Is there a better proof of concept for Formula E than eight of its nine drivers' champions still being on the grid as it heads into its 11th season?
The 22 names on the 2024-25 grid have combined for 117 wins from the championship's 132 races and naturally monopolise a host of other all-time stats.
But a significant part of this year's typically feverish silly season was a shift towards youth, with three teams giving opportunities to drivers who head into this campaign as full-season rookies.
But in the ultra-precise world of Formula E, will that pay off or does experience remain king?
We gathered a panel including Formula E commentator Tom Brooks to rank the 11 teams based on what their driver pairings offer (while discounting the quality of the team or machinery).
We then used the Formula E points system to create the worst-to-best ranking below.
The panel: Sam Smith, Tom Brooks, Matt Beer, Jack Cozens, Josh Suttill, Jack Benyon, Val Khorounzhiy, Andrew van de Burgt
11 Kiro
(Down 1)
Dan Ticktum/David Beckmann
2 points
Best ranking: 10th (Sam Smith, Jack Benyon)
Worst ranking: 11th (Tom Brooks, Matt Beer, Jack Cozens, Josh Suttill, Val Khorounzhiy, Andrew van de Burgt)
There was a real basement battle in our rankings, but with just two of our panel of eight making it part of their top 10 the renamed Kiro team, with a new Porsche supply deal and rejigged line-up as a result, ended up last.
There's an elephant in the room to address early on: Porsche driver David Beckmann taking the second seat, originally earmarked for Sergio Sette Camara, at Porsche's newest customer team of all places.
Suttill said that pick was "a deeply underwhelming choice when there were some fun, left-field options". And others had question marks next to Beckmann’s name too; not just because of his time out of single-seaters, but for how he fared on his most recent outing: an underwhelming stand-in gig with Andretti in Jakarta in 2023.
"He's never really lived up to what looked possible when he was still an eye-catching team-mate of Lando Norris's in Formula 4, but perhaps all he needs is a bit of programme continuity," said Khorounzhiy, while Benyon added: "Beckmann was ace when I covered him in GP3 in 2018 but has done little since to make me think he’s going to do something extraordinary in Formula E."
While none of the panel questioned Dan Ticktum’s speed, there were concerns too about whether he was the right driver to be pairing a full-season rookie with.
"If the car is competitive he'll bring home the bacon," said van de Burgt, who nevertheless added: "He's also emotional and prone to fly off the handle, which might not be ideal for a new team and his rookie team-mate."
"No more excuses for this team and, in a sense, Ticktum," said Smith. "He has to deliver this season and will be expected to. His talent is evidently capable of that but the mentality side of his make-up is still under significant questioning."
For Brooks, the "mostly unknown potential of Beckmann" coupled with the "lacklustre results" Ticktum recorded last year "is why this pair is bottom of my list".
10 Lola-Yamaha Abt
(Down 1)
Lucas di Grassi/Zane Maloney
6 points
Best ranking: 10th (Tom Brooks, Matt Beer, Jack Cozens, Josh Suttill, Val Khorounzhiy, Andrew van de Burgt)
Worst ranking: 11th (Sam Smith, Jack Benyon)
The new Lola-Yamaha-Abt alliance couldn't have settled on a more polarised driver line-up in terms of Formula E know-how, pairing the series' most experienced driver ever in terms of race starts with the only true rookie on the 2024-25 grid.
But it's actually 2016-17 champion Lucas di Grassi's patchy recent form that our panel had questions over.
"I really do respect what di Grassi has achieved but I don’t know that he's at the level of many of the other drivers on this list anymore," said Benyon. And Smith was of a similar disposition.
"Di Grassi brings great experience, technical leadership and still, after all these years, a burning sense of wanting to reprise former glories," he said. "But if any other driver had gone through the last two seasons of results as he did, then they'd be out of a drive anywhere on the grid."
But as Abt links up with the new Lola-Yamaha project, van de Burgt felt di Grassi's experience "will be a massive boost for FE's newest manufacturer as well as rookie Zane Maloney, who faces a difficult challenge this season".
