 2026 and closes back under the lights in Tokyo on 25 July 2027, 21 races across 13 cities.

One streaming agreement puts Formula E into 144 territories, with the US pairing with ESPN+ placing the series inside one of the most competitive sports streaming markets on the planet, sitting alongside every major property Disney and ESPN carry rather than being boxed off as a niche add-on. This is a bet that electric racing can hold its own in that company, and it lands at the exact moment the GEN4 car and an expanded 21-race calendar give the sport its biggest product to sell.

The deal sits alongside Formula E’s existing free-to-air and linear broadcast partners rather than replacing them, with subscribers getting every practice, qualifying and race session live plus preview and review shows, behind-the-scenes programming and full replays on demand. Whatever happens at the Excel this weekend, the sport starting the GEN4 era in December looks very different to the one crowning its 2025/26 champion here.

Circuit Overview: The Excel London

The 2.077km, 20-turn ExCeL Circuit is the only indoor-outdoor track in international motor racing. The lap starts on the smooth main straight inside the Excel London convention centre before drivers head out onto the streets of the Royal Docklands, one of the shortest and narrowest layouts on the calendar. Overtaking chances are limited until the run to Turn 10 and the approach to Turn 16, where the circuit heads back indoors. Round 16 runs 38 laps and carries the mandatory Pit Boost stop. Round 17 runs 35 laps in the standard format, both with Attack Mode activated through Turn 1.

CUPRA KIRO’s Dan Ticktum races at his home event off the back of the team’s first win of the season in Tokyo. Racing Director Gary Paffett flagged qualifying as decisive at a track with so little room to pass. London has averaged four retirements per race since the current layout arrived in 2023, another layer of jeopardy on a weekend already carrying two titles. Off track, giffgaff joins as Formula E’s first B Corp partner, with the Better Futures Fund supporting 20 young Londoners through race week alongside FIA Girls on Track sessions for 150 young women.

Session Timings: 2026 London E-Prix

Coffee Corner Take

London is where the title gets decided, but the real story is what got the sport here. Ten different winners this season. Margins measured in tenths. A five point gap between three drivers with two races left. Formula E has not had a title fight like this before, and it will not resolve until the chequered flag falls on Sunday.

Dennis’s record at this track, Rowland’s chase for a second crown, Wehrlein with the smallest gap and the least room for error: none of it happened because one driver pulled clear of the field. It happened because nobody could and that’s part of the attraction of Formula E.

London Excel centre will also bid a fond farewell. This is the last Formula E race the Excel ever hosts. The calendar moves to Brands Hatch when GEN4 arrives in December, taking the UK season finale with it. Di Grassi’s last race, DS Automobiles’ last event, and now the venue that has closed out every GEN3 season since the car arrived. That door is closing on more than one team or driver. It is closing on the place this era has always ended.

That end of an era brings the dawn of a new one though. GEN4 lands in December with more power, a bigger calendar, and Disney+ carrying every session into 144 territories from next season. A car that is about to get faster, and a venue that will not see it. Two titles, one farewell, and a sport moving on all at once. London gets all of it this weekend to close out another fantastic season of action.