Katy Fairman

As the all-electric Formula E championship gets ready for Season 11, I have picked out five driver market moves I think will define the upcoming GEN3Evo era. 

If you don’t follow Formula E much, you should know that seat swapping has become like a professional game of musical chairs in recent years. In fact, last season only three out of 11 teams had a completely unchanged line-up. With all but two seats confirmed, as ERT appears to be going through yet another rebrand to ‘Kiro Race Co’, I wanted to highlight the biggest driver market moves ahead of the new season. 

Jake Hughes to Maserati MSG Racing 

Although Maserati MSG Racing have got two new drivers for this upcoming campaign, with Season 8 World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne joining the Trident team too, it is Jake Hughes who I will be keeping an eye on most.

Hughes, who has two Formula E seasons under his belt, left the papaya of NEOM McLaren behind to join the Italian-Monegasque team for the upcoming GEN3Evo era. He does have previous links with the team, back when they were Venturi and he was their Official Reserve Driver in Seasons 7 and 8, a responsibility he balanced with his duties at the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team. However, he was promoted to a full-time race seat when McLaren joined the championship for GEN3, and well, the rest is history. 

Since then, he’s proved his pace with four pole positions and a podium to his name, and will look to add to his silverware tally at Maserati MSG Racing next season. It will be a significant change for Hughes too, with a whole new STELLANTIS powertrain to contend with, something that Vandoorne has experience with from his time at DS PENSKE. 

Nico Müller to Andretti 

Perhaps the worst kept secret in the paddock towards the end of last season was the move of Nico Müller to Andretti. After consistently outperforming teammate Lucas di Grassi in his ABT CUPRA machine across Season 10, Müller announced his departure from the squad ahead of the London finale weekend. 

Andretti have shown themselves to be a championship-winning team, something Müller has never experienced as he enters his fifth year in the championship. It seems a shocking statement, especially given the bagfuls of talent he has but it will be a treat to see what he can do in a car that mirrors his own skills. 

He’ll line-up alongside Season 9 World Champ Jake Dennis, and will be a huge puzzle piece for Andretti’s powertrain supplier Porsche going forward. With rumours that Porsche were looking to drop Antonio Felix da Costa as a result of his disappointing performances at the start of last season, Müller completed an in-season test and was heavily linked to the team for Season 11. Da Costa put a stop to that move though, ending the season in championship contention with four wins, three of which were back-to-back. Not bad, Antonio, not bad. 

Instead, Andretti let go of Norman Nato and brought in Müller, keeping Da Costa with Pascal Wehrlein at Porsche for another year. The big news here though was that Müller was also made a Porsche works driver in the process. Basically, watch this space as this isn’t anywhere near over yet.

Zane Maloney to Lola Yamaha ABT

The most recent transfer move in the Formula E bubble was the signing of rookie Zane Maloney to the newly-rebranded Lola team. The ‘Boy from Barbados’ – come on, you knew that saying was going to be used at some point – will be making his full-time debut in São Paulo this December alongside veteran Lucas di Grassi. 

Maloney was previously Andretti’s Reserve and Development driver and frequently found at races across Season 10. The 21-year-old also represented the team over various in-season tests alongside his commitments in Formula 2. 

Currently sat third in the F2 Drivers’ standings, Maloney will miss the final races in Abu Dhabi as he competes in the first race of the Formula E season for Lola Yamaha ABT in Brazil. Although he’s had a rollercoaster season with Rodin Motorsport in the junior category, it’s a strong look for Formula E that several young stars are picking the championship as a promising career option. Could this be the start of a Formula E super talent in Zane Maloney? Time will tell. 

Maximilian Günther to DS PENSKE

Vandoorne’s departure from DS PENSKE might mean the end of the Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel inner-team bromance, but his replacement has been a big talk in the off-season. 

Maximilian, or Max for short, has always been a big talent in the Formula E paddock. From competing with GEOX Dragon on a race-by-race basis in Season 5, to securing a drive with BMW, then Nissan and then Maserati, Günther has certainly been with some of the best teams this championship has to offer. 

However, now he takes on a new challenge at DS PENSKE. The team, who have had a recent resurgence in the GEN3 era, have been picking up plenty of silverware over the last two seasons, but I often questioned if more was on the table. Jean-Eric Vergne has undoubtedly been the star of the team and was responsible for six of their seven podiums across the last two seasons, as well as picking up a win in Hyderabad last year. 

It’s going to make for a fascinating watch, seeing Günther try and match up to the knowledge and respect two-time champ Vergne has at the team. However, Günther’s aggressive and rapid driving should place him in a position to pick up more regular poles and podiums, something that didn’t really fall his way at Maserati MSG Racing as regularly as I think they should have been. 

Taylor Barnard at NEOM McLaren 

Another ‘rookie’ in Season 11 is Taylor Barnard at McLaren. I put rookie in quote marks as – unlike Maloney – Taylor has actually completed three Formula E races covering for an injured Sam Bird and he was pretty damn good. 

Across his three races he managed to finish in the points on two occasions, both in Berlin, and proved himself a huge talent behind the wheel of the GEN3 car. He also kept his cool during the intense battles around the German capital and really maximised what he had in front of him. It’s a no-brainer that NEOM McLaren placed him alongside Sam Bird for this season’s campaign after the news of Hughes’ departure, and I am very keen to see how he gets on as a full-time signing. 

Despite his age, becoming the championship’s youngest-ever driver when he stepped in for Bird at Monaco at just 19-years-old, he is wise and mature beyond his years and will be a great balance with the super-skilled veteran Sam Bird as his teammate.