We’re getting dangerously close to the start of the next Formula E season. The all-electric racing series will kick off with its first race of season nine in Mexico on January 14th. When the lights go green, the series will field 22 brand new cars that promise closer racing and speeds of 200mph. But do you know which teams will be lining up on the grid in 2023?
The Formula E silly season has been particularly mad this year. There’s been driver moves, retirements and team changes up and down the grid.
After getting confused by the revolving door of Formula E team names, we realized that we were having a tough time remembering if one team was going through a total revamp, if it had just taken on a new sponsor, or if it was brand new.
If we were struggling to remember what teams would be racing Formula E’s shiny new Gen 3 cars next year, then we thought fans might be as well. And, after joking that a flow chart might be handy to keep track of all the changes, an idea dawned:
After we initially thought Formula E would be increasing to 12 teams thanks to the addition of Team ABT, that turned out not to be true. That’s because Techeetah is leaving the sport for at least one year after it couldn’t find a partner to race with for the upcoming ninth season.
As well as the Chinese squad, we’ll also lose Mercedes next year. Its assets have been purchased by McLaren, which has been eyeing an entry into the all-electric racing series since December last year. The fact that it would buy out Championship-defender Mercedes, however, was a little surprising.
Maserati became another big-name manufacturer to buy a team when it announced its partnership with Venturi — but the rebranding has been pretty massive. The Venturi name will be lost from the cars next year, as will CEO Susie Wolff. The Maserati squad will also be headed by new team principle, James Rossiter.
In April of 2022, Nissan announced that it would take total control of the e.dams team, which was less a massive change so much as it was more complete control over a product it already largely owned.
The final change on the grid was confirmed last week as French manufacturer DS will now partner American racing outfit Penske. The newly-named DS Penske team will see current title holder Stoffel Vandoorne partner two-time world champ, Jean-Eric Vergne.
Thankfully, plenty of teams are also sticking by their previous names. Nio 333, Jaguar, Envision, Andretti, Mahindra, and Porsche will remain the same heading into season nine.
This article was updated on 10/19/2022 after Techeetah announced it wouldn’t be racing in 2022.