Danil Kyvat, Jack Aitken and Felipe Drugovich are the headline names for the upcoming FIA Formula E rookie test in Berlin, which will follow this weekend’s Berlin e-Prix at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit.
Ten teams will field two drivers over the course of the day, with Mahindra Racing opting to run three drivers in the test.
Speaking ahead of the Rookie test, Co-Founder and Chief Championship Officer of Formula E said:
“Formula E is leading the way in motorsport for technological progress and innovation, so we are excited to capture that same dynamic spirit and give the next generation of racing talent the chance to show what they can do in the GEN3 race car.”
“The roster of drivers set to take part is a ‘who’s who’ list of the most exciting and ambitious talent in all of motorsport with some huge accomplishments among them. We cannot wait to see what they will do behind the wheel of the GEN3, a race car at the leading edge of performance and innovation.”
Head of Sporting Matters at the FIA, Pablo Martino added:
“Nurturing the next generation and developing the stars of the future is a cornerstone of our focus in Formula E. We are working hand-in-hand with the championship to maximise opportunities for up-and-coming talents. A key aim of the test day in Berlin and the FP0 session in Rome is to offer promising young drivers an insight into the championship and allow them to familiarise themselves with the ground-breaking GEN3 car – another significant step towards our longer- term goal of integrating rookies even more tightly into the heart and the fabric of Formula E race weekends.”
ABT CUPRA: Tim Tramnitz & Adrien Tambay
ABT Cupra will have Tim Tramnitz and Adrien Tambay testing for the team.
Tramnitz, 18, is from Germany and finished 20th in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship at the start of the year.
He will also be taking part in the Formula Regional European Championship, following a 15th-place finish in 2022.
Tramnitz also previously finished second in both the ADAC Formula 4 Championship and the Italian F4 Championship in 2021.
Tambay, 32, is an experienced French driver and is an official CUPRA driver along with being the current FIA ETCR eTouring Car World Cup Champion, a series which folded last month.
He has previously raced in GT cars in series such as the GT4 European Series GT World Challange Europe, along with single-seater experience in the Formula 3 Euro Series, GP3, AutoGP and Formula Renault 3.5
Tabmay has also raced in the DTM Championship, with three podiums to his name, along with an appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2020 in the LMP2 class.
Avalanche Andretti: Zane Maloney & Linus Lundqvist
Avalanche Andretti has Zane Maloney and Linus Lundqvist driving for their team.
Maloney, 19, is from Barbados and is a reserve driver for the Red Bull Formula One team in 2023. He is also racing the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Rodin Carlin and has been on the podium once in the opening six races of the season so far.
He previously finished second in the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2022, along with winning the British Formula 4 Championship in 2019.
Linus Lundqvist, 24, is a Swedish driver who won the 2022 Indycar Lights Championship with five wins, seven pole positions and nine podiums.
Like Maloney, he is a previous winner of a British single-seater Championship having won the 2018 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship (now the GB3 Championship).
Other series wins for Lundqivst have come in the Formula STCC Nordic Championship and Formula STCC NEZ Championship (both 2016), Euroformula Open Winter Series (2019) and Formula Regional Americas Championship (2020).
DS Penske: Robert Shwartzman & Will Stevens
DS Penske has appointed Robert Shwartzman and Will Stevens as their drivers for the upcoming test.
Shwartzman, 23, is the current reserve driver for Scuderia Ferrari in Formula One after previously being a test driver for the team in 2022. #
He finished second in the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship, with a fourth-place finish the season prior.
He won the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2019, with a series win also coming in the 2018 Toyota Racing Series.
He took part in two Formula One Free Practice One sessions for Ferrari last season.
Stevens, 31, is a British driver who was linked to the NEOM McLaren driver for the current Formula E season before Jake Hughes was announced for the team.
He is an ex-Formula One driver with Caterham and Marussia, starting eighteen Grand Prix races with a best finish of 13th at the 2015 British Grand Prix.
His single-seater career began back in 2008 with the Formula Junior Fr2.0 and Formula Renault UK Winter Series with Fortec Motorsport, and more recently he has been a test and development driver with McLaren Formula One.
His recent on-track career has saw Stevens race in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship, along with races in the European Le Mans Series.
Stevens is also a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner. His first win was in the LMGTE Am class, taking the class victory back in 2017 with JMW Motorsport.
He followed that up with another class win, this time in LMP2, in 2022, with Jota, with current Formula E driver, António Félix da Costa, and Roberto González as his teammates.
Envision Racing: Jack Aitken & Jonny Edgar
Envision Racing will have Jack Aitken and Jonny Edgar behind the wheel in their cars in Berlin.
