Hello! This is my review of race 2 of 2026 Shanghai ePrix and for this introduction, I want to give my opinion on key sporting changes that will take effect for Season 13. There are 3 changes: 1; races will be run to time rather than distance, 2; the first race of a doubleheader is shorter than a normal e-Prix and will be known as "e-PrixUnleashed" (all 1 word), and 3; points are awarded for making the duel stage of qualifying as well as how far one makes in this stage.
The decision to run races to time rather than distance won't affect the average fan and only affects me because I keep track of lap leaders, although there is a document on Formula E's noticeboard website that lists the position of every driver on every lap so I can find the lap leader very easily. A normal e-Prix will be 45 minutes long plus, I assume, 1 lap although Formula E don't mention this in their announcement. A normal e-Prix will also: use a low downforce aero-kit, have an 8 minute Attack Mode, have a mandatory PitBoost stop. I assume that Attack Mode will work in the same way that it does in current PitBoost races.
An "e-PrixUnleashed" race will be: 30 minutes long (plus 1 lap I assume), use the high downforce aero-kit that is designed for the Gen 4 car, be the first race of a doubleheader, Attack Mode will be 6 minutes long with no PitBoost, and award the same amount of points as a normal e-Prix. I have 2 problems with the "e-PrixUnleashed" races: 1; the name - why is it all 1 word? Shouldn't it be 2? Anyway, we will find out if it was a typo later in year when they inevitably bring this up on the eve of the opening race weekend of Season 13 as it will be a doubleheader at Jeddah. 2; I don't like that full points awarded to race that are run to a significant different race lengths and while I know some races in most motorsports run to different lengths (e.g: the IndyCar race this year at Phoenix Raceway was 250 miles, while the race at Worldwide Technology Raceway was 325 miles), they at least take a similar length of time to complete. Personally, I would have preferred if the "e-PrixUnleashed" was about 22 minutes long and half-points (rounded down) were awarded instead, but the way it currently is will not put me off Formula E. Also, how will Attack Mode work in these races? Will it be like the non-PitBoost races where drivers must take Attack Mode twice or is it one 6-minute Attack Mode like what we currently have in PitBoost races? Answers, please Formula E.
If a driver makes the Duel stage and fail to progress out of the Quarter-Finals they earn 1 point, if a driver fails to make past the Semi-Finals they earn 2 points, if a driver loses the final they score 3 points, and the winner of the final earns 4 points and 1 point for pole position. My gripe with this is that the pole position point is redundant if you are awarding points for qualifying 1st, as the driver who wins the pole position has qualified 1st anyway, so why not award 5 points for the driver who qualifies 1st and remove any mention of a pole position point? In what situation can driver win the pole position and not qualify 1st? Based off last season, if the Duel stage of qualifying cannot run then the pole position point would not be run and because the Duel stage did not run, then there wouldn't be any points awarded that can only be awarded during that stage. To be honest, if we have to award more points in qualifying, then could we award a point for the drivers who top their group during the group stage, like what we did during seasons 6 and 7? I feel like that is less confusing and better rewarding than the current proposed system.
The next Formula E race will be the 2026 TDK Tokyo ePrix, with the race 1 on 25th July 2026 at 11:00 UTC and race 2 on 26th July also at 11:00 UTC. You can find out where to watch it here.

