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, 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 in 2024 I attended 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 the 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!