Written by Lucas Hamilton, Edited by Hugh W
Over the nine seasons Formula E has been around, the young sport has brought us 15 red flags during racing conditions. A fair amount considering how recently the series had its first race around the streets of Beijing. The series lasted three full seasons before the first ever red flag during a race, so let's dive into every single red flagged race in Formula E history.
The first ever red flag to be called in a Formula E race happened during the opening round of the fourth season of Formula E, at the Hong Kong ePrix. The red flag occurred on the opening lap as rookie, André Lotterer crashed at the turn four chicane, causing a pile up involving the Jaguar of Mitch Evans, the Renault e.dams of Nico Prost, and the two Venturi’s of Edoardo Mortara, and Neel Jani, blocking the track. Luckily no cars retired from the race, with the race resuming and eventually being won by the DS Virgin Racing car of Sam Bird.
The 2017-18 Formula E season came and went after the opening lap tangle in Hong Kong before we got Formula E’s second ever red flag. This one happened at the 2019 Mexico City ePrix, the fourth round of the season. A now infamous crash happened on lap 3, when the Jaguar of Nelson Piquet Jr. flew over the top of the reigning world champion, Jean-Éric Vergne. The two former Formula E World Champions were battling for eighth place when Piquet’s Jaguar broke later than Vergne’s Techeetah, after a rash defensive move from the Frenchman, sending debris everywhere. Piquet hit the rear of Alexander Sims’ BMW Andretti, spinning the Briton around but causing little damage to his car. Only Piquet retired from the ePrix, which was eventually won by a last lap pass, on the line, from Lucas di Grassi.
The next red flag happened in the following race in Hong Kong. On lap three the GEOX Dragon of Felipe Nasr went wide through the 90 degree right hander of turn two and straight into the wall. Both Mahindra’s of Pascal Wehrlein, and Jérôme d'Ambrosio were left with nowhere to go along with the Techeetah of Jean-Éric Vergne, and the BMW Andretti of Alexander Sims. The Mahindra’s crashed into the back of Nasr's car which led to the Mahinda’s and Nasr retired from the race. A safety car was initially brought out before they called the red flag.
The 2019 Sanya ePrix made it three races in a row with a red flag, as the only race in Sanya to date, featured a red flag when Alexander Sims and André Lotterer collided on lap 20 of the ePrix. The BMW Andretti of Sims hit the wall at the tight turn five before stopping on the run down to the hairpin of eight, on the slightly curved kink of turn seven. Sims was tucked up behind Daniel Abt, before a late move from André Lotterer sent him into the wall of turn five. A hard hit for the BMW Andretti sent the Briton out of the race and while trying to pull off to the side of the road, his car stopped sideways on the circuit, bringing out the red flag.
The red flags just kept coming in 2019, with the Rome ePrix following suit and becoming the fourth ePrix in a row to be red flagged. The race started in dramatic fashion where, on a damp track, the Dragon of José María López slid into the wall at the chicane, before Gary Paffett crashed into the back of him, and Jean-Éric Vergne hit Paffett. Paffett was the only driver involved in this collision to retire, with his HWA being lifted off the ground after Vergne hit his rear. The whole field from 12th back was involved however, as the collision blocked the track, requiring a red flag to be called to allow the cars through the carnage.
The final red flag of the 2018-19 Formula E Championship was at the penultimate venue, at the Swiss ePrix in Bern. The race started with a red flag, with the first corners the drivers came to off the starting line, the 12-13-14 chicane causing a pile-up. The massive pile up involved most of the cars on the grid, and was kickstarted by the Mahindra of Jérôme d'Ambrosio spinning round the Envision Virgin of Robin Frijns, sending the Dutchman into the wall and making him the only casualty of this early red flag. The other Mahindra of Pascal Wehrlein went into the wall at the chicane, blocking the entire track and causing the traffic jam which ensued.
Finally leaving 2018-19 we go to the 2021 Diriyah ePrix. The 2019-20 season did not have a single red flag throughout the 11 race calendar. The Diriyah ePrix was shortened, owing to the monstrous crash involving the Mahindra of Alex Lynn. Lynn was racing Mitch Evans for 16th place, before a late move to defend from Evans sent Lynn’s car up into the air, flipping over and scraping along the ground upside down. After Lynn’s car rested in the barriers, Mitch Evans ran over to him to make sure he was alright, taking the Kiwi out of the ePrix. This major incident caused the red flag, after a lengthy Safety Car period was initially called for a crash between Maximilian Günther and Tom Blomqvist, that took Günther out of the ePrix.