There was excitement elsewhere about what Maloney might be capable of but a similar tempering of expectations to what van de Burgt suggested.
"Maloney is a good signing but this will probably be a learning year for him," said Suttill, while Brooks added: "If his performances in Formula 2 are anything to go by [Maloney is fourth in the points] then we're in for a right treat this year.
"Like Beckmann however, I expect it to be a couple of rounds for him to settle in."
9 McLaren
(Down 1)
Sam Bird/Taylor Barnard
28 points
Best ranking: 5th (Tom Brooks)
Worst ranking: 9th (Sam Smith, Jack Cozens, Jack Benyon, Val Khorounzhiy, Andrew van de Burgt)
The third team with a full-season rookie in its ranks is also third-from-bottom in this ranking.
Much like Abt, McLaren has blended its youthful pick with an experienced hand - Sam Bird's 125 starts dwarfing Taylor Barnard's three (all made in place of Bird last season).
But the lowly ranking - and drop of one place compared to last year's - isn't necessarily due to a lack of faith in the partnership, it's more the unknowns both come with.
Van de Burgt described it as the "ideal blend of youth and experience as McLaren looks to move up the order", Benyon felt a stunning Sao Paulo victory last year proved Bird "still needs to be taken seriously at this level" and that he potentially had Bird/Barnard "too low", while Smith argued "Bird hasn't had a good and consistent season for a long time now, and Barnard still has a huge amount of learning to do".
"A win or maybe a couple is on this season," said Smith, on the evidence of pre-season testing (and FP1 in Sao Paulo) suggesting McLaren's powertrain provider Nissan has made further gains over the off-season. "The more intriguing question is: which one of them can and will achieve them?"
For Brooks, who ranked McLaren highest of all in fifth, the team's new signing was a bold move that should pay off.
"Barnard burst onto the scene in Berlin and stuck out like Spiderman in a school nativity play: daring overtakes, quickly adapting to Formula E's quirks, and displaying maturity beyond his years both in and out of the cockpit," he said. "He's a real coup for the team and could even challenge for podiums."
8 Envision
(Down 3)
Sebastien Buemi/Robin Frijns
40 points
Best ranking: 5th (Jack Benyon)
Worst ranking: 9th (Josh Suttill)
Envision has the unenviable stat of the biggest year-on-year fall of any team in our rankings, something that on the face of it is all the more peculiar considering it's fielding one of only four unchanged line-ups.
But therein perhaps lies the answer: Envision slumped to sixth last season in a teams' title race it won the year beforehand, with Sebastien Buemi and Robin Frijns scoring 121 points (including a two-point contribution from Joel Eriksson in Berlin) to the 304 Nick Cassidy and Buemi managed a year earlier.
As a result, as Smith put it: "There's pressure on this pair."
"There's no lack of experience here, but in recent years the total has been less than the sum of the parts," said van de Burgt.
"Last season it felt like both were capable of pulling out results that remind you of why they've built such successful Formula E careers, only to go missing for multiple races," said Cozens.
"Maybe that's enough for a renewal - and I wouldn't argue either are undeserving of their seats - but it tests the limits of an exciting line-up by definition."
Suttill summed it up succinctly: "Frustrating. Buemi is past his Formula E peak and Frijns is so rarely at his."
But there wasn't unanimous dismissal of the Envision line-up.
"I don't think these two got the slack they deserved in some post-season reflections," said Benyon, who ranked Buemi-Frijns fifth. "They both missed two races, and clearly being a customer team wasn't ideal in 2024.
"Like so many drivers in this series you've got exceptional talents who have achieved a lot on paper but you have to bet that against their advancing age. But I think these two can still deliver in the right equipment."
6= Maserati MSG
(Up 4)
Stoffel Vandoorne/Jake Hughes
54 points
Best ranking: 5th (Matt Beer)
Worst ranking: 8th (Sam Smith)
Can Stoffel Vandoorne get his "mojo back" after two underwhelming seasons at DS Penske?