Qualifying

Group A consisted of: Mitch Evans, Antonio Felix da Costa, Oliver Rowland, Nico Mueller, Nyck de Vries, Josep Maria 'Pepe' Marti, Joel Eriksson, Taylor Barnard, Max Guenther, and Lucas Di Grassi. It was wet for qualifying and that hindered some drivers ability to progress, such as Mitch Evans, also Lucas has a 3-place grid penalty for his incident against Taylor in the last race. The top 4 in group A and thus made it to the Duel stage were: Nico, Taylor, Pepe, and Oliver.
Group B went next and consisted of Pascal Wehrlein, Jake Dennis, Edoardo Mortara, Nick Cassidy, Sebastien Buemi, Felipe Drugovich, Dan Ticktum, Jean-Eric Vergne, Norman Nato, and Zane Maloney. Sebastien would be caught directly impeding Jake and indirectly Dan, as Jake would impede Dan whilst being impeded by Sebastien, so the Swiss driver would pick up a 3-place grid penalty for his troubles. Another driver with a grid penalty would be Dan after his comments he made about the Race Director after the first race (link to the article here) and his sporting penalty is 3-place grid penalty. The 4 that made it into Duel stage from group B were: Pascal, Norman, Felipe, and Edoardo.
The 1st Quarter-Final was between Pepe and Taylor, with the latter winning by 0.514 seconds while the 2nd Quarter-Final was between Oliver and Nico with the former winning by 0.288 seconds. Quarter-Final 3 was between Felipe and Norman, which saw the former advance by a 0.292 seconds, while the final Quarter-Final was between Edoardo and Pascal which saw the latter moving on by 1.320 seconds thanks to a mistake-ridden lap from Edoardo but is now his best ever qualifying around the circuit. Semi-Final 1 was between Taylor and Oliver, which the former won by 0.647 seconds and Semi-Final 2 was between Felipe and Pascal, with the former winning by 0.486 seconds. The Final saw Felipe winning by 0.497 seconds to claim his 1st ever pole position. Also Norman would be disqualified from qualifying after it was discovered that his rear tyres were at illegal camber angles (camber is an adjustment that can made to the tyres which alters the angle they are relative to the perpendicular of the suspension and can help with cornering at the expense of grip and tyre wear), so would start at the back.

Race

Overall Drivers' Championship

Lucas Di Grassi wins the ePrix from Jean-Eric Vergne in 2nd and Joel Eriksson in 3rd, meaning only NIO/ERT is the only manufacturer never to win in Formula E's Gen 3 era. There weren't any major incidents, although Antonio Felix da Costa and Oliver Rowland would make contact in turn 8 on lap 12 after the former (in Attack Mode) understeered into the latter (who wasn't) while the latter turned shap towards the expected line the former was likely to take, meaning contact was likely to happen regardless of the understeer in the eyes of the stewards. The other incident involves resident troublemaker Dan Ticktum, as he would skip turn 11 chicane after Max Guenther had made a clean inside move on him and maintain track position ahead of Max, sot the stewards penalised him 1 position, so he finished 11th as opposed to 10th, where he finished as the chequered flag fell. However, there is a key moment in this race as at the end of lap 23, Zane Maloney would break his right-rear suspension after one too many kerb strikes before crawling to nearest access point on the start-finish straight. Single-waved yellow flags were were shown between turn 10 and the first light panel after Zane's stricken car, while double-waved yellow flags were shown between turn 12 and the finish line. When in a section of track covered by yellow flags, there is an expectation for drivers to slow down more so, in terms of both speed and expectation, under double-waved flags as the stewards expect that drivers in these sections are travelling slow enough that they can easily make emergency evasive manoeuvres. Now almost half of the grid failed to slow down enough in the double-waved section but in their defence: 1; they all thought it was only single-waved section, as it had been from turn 10, so all had slowed down accordingly, 2; it was hard to to spot the turn 12 light panel, which is on the outside of the corner, whilst turning and the sky is grey, 3; they were more concerned at spotting what had caused the yellow flag rather looking for panels indicating that there was an issue up ahead, 4; Zane's car was far enough away from the racing line that drivers could easily avoid him, 5; it was green on the light panel just after Zane Maloney's car which, from the cockpit of a Formula E car, looked like to be directly above his car, 6; while their steering wheel's dashboard would have alerted them that they are in a double-waved sector, the driver's focus was on the track ahead and not at the steering wheel. Armed with explanations above, the stewards decide to penalise those 9 drivers with a warning. One the driver who escaped punishment was Mitch Evans as he didn't start the e-Prix, owing to a DC-DC power failure and if wondering what that is, well it is a spec inverter component that helps the traction battery.

