Venue change looming for FE's UK round

The location of the United Kingdom’s Formula E race looks set to change from next season as the new faster, more powerful GEN4 cars are likely to render the current ExCeL location unviable.

Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds appeared to confirm the move, which has been anticipated for some time, in a conversation with RACER at the Miami E-Prix, when he said the constraints of the current site – an exhibition center, and the surrounding service roads, in east London – would not be compatible with the next generation of Formula E car.

“We know that in Turns 3 and 4 there in London – and they can't move the infrastructure of the ExCeL – it's not going to be,” he said. “We would end up having to de-power the cars. I have a personal challenge, which is launching a new car that's 71% more powerful, and turning the power down doesn't feel right for me. 

“They've been a brilliant location for us, but I think it's highly, highly, highly unlikely that we could put on a show there.”

The London E-Prix moved to the ExCeL in 2021 after two double-header events in Battersea Park in 2015 and ‘16. The tight 1.816 mile circuit was criticized for its tight and bumpy nature, while disruption to the public park where the temporary circuit was constructed drew fierce criticism from local residents, eventually leading to an early end to Formula E’s agreement to host races there.

After a four year break, the London E-Prix returned with its current host site in 2021, and double-header events have been held there since.

But while the ExCel’s days in Formula E do appear numbered, the UK’s do not. Dodds says Formula E “definitely plans to stay there”, and hinted that remaining in London could even be on the cards, but also spoke of the rumored moves to either Silverstone or Brands Hatch.

“It’s a big market for us,” he said. “There are other locations in London that we’re long at that could afford us a bit more space, which would be good. And there are two obvious fixed circuits that we were talking to, which are Silverstone and Brands Hatch, and [there are] pros and cons of both. So we're pretty close, I think, to knowing the answer to that question.”