If he can, and new team-mate Jake Hughes is consistent, "then this pairing can easily be the major combined surprise of the season" in Smith's opinion.
Doubts around Vandoorne contributed, in Suttill's words, to the grid's only all-new pairing being "dragged down", an opinion shared by van de Burgt, while Benyon felt that even if "it's a reasonable expectation that the DS Penske team is set up around Vergne" a driver like Vandoorne should've "overcome that more consistently" during his two years there.
Beer, who gave Maserati its highest ranking of fifth, said: "Take the peaks of Vandoorne and Hughes's Formula E stints and you could argue they're the best line-up on the grid.
"But Vandoorne was invisible at DS Penske and Hughes hasn't really lived up to his early FE promise yet. I can imagine this line-up and team clicking and doing some winning, though."
While Brooks acknowledged Hughes is "incredibly quick", particularly in qualifying, his comments about the Briton shared a similar message to those from the rest of our panel: "Consistency is the name of the game to add to his blinding one-lap pace."
Nevertheless, joint sixth (and seventh on countback) for 2024-25 represents a four-place step for Maserati.
6= Mahindra
(Up 1)
Nyck de Vries/Edoardo Mortara
54 points
Best ranking: 4th (Josh Suttill)
Worst ranking: 9th (Tom Brooks, Matt Beer)
The battle for sixth in our rankings was the only one that ended in a tie - but in the end Mahindra gets the nod on account of a highest ranking of fourth.
While the majority of the panel don't expect Mahindra (which still has its post-Gen3 future up in the air) to be occupying similarly dizzying heights in the competitive order, there's an expectation that its drivers might show better than its package.
"Don't let the machinery fool you, this is one of Formula E's best line-ups," said Suttill, who placed Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara fourth.
Is it Formula E's "most complementary pairing"?
That claim was made by van de Burgt, who placed it fifth in his ranking with "De Vries's consistency overlapping nicely with Mortara's more mercurial nature", while Khorounzhiy felt that "at their peak this combination is probably the best in Formula E" - though he is "not convinced either is at or near" said peak.
That view wasn't shared by Beer, though, whose skepticism about 2021 champion De Vries played a part in him ranking this line-up ninth.
"I've always had doubts about De Vries whatever championship he's raced in (or even won!), but he had some impressive moments at the end of his FE comeback season," he said. "I wasn't surprised that the main Mahindra heroics came from Mortara, though.
“This would be an underwhelming line-up for a top team but is a better one than that Mahindra kit is likely to deserve."
5 Nissan
(Up 1)
Oliver Rowland/Norman Nato
70 points
Best ranking: 4th (Tom Brooks)
Worst ranking: 8th (Jack Benyon)
There was a brief point early in the vote collecting where Nissan looked like it was in the mix for a better result.
Ultimately it ended up a solid, if isolated, fifth - with some caution noted about its decision to turn back to Norman Nato to partner last year's drivers' championship dark horse Oliver Rowland.
Beer and Brooks both felt Rowland's 2024 campaign was outstanding, van de Burgt described him as "one of the star performers", Smith said he now belongs "in the top tier of Formula E drivers", and Khorounzhiy and Suttill picked him as driver of the season. Will he be a bona fide title contender this time round?
Whether or not he is, those are tough plaudits for anyone to stack up against.
And while there was a general acceptance that settling on Nato was a pragmatic decision, there was a collective sense that it lacked imagination.
Brooks, who placed Nissan fourth, said Nato's return would be a "welcome sight" for the team and Rowland as he’s "a safe pair of hands and has the ability to deliver podiums", while Khorounzhiy said Nissan's decision was "unusual but defensible" - and that "really it just needs him to be a capable support act to Rowland".
"Nato will be a solid back-up but I don't really understand why he keeps getting new drives," said Beer.
Benyon was less complimentary - even apologising to Rowland, who "might well have been the best driver in the series in 2024", for ranking Nissan eighth.
