Monte-Carlo welcomes Formula E for round 9 and 10, and Envision Racing is well prepared going into the double-header. At the press conference before the weekend, Team Principal Sylvain Filippi voiced his confidence ahead of the 2026 Monaco E-Prix.
Filippi on the possibility of replication of the 2025 Monaco E-Prix
The Monaco E-Prix is nothing new to Sébastien Buemi. He achieved a total of three victories here on the streets of Monte-Carlo. Last year, in season 11, the Swiss secured his first victory in Monaco since season 2. This was a very special victory for him and Envision Racing.
When asked about how difficult it would be to replicate last year’s win this weekend, Filippi acknowledged the heated competition in Formula E, noting that every team is constantly improving.
“Well, always very hard. That’s why Formula E is fun, right? It’s very tight. We have great memories here. As a team, we won twice here. Séb[astien Buemi] won three times here. So we know how to do it. But you have to do it every time again. And Formula E, as we know, is every year getting more and more competitive.”
Next year, the Gen3 car will upgrade to Gen4; this season is the end of a cycle in Formula E. Filippi admitted that, despite last year’s win, a replication is far from easy.
Therefore, the team has to start by giving their very best to improve the pace and finish the upcoming sessions with solid laps on the street circuit.
“This year, this season, as the last season of Gen 3, the margins are ridiculous, right? I think the top 10, 15 drivers are within two tens. Which is very tight. And as Cyril [Blais] has said, qualifying is very important here. So yeah, I think we’re all trying really hard to maximise our quality setup and see where we end up. But it’s a big pressure on the drivers.”
“We do everything we can here, but they have to deliver a really mega lap when it counts. To basically put yourself in a good position. So yeah, you have to achieve that first. And then after that, your usual strategy with the pit stop and all this. So yeah, it’s going to be pretty interesting.”
Filippi on Buemi’s experience on the grid
Buemi has been on the grid since the inaugural season. His experience is therefore valuable for the entire team, especially with Eriksson next to him. With Buemi’s wisdom, the Swede will certainly benefit from this.
At the moment, the drivers stand at 6th and 12th, respectively, in the standings of the championship, with 35 points separating the drivers.
“Yeah, I think we build over time, right? And it’s marginal gains at the end. As a team, all the teams, we know the track so well. It’s one of these tracks that has been really constant in Formula E. So we know it well. We, as a team, have made a good step from last year on setup.
“So we feel like we are quite competitive. And again, it has to come together. So I think for the drivers, most of it is for their own benefit. To have the confidence in themselves to deliver the lap. And for us, it will be useful for Joel [Eriksson], who has never driven here. So he’s a specialist of city tracks”, he explained.
“So he’s really good at Macau. He really likes tracks like this. But he will benefit a lot from Séb[astien]’s expertise.”
“And we are making sure that Séb[astien] is really coaching him on what to do and not to do around here. Too fast track, he’s learning around this track. And yeah, we’ll see what Séb[astien] can do on one lap pace.”
The possibility of a podium for Eriksson
At the 2026 Miami E-Prix, Eriksson managed to climb up the ladder to P4. This was an incredible achievement for the Swede. Talking with the media, Filippi assured his confidence in the Swede reaching the podium in the near future.
“Yeah, he’s very close. Like all the drivers on this grid, the very experienced ones and then the younger, newer ones. It’s incredible how close they are, really. Joel [Eriksson] has really shown really incredible race pace and really level-headed thinking during the race. Really, really good. Given that it’s his first full year.”
Further, he mentioned that improvement in qualifying is instrumental for the team. In Berlin, two weeks ago, the Swede showed his learning curve, as he qualified on Saturday for P12 and on Sunday for P4.
“Qualifying, we need to find a little bit of consistency here. But again, not so easy when you look at the field and how close everybody is. But yeah, he’s very close.”
“I guess the reason why Formula E is quite exciting at the moment is that almost anyone can win any race, really. So the new ones as well as the experienced ones. So I think it’s quite motivating for the young drivers to show what they can do. But yeah, it’s not easy by any means.”
Filippi on the competition between experienced drivers and newcomers
On the Formula E grid are drivers such as Lucas Di Grassi, who have been around since the very first race. Drivers like Mitch Evans, who have secured multiple career victories in the last decade.
As Eriksson enters his first season with Envision Racing, he is certainly less knowledgeable than some of his opponents. Filippi argued that this competition between the all-rounders and the newcomers doesn’t define the championship. As beneficial as this wisdom might be, Filippi underlined that the learning curve of the Swede might actually prepare him better for what is to come.
“Yeah, I think it’s super tough. You arrive with drivers who have… Those who have been staying in the same team for a while, they can drive their car with their eyes closed.”
“Because the systems of these cars are really highly complex on how you operate them. Just knowing where things are on the steering wheel, and we have so many acronyms to talk about, so many different systems, and only a very small part of that is actually visible to the fans outside. There’s so much going on driving these cars.”
“And so Joel [Eriksson] was prepared really well to kind of get him ready to go. But for sure, arriving in the last season of a cycle, when some drivers have been driving this car for several years, is a pretty tough one. “
“For us, it’s really also a nice way to prepare for the future, and get him ready.So yeah, tough. But we’re pleased to see that he’s in there, he’s in the game, which is really exciting for the grid.”
Filippi on how the qualifying strategy worked out pretty well in Berlin
In the media pen, the team principals were pushed on their thoughts regarding the new strategy in qualifying that has been used in Berlin in round 8. The strategy was to purposely qualify rather in the back. Filippi noted that while Blais argued that the risky strategy was too extreme, that it worked out brilliantly for Envision Racing. Buemi who had qualified on P13, finished the race on P4, and Eriksson, who qualified on P4, crossed then finish line as tenth of the grid.
“Just a quick one, just to add to that. One thing to keep in mind is that the race happened to play out that way, but it could have been different as well, right? Like, so you could have had a safety car or a full course yellow at that time and suddenly that strategy would have not worked out at all and people who are on track stayed back.”
“And then the one would have, you know, it would have just not worked out. So I think like any forms of racing, there’s no right or wrong way. Like, it just happened to work out that way.
“But the beauty we have for now and for the future with Gen 4 is that we’ll be able to show incredible speed, flat-out qualifying, where the car will be absolutely incredible. And then we’ll be able also to have races that have similar types of strategy and it’s up to us to find the right thing. So it just happened that in Berlin it really showcased that strategy really working out.”
“It would have been taken much for that strategy to not work out at all and then that would have not looked very good. So yeah, easy in hindsight, right?”