Aitken, 27, is a one-time Formula One Grand Prix driver when he replaced George Russell at Williams for the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix after Russell was called up to Mercedes as a replacement for the ill Lewis Hamilton.
He is currently taking part in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in the GTP class for Whelen Engineering Racing and the DTM Championship for Emil Frey Racing.
In 2022, he competed in the ADAC GT Masters, GT World Challange Europe Endurance Cup, Intercontinental GT Challange and the European Le Mans Series, along with racing the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Edgar, 19, is currently racing the FIA Formula 3 Championship for MP Motorsport, following a 12th-place finish with Trident in 2022 while a member of the Red Bull Junior Team.
However, his season was almost derailed when he was diagnosed with Chron’s disease, undergoing treatment before being able to return to racing at the British Grand Prix weekend.
He is also the cousin of F1 Academy and ex-GB4 driver Jessica Edgar and won the 2020 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, taking six victories on his way to the title.
Jaguar TCS Racing: Simon Evans and Sheldon van der Linde
Jaguar TCS Racing will be using two drivers that both have brother racing in Formula E, with Simon Evans and Sheldon van der Linde taking part in the test for the team.
Evans, 32, is from New Zealand and is the brother of current Jaguar TCS Racing driver, Mitch Evans.
This won’t be the first time that Evans has been in the Formula E paddock after previously racing the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy, including taking the series win in 2019-20, the final season of the championship.
More recently, he has competed in the Toyota Finance 86 Championship, finishing second in both 2021 and 2022. He has also won the NZ Touring Cars Championship (2016-17) and the V8 SuperTourer series (2014-15).
Van der Linde, 23, is the brother of ABT Cupra substitute driver, Kelvin van der Linde, who raced in the opening three races of the season, replacing the injured Robin Frijns.
He is also the current DTM Champion, winning the 2022 series for Schubert Motorsport. He also competed in one round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship in the GTD Pro Class and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in the SP9 class.
Van der Linde was previously the Reserve Driver for BMW i Andretti in the 2020-21 season.
Mahindra Racing: Jordan King, Roberto Mehri & Jehan Daruvala
Mahindra Racing will have Jordan King, Roberto Merhi and Jehan Daruvala all taking part in the Rookie test, the only team using three drivers.
Jordan King, 29, is a British driver who last competed in the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship for Team LNT in LMP1 class.
He previously took part in a single race of the 2019 Indycar Series for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, while also racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for MP Motorsport.
King has held several roles with Formula One teams, being the Simulator driver for Alpine in 2021, and Development driver for Manor Marussia in 2015 and Manor Racing MRT in 2016.
However, this will not be his first time in the Formula E paddock either as he acted as the Reserve and development driver for Mahindra for the past two seasons.
Mehri, 32, is a former Formula One driver, who started 13 races for Marussia in 2015.
He won the 2011 Formula 3 Euro Series along with the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy, before racing in the 2012 and 2013 DTM Championship.
He made the switch back to single-seaters in 2014, racing the Formula Renault 3.5 series and two rounds of the British Formula 3 International Series, along with the Macau Grand Prix, finishing fourth.
2016 would see Mehri race in the FIA World Endurance Championship and would remain racing in this series alongside others until the end of 2021.
In 2023, Mehri is racing in the S5000 Australian Driver’s Championship and the Super GT – GT300 for Team LeMans.
Daruvala, 24, is an Indian driver currently the team’s Reserve Driver, alongside racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with MP Motorsport.
He is also a member of the Red Bull Junior Team and finished seventh in the 2022 F2 Championship with Prema Racing.
His best series results were two third-place finishes in the FIA Formula 3 Championship (2019) and the F3 Asian Championship (2021), with a second-place finish in the 2016 Toyota Racing Series.
Maserati MSG Racing: Felipe Drugovich & Hugh Barter
Maserati MSG Racing have appointed Felipe Drugovich and Hugh Barter as their drivers for the Berlin test.
Drugovich, 22, is a Brazilian driver and is the current FIA Formula 2 Champion as well as being the reserve driver for Aston Martin and McLaren in Formula One.
He won the 2022 Championship on the back of an 8th place finish the second before with UNI-Virtuosi Racing, with Drugovich racing for MP Motorsport, the team he would return to win the title with, for the 2020 season.
Drugovich made the step up to Formula 2 following an underwhelming season in FIA Formula 3, finishing 16th overall and scoring only eight points, however, his development over the past few seasons has been sensational.
