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explainers explainer news season 11

EXPLAINED: Formula E's rules and regulations for Season 12

NEWS 05 Dec 2025 6 Mins

It's the final season of the GEN3 Evo, and these are all the rules that you need to know when watching Formula E! Here's how to race, win or lose.

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explainers explainer news season 11

Article by Katy Fairman

The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship has a strict set of rules and regulations that need to be followed, just like most motorsport series. It’s important that all teams and drivers are in line with the FIA’s International Sporting Code or ensuring the cars are legal from a technical standpoint, for example.

Here are some of the key things you need to know ahead of Season 12 of the all-electric championship as it enters the final season of its GEN3 Evo era.

What is the race weekend schedule?

Unlike other championships that spread themselves over three days, most Formula E action takes place over one day. There’s one Free Practice session on the eve of an E-Prix for the teams, and another the following morning, but qualifying and the race are both on the same day – often a Saturday or Sunday.

Practice sessions are now 40 minutes each, with qualifying lasting for around an hour from start to finish. Every race is made up of a predetermined number of laps, but around an hour is given time-wise. Extra laps can also be added for Safety Car and Full Course Yellow interruptions, which the teams are notified about three laps before the end of the E-Prix.

What Championships can you win?

New for this season, there are three separate titles to win. As well as the traditional Drivers’ and Teams’ World Championships, the Manufacturer Title was introduced to Formula E in Season 10. The concept sees Manufacturers awarded points based on the results from their best two powered cars. Points allocated for the driver who gets Pole Position and the Fastest Lap will not be counted towards this title.

If there’s a dead heat at the end of the season, the driver with the most first place finishes will be awarded the higher place in the championship. If that is tied, the number of second places are looked at, then third, and so on until a winner emerges. If this procedure fails to produce a result, the FIA then nominates the winner based on criteria it sees fit.

How many points are awarded over a race weekend?

Formula E follows a standard points system, used in other FIA-sanctioned series, which awards points to the top-10 classified finishers.

WATCH: How to watch or stream Formula E's where you are

There are also additional points on offer, with three championship points given to the Julius Baer Pole Position holder after qualifying and another extra point up for grabs for the Fastest Lap in the race.

Finishing position	Championship points
1st	25pts
2nd	18pts
3rd	15pts
4th	12pts
5th	10pts
6th	8pts
7th	6pts
8th	4pts
9th	2pts
10th	1pt

In the rare circumstances that a race cannot be completed, for reasons like torrential weather or an incident, points will be awarded from a set criteria.

How do penalties work in Formula E?

Like in all motorsport, drivers and their teams need to be on their best behaviour to avoid being penalised. However, if you are found to be at fault for an incident such as causing a collision or forcing another driver off the track, there will be consequences.

The Stewards – a group of individuals from the FIA – decide if drivers or teams are given a penalty for an incident. Depending on the offence, the Stewards can issue a variety of penalties which are normally handed out during the race. However, if a driver is unable to serve their penalty, due to retirement for example, it can be converted into a grid penalty for their next race.

Time penalties are the most common, with both 5-second time penalties and 10-second time penalties available to use. These must be served the next time a driver requires a pit stop, with no work allowed to be carried out on their car for that duration of penalty time. If they do not need to stop before the end of the race, the time will be added to the total elapsed race time of the driver concerned.

GALLERY: Who are all the teams in Formula E and what are their liveries?

Drive-through penalties are also available, meaning the driver must enter the pit lane and re-join the race without stopping, in addition to a 10-second stop-and-go where a driver has to stop at their pit box for at least 10 seconds before rejoining the race.

Drivers can also pick up penalty points on their e-Licences. If they reach 12 penalty points over a 12 month period, their e-Licence will be suspended for the following event before the points are then removed.

What are the tyre allocations?

In ABB Formula E we use an all-weather Hankook iON tyre for the 2025/26 season, which is much grippier than previous tyres used in the series and made from 35% recycled and sustainable materials.

For each single-header round, each driver may use no more than four new rear and four new front tyres of the same specification. This then goes up to six new rear and front tyres of the same spec for double-header events. All tyres must be strictly identical.

What is an e-Licence in Formula E?

Just like a driving licence for the road, Formula E drivers must qualify for an e-Licence to participate in races or tests. In order to enter the FIA Formula E Championship, drivers must comply with the following:

Drivers participating in the Championship must hold an FIA e-Licence.
Drivers must conduct a specific FIA training session focussing on electrical safety, specific features of the fully-electric Formula E car, as well as reviewing both technical and sporting aspects of the series.

The minimum licence grade for rookies to take part in the official tests organised by the Championship Promoter is International Grade B. International Grade C licensed Drivers, with proven experience in single-seater categories, may be authorised with the prior approval of the FIA.

ATTACK MODE

Introduced for the 2018/19 season was ATTACK MODE, which lets every driver pick up an extra hit of power at their own risk. To activate ATTACK MODE, drivers will need to arm their car, drive off the racing line, and pass through the Activation Zone. As a reward for taking a slower line through the corner, they’ll be able to collect an extra 50kW of power – 350kW from the stock race power deployment of 300kW.

Drivers can choose to secure the extra speed if they want to race harder, giving them the edge to keep ahead of the competition or make moves up the pack.

PIT BOOST

PIT BOOST - powered by Formula E's Official PIT BOOST Provider Fortescue Zero, - is an innovative and mandatory mid-race feature that sees cars given a 10% energy increase (3.85kWh) through a 30-second, 600kW boost in the pit lane. It will be used during one of the two races across a double-header race weekend.

All drivers must stop during the race for this extra energy, however each team is only provided one PIT BOOST rig which prevents them from doing any double-stacking. In Season 11, this created plenty of drama and excitement, as each competitor navigated an additional element of race strategy that could potentially alter race outcomes and tactics.

Drivers must take the PIT BOOST when their State of Charge (SoC) is below 60% and above 40% at the moment of the boost. The timing of this could vary from garage to garage depending on the strategy of consumption each driver has during the first phase of the race.

It is another opportunity for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship to push the boundaries of electric mobility and demonstrates the championship’s unique position as a ‘race-to-road’ technology platform.

SCHEDULE: Where, when and how to watch or stream the 2025 Google Cloud São Paulo E-Prix Round 1

Free Practice 1: 16:30 local (19:30 UTC), Friday 5 December
Free Practice 2: 07:30 local (10:30 UTC), Saturday 6 December
Qualifying: 09:40 local (12:40 UTC), Saturday 6 December
Race: 14:05 local (17:05 UTC), Saturday 6 December

View the full schedule in your time zone and check the broadcaster listings or tap the Ways to Watch button above to find out where to watch all the racing action where you live.