Tokyo E-Prix: Everything you need to know about Formula E’s second visit to Japan

Formula E broke new ground last year when it staged the first major street race in Japan, an achievement that was almost a decade in the making.

Motorsport in Japan is usually associated with circuit racing, with the country blessed with famous tracks such as Suzuka, Motegi and Fuji, but none of those are located particularly close to a metropolitan hub like Tokyo or Osaka. While accessibility wasn’t exactly a problem with any Japanese circuit, with the exception of former Pacific GP venue Okayama, Formula E is bringing races to the people with the Tokyo E-Prix.

Japan already hosts some of the world’s biggest motorsport championships, including Formula 1, MotoGP, World Endurance Championship and the World Rally Championship, but Formula E is now trying to build its own niche in the country.

In 2025, the all-electric chanmpionship is taking things up a notch by hosting a double-header on the Tokyo Street Circuit, with two races taking place on the weekend of 17/18 May.

Sunday’s race will also mark the start of the second half of the season, which means the Tokyo races effectively serve as the midpoint of the campaign.

Location

The Tokyo Street Circuit is located around the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre on the man-made Odaiba island.

While Odaiba is a popular destination for tourists, offering a more European-esque environment that is different to the rest of Tokyo, most of the shopping malls and other popular tourist destinations are located further away from the circuit.

In fact, the track is located in a more industrial part of Tokyo Bay, but that shouldn’t deter from the fact that FE has managed to host a race in the world’s most populated metropolitan area in the world.

It’s also worth mentioning that Odaiba was the scene of an F1 fan festival in April, which saw Yuki Tsunoda make his first appearance in the Red Bull F1 car ahead of his debut with the team just days later in the Japanese Grand Prix.

Circuit layout

The Tokyo track is 2.5km long and features 18 corners and three long straights. In many ways, it’s a quintessential FE circuit, with a tight and twisty layout - although it does feature a high-speed section as well.

The general opinion about the track last year was positive, with drivers praising it for its technical challenge and enjoyment factor.

The overtaking opportunities were rather limited last year, but the introduction of a more powerful all-wheel drive Attack Mode could make passing easier this time.

Pit Boost returns

With Tokyo being a double-header, this weekend will mark just the third time Pit Boost will be used in a Formula E race.

For the uninitiated, Pit Boost is Formula E’s new fast-charging technology, which is only available in one race of each double header.

All drivers are required to make a mandatory pitstop during the race, where their cars will receive a 10 per cent increase in energy (3.85kWh) in just 30 seconds.

Drivers can only use the Pit Boost when they have between 40-60 per cent energy left in their car’s batteries, which brings a strategic element into play.

However, to keep things fair in the pitlane, and to ensure the safety of everyone involved, a minimum pitstop time of 34 seconds has been introduced, with 30 seconds allocated to charging the car itself.

The Pit Boost will be available during Saturday’s race, which will be three laps longer than Sunday’s race.

Form guide

Nissan driver Oliver Rowland has been the man in form in Formula E this season. With three victories in the opening seven races, he has scored twice as many points as the next driver in the standings, Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa (115 to 67).

Last fortnight’s Monaco E-Prix also saw Sebastien Buemi score his first Formula E win since New York 2019, as he outgunned the competition on energy and strategy to win the second race of the double-header.

The result also came as a respite to his team Envision, and its powertrain supplier Jaguar, which had been going through a tough year in FE.

Another driver/team combination that returned to the podium was Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries. The Dutchman crossed the finish line in second place in the opening leg of the weekend after fighting hard with eventual winner Rowland. This was the first podium for 2020/21 champion de Vries since his comeback in FE after an ill-fated stint in F1 in 2023, as well as the first for Mahindra since the start of season 9.

Porsche, like always, will be a contender in Tokyo, with the German squad currently leading the teams’ standings ahead of Nissan.

Nissan will of course be the only Japanese representative on the grid this weekend. No Japanese driver has contested a Formula E event since Sakon Yamamoto and Takuma Sato completed three races between them in the inaugural FE season in 2014/15.

2024 recap

The inaugural Tokyo E-Prix in March 2024 was won by then-Maserati MSG driver Maximilian Guenther.

Polesitter Rowland led the way for Nissan early on, but Guenther breezed past him on lap 23 when the Briton lifted off at Turn 10/11 to save energy.

Rowland mounted a late attack on Guenther for the race lead, making several attempts to pass him on the final lap. But the German driver, who now races for DS Penske, held firm to take the chequered flag by 0.7s.

Completing the podium was Jake Dennis in the Porsche-powered Andretti car, with Porsche’s factory drivers da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein finishing next up in fourth and fifth respectively.

Tokyo was notably a difficult race for Jaguar, which swept to both teams’ and manufacturers’ titles last year. Nick Cassidy, who previously lived in Japan while competing in Super Formula and Super Formula, finished down in seventh place, while teammate Mitch Evans ended up outside the points after having to pit for a new front wing following contact with Envision’s Robin Frijns.

Schedule

Friday 

4 pm-4:55 pm local time  / 8 am-8:55 am BST - Free Practice 1

Saturday
8am-8:55am local time / 12am-12:55am BST - Free Practice 2
10:20am-11:43am  local time / 2:20am-3:43am BST - Qualifying
3 pm local time / 7 am BST - Race 1

Sunday
8am-8:55am local time / 12am-12:55am BST - Free Practice 3
10:20am-11:43am local time/ 2:20am-3:43am BST - Qualifying
3 pm local time / 7 am BST - Race 2