At the end of the 2021-22 Formula E World Championship, the series headed to Berlin for its season finale, a race in which 15 drivers could have won the title. All 24 cars lined-up for the grid but as the lights went green, Mitch Evans’ Jaguar jumped off the line before suddenly stopping. With a stopped car on the grid, it would have been a miracle had no-one avoided it, and sadly, the Venturi of Edoardo Mortara smashed into the back of the stricken Jaguar, taking two of the title favourites out on the spot. This crash caused a lengthy red flag as due to the collision occurring on the start/finish line and the two cars involved being almost destroyed, there was a lot of debris on the track. Edoardo Mortara suffered a fractured vertebrae following this collision, in a race that saw Nyck de Vries become the first ever Formula E World Champion
Near the end of the 2022 New York ePrix, rain started to fall especially at turn six. As race director, Scott Elkins, deployed the full course yellow for the treacherous conditions, the TV cameras riding on board with Edoardo Mortara saw the Venturi aquaplane into the wall on the side of the track before slowing down before he reached the wall. Even if he didn’t slow down however, he still would not have hit the wall. As the race leaders, Nick Cassidy, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Lucas di Grassi were all buried in the wall. The only driver in the top five to make it through the corner was third place man Robin Frijns with all of the cars ahead aquaplaning into the wall due to the horrendous conditions at that corner and that corner only.
Another race near the end of the 2021-22 Formula E World Championship, interrupted by rain and a red flag, was the first race of the 2022 Seoul ePrix weekend. Near the end of the first lap of racing, coming through to turn 17, the Jaguar of Norman Nato, who was replacing an injured Sam Bird, went slightly wide. Dan Ticktum, Sébastien Buemi, Nyck de Vries, Nick Cassidy, Oliver Turvey, André Lotterer, and Oliver Askew all followed the Jaguar straight into the wall. The Nissan e.dams of Sébastien Buemi was hit from behind by Nyck de Vries, causing the Nissan to be launched on top of the Mercedes and riding up the halo. André Lotterer then hit the back of de Vries’ car, with the other five drivers only hitting the wall. Nick Cassidy and Norman Nato remarkably managed to continue on in a race that was eventually won by Nato’s Jaguar teammate, Mitch Evans.
The 2023 Rome ePrix was the first round in the 2022-23 Formula E World Championship to feature a red flag, with a major collision occurring after the Jaguar of Sam Bird spun after hitting a manhole cover through the fast left hander of turn six. After the spin the Jaguar was left in the middle of the track, causing Sébastien Buemi, António Félix da Costa, Edoardo Mortara, Lucas di Grassi, Jean-Éric Vergne, and Robin Frijns to be involved with the crash. Buemi was the first car on the scene after Bird’s car stopped moving and clipped the back of Sam Bird before da Costa, with nowhere to go, rammed into the back of the Envision launching the Swiss driver onto the side of his car against the wall. Edoardo Mortara had a heavy hit into the side of Sam Bird’s car as well causing severe damage for both cars and launching debris all over the track.
Only two races later we had our second red flag of the season in London, the final weekend, but the penultimate round as in the first race of the double header, on lap 29 of the scheduled 36, Sacha Fenestraz’s Nissan launched over the top of the NIO of Sérgio Sette Câmara sending the Nissan hurtling towards the barriers. The Safety Car was initially called out but it got turned to a red flag on lap 32 of the race. Fenestraz was running in 11th before the red flag, and trying to overtake Sette Câmara before the collision.
Later in the same race, the 2023 London ePrix became the first event to have two red flags. The top three drivers of Mitch Evans, António Félix da Costa, and Jake Dennis had broken free from the rest of the pack, and at the penultimate corner, Norman Nato was trying a move on Sébastien Buemi but the two made contact, before Sam Bird had nowhere to go but into the back of the Nissan of Nato, leaving the track completely blocked and 14 of the 17 runners stopped on track. Because of the nature of the crash, the three leaders had made their way around the circuit one extra time, leaving them right at the back of the traffic jam with no way to make it through, before Formula E let all the drivers involved in the crash do an extra lap before the restart could take place. The leader during this drama was the Jaguar of Mitch Evans who would go on to take the victory in London and make it 4 red flags in a row which Mitch Evans had won.
The red flag chaos in London didn’t stop there though, with race two throwing up two more red flags. Both of which were for rain, with the ExCel circuit being the only partially indoors circuit in the world, the rain would present a unique challenge as the drivers had to adjust from the very slippery outside to the highly grippy indoor section with them dragging water further and further inside after every lap. The race eventually started to get going under the safety car, before another red flag was called due to the high intensity of the rain. When the race finally got going it was a calmer race than usual in Formula E, with polesitter, Nick Cassidy taking the victory in London.
Formula E, while being a very young sport, has had some chaotic races, and even though there haven’t been too many red flags, there have only been four more red flags in Formula One in the same 9 year span. Formula E has the benefit of being a young sport with all nine seasons of Formula E being under strict guidance from the FIA to prioritise the safety of the fans, the competitors, and the marshalls.
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