)
Sébastien Buemi has explained that the expanded calendars of both Formula E and the World Endurance Championship (WEC) will make it impossible for him to continue competing in both series in 2027.
Ahead of the season finale in London this weekend, the Envision Racing team announced that Buemi would be stepping down as a Formula E driver at the end of the current campaign. Instead, he will transition into a consultancy and development role with the squad.
Buemi has been one of Formula E's original drivers since its inaugural season, consistently balancing his commitments in the all-electric championship with his WEC participation. However, from next year, he will focus entirely on his duties with Toyota in endurance racing. This decision comes despite Formula E rescheduling the Monaco E-Prix to eliminate one of two calendar clashes between the series.
Buemi stated that the decision was driven by the increased demands of Formula E with the introduction of the Gen4 era cars, as well as a larger, yet more condensed, 13-race weekend schedule. The WEC is also adding a ninth round next year, creating an exceptionally busy summer.
"People tend to forget, but next year the championship will finish about a month earlier. WEC will have an additional race [at Silverstone] in the same period, and Formula E will have two additional races. It's not impossible to do. I guess for the Stellantis drivers, who will somehow manage it next year, it's easier because the employer is the same, the brand is the same. But for someone like me, racing in a completely different category with different brands, it would have been extremely difficult.""I don't think it would have been impossible, but, let's say, if we were in the fourth year of Gen3, it would have been somewhat easier. But now, with the arrival of Gen4, many more testing days are planned, even for a customer team. Ultimately, you want to be sure that if you're racing, you're doing it at a high level and with good preparation. The stakes are high. We concluded that doing it would have been very, very difficult.""Ultimately, it's a joint decision, although I feel I could have managed it. We've been discussing it for the past four years, but mainly in the last few months, we looked at it in detail. Obviously, the decision was also driven by the team. We spent some time analyzing how simulator preparation is possible, and it's somehow very difficult for a driver to just give up and stop. But I have to say, looking at the whole picture, I have a family, I have three kids. At some point, I want to race, but things need to be done the right way," Buemi told the media in London.
Buemi has raced for Toyota in WEC since 2013, and his current contract prioritizes the Japanese manufacturer over his commitments with Envision in Formula E. Additionally, the Swiss driver also works as a simulator driver for Red Bull in Formula 1, which requires him to make several visits to the team's factory in Milton Keynes.
Asked if Toyota or Red Bull played a role in his decision to leave Formula E, the 2015-16 season champion replied: "Toyota, in a way yes, because obviously I signed a priority contract with them last year, so at some point yes, they had [a role]. The priorities in my contracts changed quite a lot over the years – from full WEC priority to less priority and more towards Formula E, and then back to Toyota. Ultimately, the WEC priority closed the door."
Formula E's 2026-27 calendar features only one clash with the 2027 WEC schedule, with the Shanghai E-Prix set for the same weekend as the 6 Hours of São Paulo. The initial calendar included two conflicting events, but Formula E moved the Monaco race two weeks earlier to ensure drivers could compete in both the Principality and at Spa in WEC.
"When they removed the clash, that obviously made things much easier, but ultimately, I think it was more about the workload and the fact that it would have been difficult... even planning a test day for the team with me would have been almost impossible; we would have had to find days when I was free," Buemi concluded.
,fit(112:112)&format=webp)
,fit(112:112)&format=webp)
,fit(112:112)&format=webp)
&format=webp)
&format=webp)
&format=webp)