Peter Lyon
July 16, 2025
In Berlin last weekend, Nissan Formula E Team’s Oliver Rowland crowned an incredible season by becoming the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Champion, with two races left in the season. The British driver has had a year to remember, taking seven podiums including four wins, and battled through an intense race weekend in Berlin to secure the title.
With the inaugural Formula E race held in Beijing in 2014, the all-electric series gained FIA world championship status in 2020. Today, some 11 teams compete including Jaguar, Nissan, Maserati, Porsche and DS Automobiles, and over the years, several ex-F1 drivers have competed such as Sebastien Buemi, Lucas di Grassi and Felipe Massa.
Coming into the two-race Berlin event with a 69-point lead in the standings, Rowland needed to keep the gap at 58 points or more by the end of the weekend to win the title in Germany. However, the event got off to a tough start during Saturday’s Round 13 for both Rowland and Sérgio Sette Câmara, with the Brazilian making his debut for the team in place of Norman Nato.
Following a cancelled FP2 and a shortened Qualifying due to inclement weather, Oliver Rowland started third but suffered race ending contact in the latter stages of the event, which also saw him handed a five-place grid penalty for today’s race. Meanwhile, Sérgio Sette Câmara lined up in 19th and showed solid pace on his debut for the Japanese outfit despite facing very difficult conditions, recovering from an earlier incident and gaining four places to finish 15th.
In today’s Round 14, Rowland initially qualified third, but started eighth on the grid due to the penalty. The Brit managed his energy excellently, making his way towards the front and crossing the line in fourth as his main title rival dropped out of the top-10. Rowland’s finish extended his advantage to 59 points, confirming him as the 2024/25 World Champion. On the other side of the garage, after an unfortunate qualifying which saw a red flag at the beginning of his push lap, Sette Câmara lined up 21st. Despite more bad luck which saw a Safety Car called out during his first Attack Mode activation, the Brazilian delivered an impressive performance, gaining 12 places to end the race in ninth and score his first points for the Japanese outfit in a weekend where he improved throughout.
Formula E’s Season 11 concludes with Rowland’s home race in London, taking to the unique semi-indoor ExCeL London circuit on 25-27 July. Besides watching the on-track action, visitors will be able to view the British-built, all-new Nissan LEAF in the Fan Village, as well as the all-new 100% electric Micra – both cars making their UK public debut. Combined with Qashqai with new e-POWER, the trio of new models is central to Nissan’s refreshed line-up as it enters a new era of electrification.
CARLIST THOUGHTS
Despite its all-electric theme, and the backlash against some EV makers like Tesla, plus the fact that many carmakers are now rethinking their past go-all-in-on-EV’s strategy and sluggish sales, Formula E’s popularity is increasing with a global TV audience growing by 35% in the 2023/24 season to 491 million according to BlackBook Motorsport. In fact, it is rated the 8th most popular motorsport behind F1, NASCAR, MotoGP, IndyCar, Le Mans, WRC, and Dakar Rally.
