On the eve of the 8^th Monaco E-Prix, which takes place on Saturday in the Principality, the 22 Formula E drivers spoke at length on Friday in front of microphones and cameras, focusing on two key themes: energy management and race strategy. Here is an overview of their impressions ahead of the first laps, scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 a.m.

“We’ll have to get up very early, around 5 am, but it’s worth it. It’s a privilege to drive here in Monaco. This is the race I used to watch when I was a kid, and it always made me dream,” said Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche), the reigning World Champion and current runner-up in the standings, behind Oliver Rowland (Nissan), thanks to his victory in the previous round in Miami.

“It’s going to be a long day, and the next day we’ll have to do it all over again, so it’ll be tiring,” added the German driver about the 9th Monaco E-Prix, scheduled for Sunday at the same time as the 8^th edition on Saturday: start at 3:04 pm, local time, but without a mandatory pit stop to recharge 15% of the batteries. New for 2025, Pit Boost will be in effect on Saturday for the first time in Formula E, adding an extra element of uncertainty to an already unpredictable category.

Two seconds faster per lap with the Gen3 Evo?

“We’ll have a window of a few laps to stop and recharge, which is when most of the overtaking will take place, because the rest of the time we’ll be able to drive much faster, as we’ll have less energy to save, and there will be less overtaking on the track,” predicts Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing), who knows a thing or two about Formula E: he has competed in 132 E-Prix since Season 1 and won one title, in 2016.

“In Miami, we were much better in terms of performance, so I hope that will continue. And the new cars (Gen3 Evo) are much faster, as are the tires, so I think we can gain two seconds per lap here in Monaco compared to last year’s times,” says the Swiss driver, four-time winner of Le Mans 24 Hours and a pole position specialist in Formula E. He has already secured 16 to his name, compared to 17 for Jean-Eric Vergne, aka “JEV.”

France’s Vergne (DS Penske) is the only two-time world champion in the history of Formula E. For him, “anything is possible and you have to be able to change your plans all the time, depending on external factors. The most important thing is to start at the front, like the Jaguar drivers did last year, because that avoids suffering when starting further back on the grid.” And ‘JEV’ added with a smile: “Some drivers are really dangerous, because only half of their brain is connected, but I won’t give names…” In 2024, the 7^th Monaco E-Prix ended with a Jaguar one-two, Mitch Evans ahead of Nick Cassidy, after the green cars had started from the front row.

Will Nato get his revenge?

Penalized with a ten-second penalty in Miami after the checkered flag, which cost him the victory, Norman Nato (Nissan) has fond memories of Monaco, where he won the Monaco Kart Cup when he was younger. He has only won once in Formula E, in Berlin in 2021, but he was the best on the track in Miami, starting from pole position, and was the victim of the rules: due to a safety car deployment, he was unable to use up his Attack Mode credit, the period during which drivers have extra power. Nato is convinced that he still has a “very effective package this weekend in Monaco,” as is his teammate Oliver Rowland, leader of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. “We have a good level of performance and we can’t play it safe anymore,” said the Antibes native on Friday. He is 17^th  in the championship at the halfway point, so he really has nothing to lose.

Nico Müller, the Andretti Racing driver, summed up the situation perfectly during the outdoor press conference for radio and television on Quai Antoine 1^er, right next to the Fan Village: “Saturday will be about strategy, and Sunday will be about energy,” said the Swiss driver about the big difference to expect from these two Formula E races on the same weekend, a first for the Principality. Saturday’s race will be totally unpredictable because of, or thanks to, the Pit Boost. Sunday’s race will be more traditional, without the Pit Boost, when it will be crucial to save energy. There is a third variable that may need to be taken into account on Sunday: the weather, if it decides to play a role in the final result, as it often does in Monaco.

The 8^th Monaco E-Prix, the 6th round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship 2024/25, will start on Saturday at 3:04 p.m. CET.