Formula E's London E-Prix Season Finale Venue Is Rare Indoor/Outdoor Challenge

NASCAR has had its preseason Clash in the football-designed Los Angeles Coliseum. Street courses in NASCAR, Indy Car, and F1 have their iconic layouts. But the ABB FIA Formula E Series just might have trumped them all.

The fully electric auto-racing series will crown its Season 10 champion this Sunday following the second event in a season-ending doubleheader at London ExCeL, the United Kingdom’s sprawling multipurpose exhibition and conference center along the British capital’s Royal Victoria Docks.

It has been transformed into the dramatic backdrop as seven drivers will parlay their performances during the weekend’s two races—the 15th and 16th of the 2024 season—into one final showdown for the championship. In a campaign marked by parity, New Zealand’s Nick Cassidy will be trying to hold off other 2024 winners Mitch Evans, Pascal Wehrlein, Antonio Felix da Costa, Oliver Rowland, and Jake Dennis, as well as two-time champion Jean-Eric Vergne.

But showing off, too, will be the 2.08-kilometer (1.292-mile) length and 20-turn London ExCeL circuit. Its blend of indoor-outdoor sections showcases the world’s only such motorsports event. It offers a tricky challenge, beginning with its indoor start on a silky-smooth surface that has excellent hook through a quick succession of corners. Then the course heads outside to an immediate a strip of slippery metal that morphs into highly abrasive asphalt surrounding the exhibition center.

The outdoor section of the circuit is marked by a flowing set of chicanes, perfect for Formula E’s ample passing opportunities. Following the chicanes, drivers face a quick run down to a twisty set of curves before heading back up into the main hall to complete the lap.

This transition from indoors to outdoors introduces changes in surface and elevation, along with the obvious shift in lighting. Add in rain for the day, as Jean-Eric Vergne remembers from last year on the same track configuration, and fans get an even more thrilling experience.

Vergne said, “It doesn't really change anything for us, except when it rains, because you obviously have a dry part inside and a very wet part on the outside. And the more you drive, the more water you bring in the inside. It was a quite an interesting race.

"You get more grip on the indoor parts, so your brain is going from racing full speed with a very high grip to having absolutely no grip in the water. So that's a bit unusual, I would say.”