The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship returns to Spain for the Formula E Valencia Test 2025, taking place from 27 to 31 October 2025. It marks the start of Season 12 and sets the tone for a confident, forward-looking era of electric racing.
Key Points
- Formula E returns to Valencia after 2024 floods halted testing
- Women’s Test expanded to a full-day session with all ten teams
- Fourteen drivers confirmed to run the GEN3 Evo car
- New team Citroën Racing joins with Vergne and Cassidy
- Revised Qualifying and Attack Mode rules introduced
- Season 12 calendar stretches to 17 races across 11 cities
Back in Valencia
Formula E’s back where it belongs.
After two years away, the championship returns to Valencia — the quiet testing ground that’s shaped almost every modern season.
The Circuit Ricardo Tormo last hosted official running in 2023 before floods hit the region and forced the cancellation of last year’s event. Now it’s back, brighter and busier, with teams lining up for five full days of running.
Eight sessions. Ten teams. One chance to set the tone. This isn’t just pre-season data gathering. It’s a statement that the series is ready to move forward again.
And once again, the field takes to the track in the GEN3 Evo, Formula E’s current-generation race car. Valencia remains the benchmark for mileage, setup work, and system checks — the place where confidence is built long before the first lights go out.
Valencia has always been the lab. The circuit where systems are pushed, software tested, and performance refined. Returning here isn’t only about mileage. It’s about rhythm. The kind Formula E lost for a while and is now starting to find again.
What’s New for Season 12
There’s been a quiet overhaul behind the scenes.
The FIA’s tightened the format to keep weekends flowing quicker and cleaner. Qualifying groups now run ten minutes each, with duel stages trimmed to fit comfortably inside an hour.
Attack Mode has also been reworked. PIT BOOST races will now feature one activation, while non-PIT BOOST rounds keep two. The mandatory completion time has gone, handing more strategy freedom back to the teams.
Then there’s one rule change that feels bigger than it looks. Maternity and paternity pay have been removed from the cost cap. A simple sentence, but a meaningful one. It lets teams support their people without losing performance ground.
Women’s Test: Full Day, Full Grid
Friday 31 October marks the second running of Formula E’s Women’s Test, now stretched to a full day for the first time. All ten teams are involved, each fielding at least one driver, some bringing two.
The confirmed line-up includes:
Nerea Martí (Andretti), Lindsay Brewer and Jessica Edgar (DS PENSKE), Alice Powell and Ella Lloyd (Envision), Jamie Chadwick and Juju Noda (Jaguar), Bianca Bustamante (CUPRA Kiro), Marta García (Lola Yamaha ABT), Chloe Chambers (Mahindra), Tatiana Calderón (Citroën), Abbi Pulling (Nissan), plus Gabriela Jílková and Janina Schall (Porsche).
Each will drive the GEN3 Evo — the same specification car used by the championship regulars. Real data. Real workload. Real opportunity.
Last year’s inaugural test created tangible progress. Five drivers earned team roles, three of them permanent. Now, with twice the running time, the programme feels properly established. This isn’t a gesture. It’s a structure.
A Grid Transformed
The off-season has rewritten the grid.
At Andretti, Jake Dennis stays on but now partners Felipe Drugovich, the 2022 Formula 2 Champion taking on his first full Formula E campaign.
DS PENSKE goes bold with Taylor Barnard stepping up alongside Maximilian Günther, a pairing that mixes youth with experience.
Envision Racing sticks with Sébastien Buemi and Joel Eriksson, while Jaguar TCS Racing unleashes a headline act with Mitch Evans and António Félix da Costa.
CUPRA Kiro, carrying strong Spanish roots, pairs Dan Ticktum with young compatriot Pepe Martí. Over at Lola Yamaha ABT, Lucas di Grassi joins forces with rookie Zane Maloney, a mix of experience and energy.
Mahindra Racing continues its rebuild with Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara, both searching for consistency.
Then there’s the newcomer, Citroën Racing, arriving with purpose. Nick Cassidy and Jean-Éric Vergne headline their debut season and instantly lift expectations.
Porsche enters with a fresh pairing — Pascal Wehrlein staying put alongside new team-mate Nico Müller, a line-up designed around precision and efficiency.
Nissan holds firm with reigning World Champion Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato.
Ten teams. Twenty drivers. A grid that feels wide open again.
The Longest Calendar Yet
Seventeen rounds. Eleven cities. Formula E’s biggest season so far.
São Paulo opens on 6 December 2025. Then comes Mexico City, followed by Miami, before the series touches down in Madrid for its first-ever race in the Spanish capital.
Europe brings Berlin and Monaco, before the Asian leg begins with Sanya’s return, a Shanghai double-header, and a third visit to Tokyo.
It all ends in London at the ExCeL Arena on 15 and 16 August 2026. Same hallways. Same tension. Same concrete-canyon finale.
You can find the full race-by-race breakdown in my Formula E 2025–26 Calendar feature
Fans can keep up to date via Formula E’s social channels, website and official app. Expect session reports, interviews, and behind-the-scenes updates from trackside across the week.
More information: Formula E — Ways to Watch
Coffee Corner Take – Formula E Valencia Test 2025
Valencia isn’t just a pre-season shakedown. It’s the reset button.
Formula E heads into Season 12 with momentum. Last year broke attendance records, drew new audiences, and re-established the series as a global mainstay.
The Women’s Test shows commitment, not convenience. Fourteen drivers get factory-level resources, real data, and an equal platform to perform. That’s opportunity in motion.
Beyond the circuit, the work continues. Girls on Track, FIA Women in Motorsport, and Formula E’s community projects have become part of its DNA. Thousands of young women have already passed through those programmes — some as engineers, some as creatives, some now working in the paddock. That’s how lasting change happens.
Formula E’s not shouting about inclusion. It’s funding it. Structuring it. Making it visible.
After a record-breaking season, the championship looks ready to push forward again — fast on track, smart off it, and confident in what it stands for.
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