Plans for Formula E to race in the of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand appear challenging after recent political changes in the country, initiating a scramble to replace it on the championship calendar.
The Race understands that an event in Chiang Mai for the current 'to be confirmed' March 8 slot on the 2024-25 calendar was close to being announced in late July but complexities in protocols and then a changing political situation has jeopardised those plans.
Formula E has still not publicly disclosed the Chiang Mai event at all. This is believed to be part of its strategy to ensure it does not get into a similar situation to the one it had to deal with last December when the Hyderabad E-Prix was cancelled amid similar political turmoil.
But a meeting between Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds and then Thai prime minister Srettha Thavisin did take place last March in Paris where Dodds stated on LinkedIn that he and Thavisin discussed "the rapid growth of electric vehicles in Thailand and the importance to the country of sustainability, both economic and environmental and how Formula E might be able to support his ambitious plans".
Thavisin, who also met with Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali in April, subsequently announced his desire to see Formula E race in Chiang Mai as part of a sustainability and clean air festival scheduled for March 2025.
Formula E race makers visited the Chiang Mai site in May and June with a track plotted out and planned. The Race has acquired a copy of the proposed track map, which is the lead image in this article.
But Thavisin was recently usurped as prime minister after the country's constitutional court decreed that he bypassed ethical rules over cabinet appointments in his government.
Thailand appointed Paetongtarn Shinawatra - the daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was prime minister between 2001 and 2006 and who briefly owned Manchester City FC - as prime minister two weeks ago.
This change in power is understood to have significantly reduced the chances of Chiang Mai hosting a race, although The Race understands that considerable efforts are being made by Formula E to salvage the event, even through talks with the Thai government.
Replacement or rejig?
Should, as expected, the plans for a Chiang Mai street race be disregarded, Formula E faces a headache to fill out its calendar in order to keep it at 11 events and 16 races, the same number as the recent 2023-24 campaign.
Its Saudi Arabia double-header is expected to move from Diriyah to Jeddah in February, while a first race at the Homestead facility near Miami has been confirmed for April 12.
2024-25 Formula E calendar as it stands
Sao Paulo - December 7
Mexico City - January 11
Diriyah* - February 14-15
TBC - March 8
Homestead - April 12
Monaco - May 3-4
Tokyo - May 17-18
Shanghai - May 31-June 1
Jakarta - June 21
Berlin - July 12-13
London - July 26-27
Without a race in between those two events, Formula E faces a nine-week calendar gap it can ill-afford to have.
It has experienced similar periods of inactivity in the past, most notably in the 2021-22 season, when there was a nine-week gap between the Mexico City E-Prix in February and April's Rome E-Prix double-header.
That was due to the planned Cape Town E-Prix being postponed by a year to 2023.
Even last season there was a seven-week gap in the schedule from the Diriyah double-header in January to Sao Paulo in mid-March following the cancellation of the Hyderabad race.
This was poorly received by teams and drivers, especially as there was little other international racing on for Formula E to compete for viewership during in this period.
Formula E schedules have frankly been a nightmare for Formula E Operations to nail down throughout its decade-long history, although there were high hopes for the upcoming season to run as submitted to the FIA in June.
This now looks unlikely, so its best hope if the Chiang Mai race does not come off is finding a plug-in and play facility to race at it in March instead.
At present this looks doubtful, meaning that the most likely scenario would be to rejig the calendar by moving one race and upgrading one of the previously confirmed events to a double-header.
One option that is believed to be possible is moving the Berlin E-Prix, provisionally allocated a July 12-13 slot, forward and then Homestead or Jakarta (June 21) becoming double-header events.
Additionally, the possibility of Cape Town getting a deal together with Formula E to host a second event has been discussed.
This would be a dream scenario for Formula E because not only would early March be a perfect time of year for the race but it would also please the Formula E paddock. The South Africa race, despite being mostly irrelevant for manufacturers, was a popular destination and a challenging track.
But the most likely venue for a substitute race would be a permanent facility such as Valencia or Misano, two tracks that have hosted Formula E races previously.
They would have the climate to host a race in early March, with Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo in particular making sense in light of it being a logistical base and hub for the championship.
While Formula E came under some fire earlier this year when it seemingly did not have a substitute race available for the Hyderabad cancellation, Dodds argued that the all-electric world championship is in better shape to pivot this time - albeit on a permanent track as a substitute race.
"There are back up plans and I think maybe it undermines them slightly to call them back-up plans because they're perfectly credible alternatives," Dodds told The Race at the Portland E-Prix at the end of June.
"But as you've been around this business long enough to know, the only credible alternatives are fixed circuit alternatives because you can't hold street circuits with the need to build and put down TechPro [barriers] and close down streets [at short notice], so there are alternatives that we could slot in with our board's permission at fixed circuits."
