Motorsport, in particular single-seater racing, is one of the most competitive sports in the world, where opportunities can be extremely limited for young drivers, so how is the all-electric championship helping to ensure the promising talents of tomorrow get a chance to shine?
Now in its 12th season of competition, Formula E has been running exclusive rookie test sessions since January 2018, with the first event taking place in Marrakesh, Morocco.
This running allowed future Formula 1 drivers like Alexander Albon and Antonio Giovinazzi to experience more technical single-seater machinery, while also helping the next generation of Formula E racers such as 2020/21 Drivers’ World Champion Nyck de Vries and multiple time E-Prix winner Maximilian Gunther get a chance to impress.
These sessions continued across the next two years and meant that during the 2020/21 season a total of seven drivers competed in the championship who had been involved in these events, as well as future Formula E participants Jake Hughes and Sacha Fenestraz.
After a brief hiatus, the rookie sessions returned in April 2023, with the series announcing a full day of testing in Berlin around the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit.
Since then, Formula E has been committed to holding a Rookie Test, which consists of two three-hour long sessions across a day, as well as a 40-minute Rookie Free Practice as part of a race weekend, to help create diverse and inclusive pathways for the next generation of racing drivers.
Thanks to these events, Felipe Drugovich and Zane Maloney were able to claim full-time seats in the championship and this now means that on the current Formula E grid, almost half of the drivers took part in a rookie session before graduating full-time.
It’s been a clear intention by the FIA to ensure a pathway for young racers as they also introduced a new rule in Formula 1 prior to the 2022 campaign, meaning each team had to field a driver who had started in no more than two Grands Prix in two FP1 sessions, which was then doubled in 2025 to give more track time to emerging talent.
The Miami International Autodrome now gears up to host the Formula E Season 12 Rookie Free Practice this weekend, with a new regulation allowing teams to field two cars in these sessions, as well as the regular two in the test day, which this year takes place in Madrid after the E-Prix in March.
Nissan Formula E Team will take the opportunity to put 2024 F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling and multiple time Formula 2 podium finisher Gabriele Minì in the Nissan e-4ORCE 05, while others stick to one for now, but still name an array of talent from across the globe and different racing backgrounds.
These incredible initiatives give the opportunity for some of the best young drivers to showcase their ability in front of an international audience and allow them to develop relationships with teams that further down the line could lead to full-time race seats.
Photo credit: Formula E