Earlier this week, Formula E officially unveiled its calendar for the 2025/2026 season. Despite criticism from several drivers, Monaco will remain a double-header. Former driver Karun Chandhok is in favour of having two races in Monaco and urged the drivers to enjoy racing in Monaco whilst they still can.
Although most European races in Formula E tend to be double-headers, the Monaco E-Prix has traditionally always been a standalone event. That decision made sense, given that hosting a race in Monaco requires a significant part of the country to be shut down. However, for the 2024/2025 season, Formula E decided to spice things up by adding a second race in Monte Carlo.
Given that Monaco is usually one of the most popular races on the calendar, you might expect drivers to welcome the opportunity to drive there twice in one weekend. But in reality, not everyone is too happy about the double-header decision. During the Monaco E-Prix weekend earlier this season, The Girls Who – Motorsport spoke to a few of the drivers about their stance on the matter.
Monaco ‘too special’ for a second race?
Robin Frijns: “When the calendar was released, I already said that I didn’t want a double-header in Monaco. You can only win Monaco once each year. Now you can win it twice, but Monaco is always a special one. You’re throwing away that special feeling, and that’s a pity. No, not my thing.”
© Simon Galloway/LAT Images for Formula E
Dan Ticktum disagreed with the Dutch driver and was actually very happy with the second race being added. His reply was short but clear: “Very positive. I mean, the more racing here, the better, yeah!”
Jean-Éric Vergne opted to stay on the politically correct side of things: “I’m being told to come for racing. If I have two races, it’s great; if I have one race, it’s great. It’s up to the organizers, the promoters, the city of Monaco. I think it’s not my place to say anything.”
Double-header ‘changes things’
During the post race press conference on the Saturday of the Monaco E-Prix, the top three also weighed in on the discussion. Oliver Rowland, who won the race that day, said, “I guess it is a little weird. I guess winning here – if there was one race, I’d feel quite different now and have other plans this evening. But with the race tomorrow… It’s the case with all double-headers – your mind immediately switches to tomorrow. What can you do to improve what you did today? So it changes the feeling of winning Monaco for sure.”
© Joe Portlock/LAT Images for Formula E
Jake Dennis, who finished third on Saturday, added: “Yeah, I agree. You definitely have to refocus and do the job. Thankfully, it’s a different race, as we don’t have the pit stop. So at least it brings a different element, because two races of the same can be pretty dull.”
Chandhok urges drivers to enjoy Monaco
Karun Chandhok disagrees with the criticism and thinks that the drivers should embrace the opportunity to drive an extra race in the principality. Over the course of his career, he drove the streets of Monte Carlo in different series, including GP2, Formula 1 and Formula E.
Chandhok is a big fan of racing in Monaco and was surprised to hear about the criticism. “I don’t understand why,” he told The Girls Who – Motorsport back in Monaco. “I mean, I’m jealous that they get to race around here twice. It’s like one of the best tracks in the world. And I saw some drivers saying, ‘Oh, you know, it should be just one.’ Trust me, when you don’t get to do it anymore, you’ll miss having every single lap you get to do around here. So no, I think it’s brilliant. I think it’s one of the best tracks on the planet.”
© Simon Galloway/LAT Images for Formula E
The role of sustainability
He added that it also makes sense from a sustainability standpoint to do two races. “We’re all here: we’ve all come here; we’ve got all the gear here; surely it makes sense to do two races. And I think double-headers in general are good.” Although Chandhok is a huge supporter of the double-headers, he did stress that you can’t have two races that are exactly the same.
“The only thing I would suggest is maybe that when you do the double-headers, to do different distances on the laps. But I guess this time with the Pit Boost it kind of balances out anyway. You get two different types of races. In the future, if we have Pit Boosts in all the races, then you still need to create some variance between the two, which we have now.” He finished off with a light-hearted message to the drivers: “So yeah, stop complaining!”