He won both the Euroformula Open Championship and Spanish Formula 3 Championship in 2018, with a series win the MRF Challange Formula 2000 in the 2017-18 season as well.
Barter, 17, is an Australian-Japanese driver currently competing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship for Campos Racing, with a best finish of 11th in the Bahrain sprint race so far.
This is his first season in the series after racing in the Spanish Formula 4 Championship in 2022, winning the season opener in Algarve, Portugal and finishing second in the Championship.
He also finished second in the French Formula 4 Championship in both 2021 and 2022, winning three of the opening four races last season.
NEOM McLaren: Charlie Eastwood & Luke Browning
Charlie Eastwood and Luke Browning will test for NEOM McLaren in Berlin.
Eastwood is an Aston Martin factory driver from Northern Ireland, racing under an Irish licence.
In 2023, he is taking part in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMGTE Am class with ORT by TF and the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 class for Racing Team Turkey.
Eastwood has also raced in the GT World Challange Europe Endurance Cup, Asian Le Mans Series, IMSA SportsCar Championhip in 2022.
Browning, 21, is the current GB3 Champion and is currently racing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship for Hitech Pulse-Eight.
With his GB3 title win in 2022, he became the first driver to win both the GB3 and British Formula 4 titles and did it back to back with his F4 title win coming in the 2021 season.
He also has experience racing in Europe after taking part in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship and the Italian F4 Championship in 2021.
His best finish so far in the FIA Formula 3 Championship is a fifth-place finish in the feature race in Bahrain at the opening weekend of the season.
NIO 333 Racing: Danil Kvyat & Mike Azcona
NIO 333 Racing will have Danil Kvyat and Mike Azcona driving for their team at the rookie test.
Kyvat, 28, is an ex-Formula One driver, who raced for Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri, including when the team was known as Toro Rosso.
He scored three podiums in the 110 race starts, including one fastest lap, but hasn’t raced in the series since the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Kvyat joined Alpine as their F1 Reserve driver for the 2021 season, previously holding a similar role at Scuderia Ferrari during his absence from the grid in 2018.
Since leaving F1, Kvyat has also been racing in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series, alongside the Russian Endurance Challenge and the LMP2 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
It was announced recently that Kvyat would join Lamborghini as part of its LMDh factory squad, alongside fellow F1 driver Romain Grosjean.
Azcona, 26, is a Spanish touring car driver, who won the 2022 World Touring Car Cup, taking four race wins in the 16 races he took part in.
He also won the 2022 24 Hours of Nürburgring in the TCR class with Hyundai Motorsport N, the same team he finish fifth in the FIA ETRC – eTouring Car World Cup.
In 2023, he is racing in the TCR Europe Touring Car Series for the BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse.
Nissan: Luca Ghiotto & Victor Martins
Luca Ghiotto and Victor Martins make up the Nissan test pairing in Berlin.
Ghiotto, 28, is an Italian driver who currently works with the Nissan team as their simulator driver.
Last season he competed in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for two races, alongside the GT World Challenge Europe and a race in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, LMP2 class.
He previously raced in the FIA Formula 2 Championship full-time for three seasons, with a best-season finish of third in 2019, with a second-place finish in the GP3 series coming back in 2015.
Martins, 21, is the current FIA Formula 3 Champion and is racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2023, with a pole position and two podiums to his name so far.
He also won the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup with ART Grand Prix, beating his second-place finish in the series the season before.
2017 would see Martins finish second in the French Formula 4 Championship, being beaten to the title by only four points, with current GT World Challange Europe driver Arthur Rougier taking the title.
TAG Heuer Porsche: Yifei Ye & David Beckmann
TAG Heuer Porsche will run Yifei Ye and David Beckmann as their drivers for the upcoming test.
Yeyfi Ye, 22, is a Chinese driver who is currently signed with Porsche as an Asia Pacific selected driver.
He is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Hertz Team Jota in the Hypercar class, after taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class with Cool Racing in 2022.
He previously raced in single-seaters back in 2020, taking part in the Euroformula Open Championship, taking the title with CryptoTower Racing.
The year prior, he finished second in the Formula 3 Asian Winter Series and 21st overall in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Hitech Grand Prix.
Back in 2016, he won the French Formula 4 Championship, beating now Audi Sport Factory driver Gilles Magnus to the title.
Beckmann, 22, is the substitute driver for the Avalance Andretti team alongside being the reserve driver for Porsche.
He is also racing with Hertz Team Jota in the FIA World Endurance Championship but in the LMP2 class and previously raced in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Charouz Racing System and Campos Racing in 2021 and Charouz and Van Amersfoort Racing in 2022.