This weekend's London E-Prix won't be the last at the expansive ExCeL exhibition venue. But plans are already developing for a decision on where Formula E’s UK home might be from 2026 onwards.
As revealed by The Race earlier this year, Silverstone is one serious possibility for FE's British race future as it gets set to transition from its third-generation ruleset to an ambitious and much quicker fourth car in 2026.
Formula E has long been in talks with both Silverstone and Brands Hatch about either of those historic traditional tracks being the series' UK race host in the future.
Beyond a race at either of those venues, two options remain: a new bespoke city centre street circuit or still somehow making it work at the ExCeL.
The last of these options though seems unlikely. That's because the unique indoor/outdoor facility has such limited space to expand its track for what will be a much quicker Formula E when the Gen4 car arrives.
Championship CEO Jeff Dodds believes Formula E is already close to outgrowing the popular Docklands venue.
“We know we're definitely racing in London next year; I've been really honest publicly to say they've been a joy to work with,” Dodds tells The Race.
“But we're probably at a point where we're right at the limits of what the track can allow us. It's a shorter circuit, it's a tight circuit, it's got that slightly funky bit where you go inside to outside, which is a bit of a bottleneck.
“We've got Gen3 Evo coming, we don't really want to be racing on a circuit where you're depowering the cars, so we're right at the edge of it.”
The street circuit options
So what really comes after 2025?
“I think there are two options,” adds Dodds. “Find an alternative street circuit in London or it could be Manchester, it could be Birmingham.”
A1GP hosted a demo run of its cars in and around the Deansgate area of Manchester in 2006, while Birmingham achieved cult status with its Superprix for Formula 3000 cars from 1986-1990.
While there has been no contact with Manchester, Birmingham murmured some interest via some admittedly mixed messaging from the city's then mayor Andy Street in 2018.
Formula E has conducted various studies into potential street races, mostly but not exclusively in London. While these are not known in detail, The Race has learned that one of them has included a site that would take in the Lord Mayor’s Show parade route in the City of London, which passes St Paul's Cathedral.
While a circuit was plotted out, the issue that made the plans pretty much obsolete is the lack of paddock space for Formula E's large-scale hospitality infrastructure plus a TV compound, catering facilities, and a media centre.
The Race can also reveal that the series explored a circuit around St James Park that took in notable landmarks including Admiralty Arch and Horseguards Parade. While there was, unlike the Lord Mayor’s Show route, more reasonable space for infrastructure, the sticking points mainly revolved around protocols on running the park via the Royal Park commission.
Make no mistake, these are nothing but dream locations for Formula E at present. But a few years ago, so were New York, Paris, and Tokyo. They all happened.
One of the key figures in scoping out these possibilities is Formula E's vice president of host cities, Oli McCrudden, who tells The Race that racing in cities is preferable because “clean air issues mostly happen” there.
“You want to have that urban audience because at the end of the day, we're still trying to get the EV uptake, to keep growing for everyone to understand it and to get the messages about how important it is,” adds McCrudden.
The permanent circuits
But of course, there are alternative routes for Formula E, one of which is to make a permanent circuit in the UK a home-from-home. Why? Mostly because it's much cheaper and easier to organise.
“While we could all dance around that and say there could be 20 circuits in the UK, the reality is there's two,” suggests Dodds, alluding to Brands Hatch and Silverstone.
“[There are] probably two credible circuits in the UK and people would think I was an idiot if I hadn't been speaking to those two circuits. And we have.”
Dodds and other senior members of his team invited Silverstone circuit managing director Stuart Pringle to FE's China round on a shortened version of the Shanghai Formula 1 track in May. This was so Pringle could take in how to 'dress' and modify a permanent facility to Formula E’s style.
Negotiations are ongoing with Silverstone but also with Brands Hatch too as to how either of them could accommodate the series.
The pros and cons of Silverstone and Brands Hatch for FE are many and varied.
Silverstone has a global reputation for motorsport that's current and is clearly a world-class facility. The track could also be relatively easily modified as it has several layout options.
The downsides are its location - in the context of Formula E’s modus operandi of hosting races in or close to major cities or conurbations - while racing at Silverstone also creates a sizeable footprint in terms of attendees' options to travel to the venue, with little or no public transport.
But perhaps most obviously it is the home of F1's British Grand Prix, which could leave Formula E exposed to what Dodds describes as a “constant world of comparisons”.
“I largely don't mind because I'm always up for a fight, but you don't need to encourage it necessarily the whole time,” he adds.
For Brands Hatch, there is a question mark over the infrastructure and the facilities, which are not quite the same standard as Silverstone.
But on the plus side, it has what Dodds says as “a great racing heritage” and it's “very close to London [20 miles south-east of the city centre], so could be a home for Formula E and not be in direct competition with Formula 1 and drive comparisons all the time”.
“They're the two logical circuits, they're both world-class facilities, they've both got great leadership and great ownership, I've talked to both of them I continue to talk to both of them and I continue to explore other options for street circuits,” concludes Dodds.
Formula E hasn’t always had a race in the UK but now it feels vital that it does.
Not just because it is based there, nor because five teams have headquarters there, or that there are four British drivers on the grid. More so that a strong percentage of the global motorsport industry has its roots and expertise there.
Yet, when it boils down to location it is still hard to see how Formula E would benefit from going to a permanent track, even if it was Brands Hatch hosting a pseudo-London E-Prix (as it did similarly when it hosted the London Champ Car Trophy IndyCar race in 2003).
The vast majority of those involved in Formula E simply fail to see how going to Silverstone fits any of the urban DNA criteria it has so far revelled in.
Additionally, that the paddock and the fans that would hopefully and inquisitively turn up to watch would be parking their cars - electric or otherwise - in a Northamptonshire field has bizarre optics.
And it is optics that Formula E embraces in addition to its substance, because unlike a lot of other live sporting businesses it has to keep backing up its messaging with actions.
What all that means for the UK's Formula E future is still up for debate then.
The big question is, ultimately, will Formula E have much of a realistic choice or alternative for 2026?
