Formula E Ticket Sales Chaos: Unusual Timing and Confusing Policies Spark Fan Frustration

The Formula E Season has just ended with German driver Pascal Wehrlein taking the drivers' championship and Jaguar TCS Racing taking home both the teams' and manufacturers' championships.

Amid the excitement and aftermath of the final race in London, Formula E announced on the Sunday evening that the tickets for next year’s London ePrix were now on sale. This announcement came at a rather unusual time, sparking a mix of excitement and confusion among fans.

While the dates for the 2025 London ePrix were already known and many fans had likely marked their calendars, no one expected tickets to go on sale on the very same day as the last race of the 2023/2024 season. The timing felt off. Many, including Porsche and its fans who were probably still celebrating, were taken aback by this sudden announcement. The sentiment was echoed by @matt_chamberlain5 on Instagram who commented, "That was quick😂" under the post of the announcement.

Adding to the perplexity, on July 22nd, one day after the final race, the Monaco ePrix announced the pre-sale for the 2025 races (scheduled for May 3rd and 4th) was starting the same day as the announcement. Having signed up to be notified when the pre-sale began, I found the timing surprisingly early. 

Despite the odd timing, I was eager to secure my ticket early and ensure my attendance at the races in Monaco. However, upon clicking the pre-sale link, I encountered a frustrating obstacle: I was asked to log in with my account information, but since I do not have an account yet, I searched for the option to create one, only to find none.

I reached out to the ticketing office via email and received a prompt response:

Reading this response left me both confused and frustrated. Several questions immediately sprang to mind:

• Why is prior attendance of a Monaco ePrix a prerequisite for accessing the pre-sale? This was not the case for the Berlin races I attended in 2024 and where I got the tickets in the pre-sale.
• Why does the website allow someone to sign up for pre-sale notifications if they cannot proceed without an existing account? The site should be able to tell, based on the email being used to sign up, that no account with this email exists yet. It should inform users and provide an option to create an account.
• Why is there seemingly a bias against new fans or those who haven’t attended a Monaco ePrix before?
• And what about the fans who need to save up for their Monaco ePrix ticket? They may not have the funds available yet and could miss out on their desired tickets due to the unexpected early sale start.

The season ended just three days ago, yet we already have so much drama—not the expected "silly season" related topics though, but ticket drama. This was certainly not on my bingo card!

Update – 7th March 2025

Further developments regarding the Season 11 London ePrix ticketing drama:

As of today (7th March), many—if not all—ticket holders who purchased seats before this date have had their allocations changed. This was first reported by Formula E Source on X.

It appears that Formula E has added additional seating to the venue, necessitating a reshuffling of existing seat reservations to accommodate the changes. Understandably, this has caused confusion and frustration among fans.

For instance, @Fiercely_FE shared on X wrote:

"We'd carefully selected our seats so we'd be near what we thought was the Kiro garage. With the new allocation, it seems we're now opposite a different team garage."

Similarly, @tracklimitedd wrote:

"They’ve moved mine to J 46/47 from L 60/61. Same category, but I might email to enquire, as we specifically chose those seats because they had a great view last year..."

According to Formula E Source, Eventim is offering refunds for affected ticket holders, allowing them to repurchase tickets. However, due to booking fees and potential price changes, this may result in additional costs. Unfortunately, there is no option to reinstate previously booked seats.

This situation is particularly frustrating for those who purchased seats separately but intended to sit together with friends. If bookings were not made as part of a group purchase, the system can't recognise them as linked, meaning attendees may now be seated apart.

If you have purchased a ticket for the London E-Prix, you may be advisable to review your new seat allocation.