"Nato has shown nothing that points to him being anywhere near that standard in my opinion," he said of the comparison to Rowland.
"I’m sorry to be so harsh but this is a grid full of race winners, champions, ex-Formula 1 drivers and so on.
"At least beating Sacha Fenestraz's woeful 2024 won't be tough. Just the 130-point deficit to Rowland to beat..."
4 DS Penske
(Down 2)
Jean-Eric Vergne/Maximilan Guenther
107 points
Best ranking: 3rd (Sam Smith, Matt Beer, Jack Cozens, Josh Suttill, Andrew van de Burgt)
Worst ranking: 6th (Tom Brooks)
Last season the DS line-up of Jean-Eric Vergne and Vandoorne ranked second in our list, just shading Porsche for second.
Considering it's down two spots, does that mean the consensus is that Maximilian Guenther is a less competitive prospect than Vandoorne?
Cozens thinks not: "Maybe we were giving Vandoorne too much credit last year in expecting him to hit heights that, during the season, never really looked within his reach. Guenther, having dragged Maserati to respectability through a tough campaign, looks a smart signing."
And Suttill agreed: "If you'd have told me 12 months ago that Guenther replacing Vandoorne would be an upgrade I wouldn't have believed you but Guenther led Maserati so well last year and Vandoorne struggled so badly.
"I think Guenther elevates this line-up a lot."
But while five of our eight panellists voted this the third-best line-up, it just ended up missing out on that place in the final ranking. So what's holding it back?
"Guenther's experienced in Formula E now but he's in that Nico Mueller camp of 'massive peaks, but is the consistency there?'" said Benyon, who felt Guenther's demolition of rookie Jehan Daruvala made his 2024 campaign (which included a fifth Formula E victory) harder to judge.
Brooks, who was the only one to rank the DS pair lower than fourth (they ended up sixth in his selection), had a similar reservation.
"We know the German can be incredibly fast in Formula E - seriously, watch the final lap back from Tokyo last year - but his lack of consistency has been what's let him down," he said.
Vergne, meanwhile, came in for plenty of praise.
Van de Burgt declared him Formula E's "GOAT", while Smith said he'd been "driving as well as ever - and perhaps even better".
3 Andretti
(Up 1)
Jake Dennis/Nico Mueller
113 points
Best ranking: 1st (Val Khorounzhiy)
Worst ranking: 5th (Josh Suttill)
Pipping DS Penske to third spot was the Andretti line-up of Jake Dennis and Nico Mueller.
Van de Burgt felt Dennis has a "point to prove" this season after a 2024 title defence that stalled just after it had got going and never gained any serious momentum again.
While acknowledging how impressive Mueller's 2024 body of work had been, Cozens argued that "one swallow doesn't make a summer" in terms of Mueller's ultimate Formula E potential, while Suttill said that “Mueller now has the Giancarlo Fisichella question mark of, 'Well, you're great in an underdog team but can you perform week-in week-out in frontrunning machinery?'"
"I remain unsure."
But Brooks expected the German's arrival to give Dennis his sternest intra-team test yet.
"Mueller is incredibly highly-rated within the FE paddock and his performances in a sub-par ABT car over the last couple of years haven't gone unnoticed," he said.
"Dennis hasn't really been challenged by his team-mates over the last couple of years, but expect to see Mueller fighting at the sharper end consistently now he has the tools to do so."
And this was one of only three line-ups that received our top ranking - so it's over to the person who awarded it first place, Khorounzhiy, for the final word on Andretti.
"Dennis had a scuffed end to last year but still retains perhaps the most impressive body of work of the current Formula E drivers relative to their team-mates - while everything about Mueller's time in FE suggests he'll become an instant, consistent frontrunner now that he's been handed top-level machinery," was his verdict.
