Formula E to race in Valencia for first time as it reorganises 2021 schedule

Formula E

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Formula E has announced its first ever race on the Valencia Ricardo Tormo circuit as part of a reorganised calendar of events for 2021.

The series, which has previously raced on street tracks, will hold the fourth round of its 2021 season at the permanent circuit in Valencia. Formula E will use a new configuration of the circuit which it has tested at in recent seasons, and which Formula 1 last visited for testing 10 years ago.

The move comes as Formula E has scrapped plans to hold a race in Paris this year, while its events in Sanya and Seoul have also been postponed.

The championship therefore intends to follow its previously-announced double-header in Saudi Arabia next month with a race in Rome’s EUR district in April. The Valencia race, Formula E’s first championship round to be held in Spain, will take place two weeks later.

Formula E tested at Valencia last month
Formula E has also announced it will race in Monaco and Marrakesh in May. A double-header in Santiago, Chile, will follow on the first weekend in June. A further update on the championship is planned in early spring.

“We are committed to delivering a global calendar that befits our first season as a world championship,” said Formula E CEO Jamie Reigle. “We are working closely with all our partners across teams, manufacturers, sponsors, broadcasters and host cities to adapt to external circumstances and ensure the health and safety of everyone involved.

“We will do so while maintaining what fans love most about Formula E: unpredictable racing, iconic locations and the blend of the real and virtual worlds, all underpinned by our race for better futures.”

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Revised 2021 Formula E schedule

RoundCountryVenueDate
1Saudi ArabiaAd Diriyah26/2/2021
2Saudi ArabiaAd Diriyah27/2/2021
3ItalyRome10/4/2021
4SpainValencia24/4/2021
5MonacoMonaco8/5/2021
6MoroccoMarrakesh22/5/2021
7ChileSantiago5/6/2021
8ChileSantiago6/5/2021

Further events TBC.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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22 comments on “Formula E to race in Valencia for first time as it reorganises 2021 schedule”

  1. About flippin’ time.

    Now put them on proper slicks and I might actually be interested in watching a Formula E race.

    1. Slicks have too much rolling resistance (read: grip) to be viable for these cars at present. I agree regarding permanent tracks though, I’d love to see them on a circuit that F1 has used in the past.

      1. Semi slicks then. Anything that will produce decent performance and minimalise chaos.

    2. Leave them on road tyres. The cars are a lot more challenging to drive on these.
      Why would you want it to be less interesting?

    3. Indeed, that was about time, finally a proper track

    4. As noted in the article, it is going to be a modified version of the Valencia Ricardo Tormo circuit. In the configuration that Formula E has used for their pre-season tests, they used the “National Circuit” layout, which bypasses Turns 9 to 12 – most racing series have tended to use the longer “Grand Prix Circuit” layout.

      However, according to this article – https://the-race.com/formula-e/new-valencia-track-layout-lined-up-as-formula-e-stand-in/ – the race event is apparently going to modify the layout more heavily, potentially shortening the main straight.

  2. I tried to watch FE but seeing them race round what appeared to be abandoned industrial estates just wasn’t my thing. They even managed to make Hong Kong Central look crap, and having been there a couple of times it certainly isn’t…

  3. FE had to race on the anti-track. Nobody will want to see FE on an actual track after Valencia. There are so many great little tracks in the world, had to be valencia.

    1. FE teams use small tracks, like Calafat, for testing but they don’t have the infrastructure to support 24 cars/twelve teams.

  4. Well I’m curious to compare FE lap times to real race cars; I suspect they are slower than F3 cars. The street circuits they race on are a joke; spectators, when they existed, were unable to actually see the cars because of all the concrete barriers.

  5. What about Mexico City? It is described as a “street course” on the Formula E website, so they seem to consider it one, but it looks pretty permanent to my eye.

    1. It isn’t; there’s permanent stadium sections but the track itself is constructed separately. FE use a slightly altered layout to F1.

  6. I may be in minority but I really liked that track. It wasn’t best for racing but it had something that Sotchi or Abu Dhabi didn’t. It was the Baku before Baku. It was in the heart of the city (or almost) and had both fast and slow sections. At least it was fun to drive in F1 2010-12.

    1. @qeki I think you are mixing up this circuit (the permanent one, used in F1 only for testing) with the Valencia street circuit which hosted the European Grand Prix in the late ’00s and early ’10s.

      1. I just realised it few hours late..

  7. @qeki That’s not the track the will race on. When FE will race is the one used in 2007/2008 (don’t remember the exact year) season. Valencia Street Circuit is currently a ruin ( https://www.velocidadatope.com/viewtopic.php?t=241 )

    1. Little errata. Pre-season, not season.

      1. That’s a pity. Let’s hope they at least will have a good race there.

    2. IIRC, F1 last used Circuit Ricardo Tormo in the 2011 pre-season testing

  8. I suspect these will look hilariously slow on a proper circuit but I would love to be wrong.

  9. Is it known what layout of the circuit they will use? In pre-season testing at Valencia, FE was using a layout which was 3.1 km long (inasmuch as the fastest lap was a 1:11.760 and that was stated to be an average speed of 155.2 kph. The layout used for F1 testing, GP2 etc in the past is 4 km long, so I assume it’s not that. Do they just go straight on at T8?

    1. @Ilanin kind of. There’s a small chicane, but they essentially go straight at T8 and merge again into the original track in the middle of T13.

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