This week, the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team will be heading to Mexico City for the second round of Season 11.

Sam Bird, Taylor Barnard and Team Principal Ian James are here to help us prepare for the event. As well as hearing from the team, we’ll also be explaining some key FE terminology, recapping the season so far, and catching up with a team member on their priorities this weekend.

Key info

“I’m very excited to be going racing in Mexico City. Coming from the last round, I think it was a very successful event for us as a team and we’re looking to build on that with more points and hopefully another podium, which would be great!

“Everyone’s had a bit of a reset over the past few weeks, so everyone’s ready to go. I can’t wait to get racing again.”

“I’m very much looking forward to getting out to Mexico City for Round 2 of this year's World Championship and our first race of 2025. It’s always a fun event with probably the biggest fan attendance, and I love seeing all the fans in the stadium section, cheering on the drivers.

“I can’t wait to get out there and showcase what our car can do this year.”

“Back from a much-need break, the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team returns to the well-known backdrop of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. As a team, we will be looking to continue the positive momentum from São Paulo, where Taylor achieved his first ever Formula E podium, in his first season as a full-time driver.

“Having said that, despite the positive result, the previous round also highlighted areas for improvement and we’ll be looking to correct these issues and achieve the operational excellence we strive for.

“This circuit always provides exciting action, and with such a competitive field, I cannot wait for the race weekend to get underway.”

FEducation: Attack Mode

Our aim is to ensure everyone is as equipped as possible to follow Season 11, so whether you’re new to following Formula E or a long-time fan, we’ll be explaining some of the series’ most complicated terminology, jargon, acronyms, and technical terms to aid your understanding. This week, it’s Attack Mode.

Attack Mode is an enhanced power mode that gives the drivers an extra 50kW of power - up from 300kW to 350kW - for a certain amount of time during the race, which is intended to assist with overtaking. In addition to this, from Season 11, cars now feature an All-Wheel Drive mode, meaning the drivers can use all four wheels to propel the cars out of the corners. This is available during race starts, Qualifying duels, and Attack Mode.

Each driver must take Attack Mode twice during a race, which requires them to drive off the racing line and through an Activation Zone, costing them time and risking their track position, but in return, they receive this extra power and the All-Wheel Drive capability.

In São Paulo, the two modes provided additional overtaking opportunities. Drivers were able to catapult themselves up the order when they and the team chose the right time to use them.

What to watch out for in Mexico

Each weekend, we’ll catch up with a different member of the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team and ask them what their priorities are for the upcoming E-Prix. This weekend, with the help of Graduate, Race Strategist James Hunt, we’re looking at Attack Mode.

“I am part of the strategy team, and my primary responsibility is to track our competitors. I keep the trackside team up to date on the latest Attack Mode activations throughout the field and how much time they’ve lost using Attack Mode. This helps the team to make the important decision of when to use our two Attack Modes to try to punch through the pack.

“In Formula E, the racing is never truly static. Everything is always changing: the pace of the leaders, the pace of the cars around us, and the energy advantages and disadvantages that come with that.

“Specifically, with the introduction of the All-Wheel Drive in Attack Mode, the difficulty comes in predicting what this new All-Wheel Drive mode is going to do at circuits we already know very well. Is it going to turn circuits that have historically been difficult to overtake on into a circuit where overtaking is easy, or is it going to have either no effect or very little impact? We’ll need to keep an eye on the field during Free Practice each weekend to start to build an idea of what impact this new regulation is going to have on circuits we already know quite well.”

Season 11’s opening race was a cracker. After initially struggling in Qualifying, Sam and Taylor started in 16th and 17th, respectively, but managed to fight their way up the order in a chaotic race. Sam used all of his experience to charge through the field and up to fourth, whilst Taylor enjoyed an exciting first outing as a full-time Formula E driver, finishing third to notch his first podium.

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