2 Jaguar
(Down 1)
Nick Cassidy/Mitch Evans
165 points
Best ranking: 1st (Matt Beer, Josh Suttill, Andrew van de Burgt)
Worst ranking: 2nd (Sam Smith, Tom Brooks, Jack Cozens, Jack Benyon, Val Khorounzhiy)
Jaguar swept the board last year, but its second place in this year's ranking appears to be a bit of a hangover from the way the drivers' title evaded both Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy at last season's London finale.
Even so, there were just four points in it between Jaguar retaining top spot and coming off second-best - so there was no doubt about how formidable a line-up this is.
"Please can a Jaguar driver win an FE title now?" said Beer, who placed Evans-Cassidy first. "It's been agonising to the point of annoying watching them come so close so many times and find ways to not do it.
"In the end, even if they haven't achieved all they should have done in FE yet, it's these two who - more than anyone else on the grid - I'm intrigued to imagine on the F1 grid."
And two more of our panel ranked these two top. Suttill described Jaguar's as a driver line-up that is "quite literally too good to win a drivers' championship" and van de Burgt said "there's no denying the strength in depth" - while conceding "two potential champions in the same team can often be more of a curse than a blessing".
For those who didn't put Jaguar top - and it's worth stressing it was the only team ranked second or higher - there was a feeling that the cracks in a previously water-tight relationship between the two Kiwis could be tested again this year.
"Right now they're one of the quickest and best driver line-ups in motorsport, but team principal James Barclay may need to keep a tight grip on things to avoid a small scuffle breaking out into civil war," said Brooks.
Evans and Cassidy missed out on top spot in Smith's ranking, too, but he acknowledged they are "still a supremely formidable combination of talent and racing intelligence".
1 Porsche
(Up 2)
Pascal Wehrlein/Antonio Felix da Costa
169 points
Best ranking: 1st (Sam Smith, Tom Brooks, Jack Cozens, Jack Benyon)
Worst ranking: 3rd (Val Khorounzhiy)
Four first-place rankings to Jaguar's three ultimately sealed a Porsche triumph in this year's rankings.
"How could it be anyone else at the top?" asked Brooks, who praised Antonio Felix da Costa's "spectacular" 2024 turnaround - he had just 34 points after nine races but added 100 more in the final seven E-Prix - and Pascal Wehrlein for "one of the most impressive seasons I can remember" as he snatched the title.
"As far as I'm concerned, Porsche has all the tools ready and primed in its arsenal to do it all over again," added Brooks.
"The reigning champion and the driver who would have won without that weird, early-season drought - which I'm not sure was totally his fault and was ill-handled afterwards," said Benyon.
"I think the package was better than Jaguar's, and it was a tough choice who to put first, but this pair edges it for pace, consistency and delivering."
Cozens, who also put Porsche top of the pile, said his decision was based on the hypothetical best version of da Costa getting it right from the off.
"I understand that might raise some eyebrows considering what I said about the expectations we had of Vandoorne last season that never materialised," he said. "But da Costa crucially showed enough in the second half of last season [and then some] to suggest that's replicable this season too."
But those same da Costa question marks were raised by some of those for whom Porsche missed out on top spot.
"Da Costa at his peak is unstoppable, but can we see that version of him for the whole year?" asked Suttill.
Beer found "the top two teams' line-ups very, very hard to split" and a "coin-toss choice, really". But a "slight suspicion that the Porsche pair are not quite as outright fast in FE cars as the Jaguar pair settled it, even though I think Wehrlein and Da Costa might be better at successfully executing races".
"I also wondered whether the high likelihood of Da Costa being out of Porsche at the end of this season might derail his campaign," he said.
We'll leave the final word to Smith, who explains why he gave Porsche the nod over Jaguar: "Firstly, for Wehrlein's maturing process into an even calmer and more clinical points-collecting machine. And secondly, because da Costa showed last season that in the face of intense scrutiny, even from within his own team, he could fight back and deliver.
"Between them, Wehrlein and da Costa won seven races last season, three more than the Jaguar duo, which should be evidence enough that Porsche has the stronger line-up.
"In reality there is barely anything to choose between the two - but Porsche just gets over the line in what is effectively the tightest of photo finishes."
