Formula E has suffered a setback with their calendar for a second consecutive season after a proposal event fell through.
The 2024/25 calendar is just one of several issues the all-electric series has been facing before the season-opener in Sao Paulo in December.
Nissan team principal Tommaso Volpe says ‘nobody wants’ Formula E’s ‘attack charge’ format due to the potential unreliability of the 600kW charge boosters and the fact that each team will only get one for their two cars.
Formula E has also proposed ‘Golden Laps’ for the series, where two laps will be selected at random before a race and the leader at the end of those laps will be given a bonus point. ‘Golden Laps’ have received brutal backlash from drivers and team bosses with there being multiple questions over how the format would work.
And in Season 11, there will be another two-month gap in the calendar from February to April after FE was unable to replace the cancelled Thailand ePrix.
Nyck de Vries ‘grateful’ to be racing in other categories with Formula E’s gap in the 2024/25 schedule
The gap in the schedule has caused frustrations amongst drivers, including Nyck de Vries, who will embark on his second season in FE next year since his brutal exit from F1 in 2023.
READ MORE: Nyck de Vries shares his verdict on ‘much more powerful’ Formula E attack mode ahead of next season
The Dutchman also competed in the World Endurance Championship with Toyota in the Hypercar class. De Vries sits third in the drivers’ standings heading into the final race in Bahrain, having secured one victory at Imola alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway.
Speaking with talkSPORT Driving, the 29-year-old took a bit of a swipe at FE for the gap in the calendar as he expressed how grateful he was that he has other commitments in the WEC.
“I’m just very grateful I have some other racing alongside [FE] as well!” he said.
“Otherwise, I mean you came in the room asking about my off-season, but then the off-season would become quite big. Yeah, I’m just glad I can continue to race.”
What does the 2024/25 Formula E calendar look like?
With FE wanting to keep a 16-race schedule for the 2024/25 season, the event in Jakarta or Miami was discussed about potentially becoming double-headers to fill the space.
It has now been confirmed that instead of those two events, the Monaco and Tokyo ePrix will host two races on the 3-4 May and 17-18 May respectively.
Misano has been taken off the calendar, while Shanghai and Berlin will remain as a double-header. Saudi Arabia will also host two events, but at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which replaces Diriyah.
Season 11 kicks off in Sao Paulo on December 7 in what will be the first race for the Gen3 Evo car.