1. Pascal Wehrlein (+1)
2. Mitch Evans (-1)
3. Antonio Felix da Costa (=0)
4. Nico Mueller (+1)
5. Jake Dennis (-1)
6. Oliver Rowland (=0)

All drivers have more points under the alternative format compared to their real life totals, with the one who has the most points compared to real life is Max Guenther, who has 49 more points under the alternative format (70) compared to real life (21). There are differences between the standings and the drivers who gain the most position's under the alternative format are: Nico Mueller, Felipe Drugovich, Pepe Marti, Joel Eriksson, Taylor Barnard, and Max who all gain 2 places under alternative format compared to where they are in the real life standings (I am not giving you the specific positions), while the driver who loses the most positions is Nick Cassidy who drops 4 places to be 13th under the alternative format, but is 9th in real life. Also shout out to Norman Nato who is now last in the standings under the alternative format.
Below are the overall Drivers' Championship standings:

Customer Trophy for Drivers

The class is won by Joel Eriksson with 2nd in class going to Sebastien Buemi, and 3rd to Felipe Drugovich. When the race properly starts, after a Safety Car into a standing start, Felipe leads until lap 6 where he is passed by Pepe Marti, who is in Attack Mode, on the start/finish straight. Jake Dennis, thanks to Attack Mode, takes the lead of the class on lap 7 through turn 5 and holds it until lap 9, where he is passed by his Attack-Mode-powered teammate Felipe into turn 1. Felipe leads until lap 18 where he is passed by Sebastien, but passes him back a lap later when Sebastien takes his 2nd Attack Mode although Sebastien takes it back through turn 5 on the same lap but he then loses it again on the same lap after he runs wide through turn 10 and hands the lead to his teammate Joel. Sebastien reclaims the lead on the start/finish straight on lap 20, but Joel (who isn't Attack Mode this lap not the previous lap) repasses him through turn 8 and leads until the end. With Jake Dennis finishing 6th in class, Sebastien has now closed the gap down to 2 points and I think we are going to get a proper fight for the trophy compared to the previous 2 seasons.
Below are the Customer Trophy for Drivers standings:

Nelson Piquet Jr Trophy

The winner of the class is Joel Eriksson, with 2nd going to Felipe Drugovich and 3rd to Nico Mueller. Like with the Customer championship, Felipe leads from the start and loses the lead on lap 6 on the start/finish straight to Pepe Marti, who is in Attack Mode. Pepe doesn't hold the lead for long, as Nico overtakes him on the exit of turn 10 on the same lap although the move does require contact as Nico does pinch Pepe onto the apex kerb for turn 10. Nico leads all the way until lap 21, where he, in Attack Mode, is passed by Joel, not in Attack Mode, through turn 1. Joel leads the class until the end of the e-Prix. The gap between the top 2 is now 10 points, so Nico can still win the trophy providing he finishes no worse than just behind Felipe in the class and Felipe doesn't win the final 4 races. On the topic of winning the trophy, 1 driver who can't do that is Zane Maloney as he has been mathematically eliminated.
Below are the Nelson Piquet Jr Trophy standings:

Overall Teams' Championship

Jaguar TCS Racing still lead the standings in real life with Porsche Formula E Team in 2nd, but Porsche leads under the alternative format instead and Jaguar are 2nd. 3rd is Andretti Formula E under both formats. The other change sees Nissan Formula E Team and Citroen Racing Formula E Team swap places depending on the format, so Nissan are 7th under alternative format but are 6th in real life and it is the opposite for Citroen. All teams have more points under the alternative format than they do in real life and the team with biggest difference is DS Penske who have 132 points under the alternative format and 49 in real life.
Below are the overall Teams' Championship standings:

Customer Teams' Championship

Envision Racing's 1-2 class finish cuts their deficit to Andretti Formula E down to 7 points and Cupra Kiro are still in this despite being 41 points of Andretti, so if they can outscore Andretti by 2 points over the Tokyo weekend, then they are still in title contention heading into London.
Below are the Customer Teams' Championship standings:

Manufacturers' Cup

Porsche lead the standings in Manufacturers' Cup under both formats with points total of 307 (alternative) and 384 (real life), with Jaguar 2nd and Stellantis 3rd in the standings respectively under both formats. There is no other difference in the standings between the 2 formats, although Jaguar and Porsche do have more points in real life compared to their totals under the alternative format. The biggest gainer in terms of points is still Lola-Yamaha, whose 166 points under the alternative format is 89 points greater than their real life total of 77.
Below are the Manufacturers' Cup standings: