This is my review of race 1 of 2026 Shanghai ePrix and in between this race and the last one out in Sanya we got both the calendar for next season as well as key sporting changes. I will go over the calendar in this review and the sporting changes in the review for race 2.
The calender has now expanded to 21 races with: new events in Zandvoort, Netherlands (Circuit Zandvoort) and Austin, USA (Circuit of the Americas or COTA), a change in venue for another as the London ePrix will move out of the tight confines of the EXCEL and to the proper race circuit in Brands Hatch (Celebrate!!), no loss of events either. As we do not know the exact circuit layouts yet for any of the circuits on next year's calendar, but I think the likely layouts (National or NASCAR) that will be used at COTA will provide the kind racing that Formula E wants and Brands Hatch probably also will, although modifications are planned to give the driver's more of a chance to recover energy (insert chicane here). Zandvoort is a unique case as the Grand Prix layout is slightly too long, as at 2.646 miles it would be the longest circuit in Formula E history and this includes the upcoming races at Brands Hatch and COTA which are about 2.433* and 2.3.65/2.4 miles in length (* = current length of the Grand Prix layout) and while there is a National layout available, I cannot find any information on its length and when it was last used, so I can only assume that it won't be used come next season. Overall I have no problem with the venues for the ePrixs next year, however, I am concerned about some circuit layouts that we have used this year (e.g: Miami, Berlin) so I would like some alterations made to them to lengthen them and slow the average speed around the circuit. Another thing about the Circuit I am very happy about is that large gaps between ePrixs have been largely done away with as there is only 2 5-week breaks although, there are 2 occasions in which ePrixs are on back-to-back weeks and there is 1 race each in both March and April before 3 ePrix doubleheaders in May. This congested section of the schedule is of no issue for a fan like me it will be a struggle for the teams who haven't really had to deal with such a quick turnaround between races, although I think effects of this will only show that if a car crashes in the race which 6 days before the next then that won't be rebuilt until the team arrives at the next venue and will miss Free Practice 1. Also this a PitBoost race.
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

Beyond speeding penalties for Nick Cassidy and Jose Maria 'Pepe' Marti, there was nothing of note that occurred in the 2 Free Practice sessions.
Now to Qualifying. Group A consisted of: Mitch Evans, Edoardo Mortara, Jake Dennis, Nico Mueller, Sebastien Buemi, Josep Maria 'Pepe' Marti, Joel Eriksson, Taylor Barnard, Jean-Eric Vergne, and Lucas Di Grassi. A 'shock surprise' as Edoardo Mortara would failed to advance, because the driver with average qualifying of 19 and achieved his 2nd best qualifying result around Shanghai by qualifying 18th does terribly around Shanghai. The top 4 in group A and thus made it to the Duel stage were: Mitch, Jake, Sebastien, and Jean-Eric.
Group B went next and consisted of Oliver Rowland, Pascal Wehrlein, Antonio Felix da Costa, Nick Cassidy, Nyck de Vries, Felipe Drugovich, Dan Ticktum, Max Guenther, Norman Nato, and Zane Maloney. Three drivers in this group need to serve penalties as Dan has 3-place grid penalty for speeding under Red Flag conditions last time out in Sanya and Zane has the same penalty coupled with a 40-place grid penalty for changing his inverter (MCU) and his gearbox after his qualifying crash in Sanya. Norman has a 60-place grid penalty as his E-Motor (MGU) and 2 gearboxes were changed after his incident with Pascal and because it is impossible for him and Zane to serve all grid penalties, they will have to serve a 10 second stop-and-go penalty as well. The 4 that made it into Duel stage from group B were: Pascal, Antonio, Max, and Dan.
The 1st Quarter-Final was between Sebastien and Jake, with the latter winning by 0.237 seconds while the 2nd Quarter-Final was between Jean-Eric and Mitch with the latter winning by 0.335 seconds. Quarter-Final 3 was between Max and Antonio, which saw the former advance by a 0.174 seconds, while the final Quarter-Final was between Dan and Pascal which saw the latter moving on by 0.192 seconds also, Mitch and Pascal were the only ones who advanced who dominated their quarter-final and didn't bank on their opponent making mistakes. Semi-Final 1 was between Jake and Mitch, which the latter won by 0.174 seconds and Semi-Final 2 was between Max and Pascal, with the latter winning by 0.377 seconds. The Final saw Pascal winning by 0.203 seconds to claim his 12th pole position.

Race

Overall Drivers' Championship

Pascal Wehrlein wins the ePrix from Antonio Felix da Costa in 2nd and Jake Dennis in 3rd and all bolster their title bid thanks to Mitch's 8th place finish. There were 2 noteworthy incidents: 1 on lap 19 in turn 7 when Edoardo collided with Jean-Eric, causing minimal damage and disruption to either's race (Jean-Eric was forced wide through the rest of turn 7 and Edoardo stayed on the racing line) and the former picked up a 5-second penalty. The collision occurred because Edoardo a snap of oversteer into turn 7, as he hit the white limit line on the edge of the track which was wet and slippery so he lost grip and he was only there because Jean-Eric hadn't given him enough room. Jean-Eric argued that he had and the stewards agreed with the Frenchman hence the penalty. The other incident occurred on the final lap where Lucas Di Grassi rear-ended Taylor Barnard into turn 6, causing the latter to lose places to both Lucas and Pepe Marti, although Lucas did give the place back before the chequered flag but he stewards found him at fault and awarded him 5 second penalty converted into a 3-place grid drop for the next race as he finished outside the top 10. Now Lucas hadn't planned on overtaking Taylor, it's just that Taylor was travelling slower at the apex of turn 6, because Oliver Rowland ahead was also travelling slowly, so Lucas had not time to react and avoid Taylor. To me personally, this incident feels like an incident that earlier in the season, before the drivers complained, that the stewards would have let go unpunished.
However, the real issue of this race was the Safety Car called for adverse track conditions on lap 19. While some saw it as an overreaction, such as Dan Ticktum who quoted by FE Notebook as saying "the race director s**t himself when there was a bit of rain and called the safety car" and subsequently was given a 3-place grid penalty for derogatory comments towards an FIA official. The "bit of rain" was quite heavy in one section of track, turns 7 to 9, but considerably less around the rest of the circuit (some sections looked pretty much bone-dry to me) and I believe that they could have got away with double-waved yellow flags through that section until the conditions around the track were pretty much even, although I remember the ending to race 1 of 2022 New York City where that race ended under red flag thanks to a sudden burst of rain that soaked one area of the circuit but the left the rest bone-dry and all of the top runner in that race went off and crashed heavily so my presumption is that the race director was trying to avoid having a repeat of that situation and not compromise the drivers' safety by having a bunch of them go off and hit each other.

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

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 44 more points under the alternative format (64) compared to real life (20). There are differences between the standings and the driver who gains the most position's under the alternative format is Max who gains 3 places to be 14th under alternative format compared to 17th in real life, while the driver who loses the most positions is Nick Cassidy who drops 4 places to be 12th under the alternative format, but is 8th 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 Jake Dennis with 2nd in class going to Felipe Drugovich, and 3rd to Joel Eriksson. Jake leads from the opening corners until lap 16 when he pits and hands the lead to Pepe Marti who pits on lap 18 and briefly emerges still with the lead, but relinquishes it to Jake when he takes Attack Mode after exiting the pits. Pepe takes the lead back through turn 9 on lap 19, although he loses the lead on lap 23 in turn 9 to Jake in Attack Mode who leads until the end. With Sebastien Buemi finishing 6th, this gives Jake a 9 point lead which if he can build on in the next few races will hand him the title.
Below are the Customer Trophy for Drivers standings:

Nelson Piquet Jr Trophy

The winner of the class is Felipe Drugovich, with 2nd going to Joel Eriksson and 3rd to Nico Mueller. Felipe leads from the start until lap 4 where he runs wide in turn 3 after contact with Oliver Rowland (check the replay and ignore the commentators) and hands the lead to Nico. Nico surrenders the lead on lap 12 to Felipe when the latter dives on the inside of turn 10 of the former, before Nico gets him back 2 laps later after overtaking him on the outside of turn 10. Nico pits on lap 16 and gives the lead to Pepe Marti who pits on lap 18. With everyone having pitted, the lead has now cycled in Pepe’s favour, who goes for Attack Mode immediately upon exiting the pits and leads until lap 24 where he is passed by Felipe in Attack Mode on the main straight who leads until the end. With Felipe winning, the gap between him and Nico has dropped to 12 points and Nico can no longer take the record for biggest single season winning percentage which means the dominant season that the car performance suggested is starting fade and may fade into a missed opportunity.
Below are the Nelson Piquet Jr Trophy standings:

Overall Teams' Championship

Jaguar TCS Racing still lead the standings under both formats with Porsche Formula E Team 2nd under both formats as well. The is a difference for 3rd as under the alternative format it is Andretti Formula E, whereas in real life it is Mahindra Racing who are 4th under the alternative format while Andretti are there in real life. The other change sees Nissan Formula E Team and Envision Racing swap places depending on the format, so Envision are 5th under alternative format but are 6th in real life and it is the opposite for Nissan. 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 119 points under the alternative format and 46 in real life. Also Lola Yamaha Abt Formula E Team are mathematically eliminated from title contention.
Below are the overall Teams' Championship standings:

Customer Teams' Championship

With their 3rd win in a row, Andretti Formula E extend their lead over Envision Racing to 12 points - the largest gap between them all season. The previous best was after race 2 in Jeddah where Envision were 9 points ahead of Andretti.
Below are the Customer Teams' Championship standings:

Manufacturers' Cup

Porsche lead the standings in Manufacturers' Cup under both formats with points total of 249 (alternative) and 364 (real life), with Jaguar 2nd in the standings under both formats and Stellantis are 3rd under alternative format but swap places with Mahindra to be 4th in real life. There is no other difference in the standings between the 2 formats beyond the aforementioned swap between Stellantis and Mahindra, 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 146 points under the alternative format is 96 points greater than their real life total of 52.
Below are the Manufacturers' Cup standings: