Fifteen drivers from across the world of junior single-seaters will participate in this year’s Formula E rookie test during the Madrid E-Prix weekend. Feeder Series tells you all you need to know about the test participants who will take to the Circuito de Madrid Jarama tomorrow.

By Seb Tirado

Since Formula E revived the annual rookie test in 2023, the presence of junior single-seater drivers has steadily increased year on year. The 2025 rookie test had the most such drivers yet, with 16 of the 22 entrants coming from feeder series championships in 2024 or 2025. 

Last year’s line-up included many notable names, such as eventual Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli, 2025 F2 runner-up Jak Crawford and 2024 F3 runner-up Gabriele Minì. A similarly star-studded line-up will grace the 3.934-kilometre circuit this year. 

The test this year on 22 March will be made up of two three-hour sessions, with the morning session starting at 09:00 and the afternoon session starting at 14:00 local time. The sessions will not be broadcast, but live timing will be available on Al Kamel Systems and on the Formula E website and app.

• Teams and drivers
  • Porsche Formula E Team
  • Jaguar Racing
  • Nissan
  • Mahindra Racing
  • DS Penske 
  • Andretti Formula E
  • Envision Racing
  • Citroën Racing
  • Kiro Race Co
  • Lola Yamaha ABT
• Full list of junior single-seater drivers (2025 or 2026) in the rookie test

Teams and drivers

All 10 teams will field at least one junior single-seater driver, with five of them having a line-up fully composed of drivers who have competed in a feeder series championship in the past year.

Porsche Formula E Team

Reigning teams’ and manufacturers’ world champions Porsche will field 16-year-old Elia Weiss (#51), who participated in last year’s rookie test in Berlin. He will line up alongside reigning DTM champion Ayhancan Güven.

Weiss was given the opportunity to test for Porsche last year through Motorsport Team Germany, of which he is a member. As a result, the German driver became the youngest-ever driver to test a Formula E car and finished 20th of 22 drivers in the overall classification. In his debut season in single-seaters last year, he competed in the Formula Winter Series and Italian F4 with Cram Motorsport. He also raced with Jenzer Motorsport in E4’s round at Monza, where he scored his first career points with a ninth-place finish in race two. 

Weiss has since competed with R-ace GP in UAE4, finishing 16th in the standings with a best result of fourth at Lusail. He is set to compete in F4 CEZ with Jenzer this year.

Jaguar Racing

Chip Ganassi Racing Indy NXT driver Bryce Aron (#13), whose family has owned multiple Jaguar dealerships in the Midwestern United States, will sample Formula E machinery for the first time this weekend alongside returning driver Juju Noda at Jaguar Racing. 

The 22-year-old American driver is currently 19th in the standings, having finished 18th in both races so far this year. In 2025, Aron competed in Indy NXT’s opening round with HMD Motorsports before replacing Jonathan Browne at Chip Ganassi for the rest of the season. He finished 11th in the standings with a best result of fifth at Milwaukee. 

Nissan

Victor Martins (#1), who raced in F2 in 2025, will test with Nissan for the first time since he participated in the inaugural pre-season test session for the 2023–24 season. He will be joined at the Japanese manufacturer by the team’s rookie and simulator driver Abbi Pulling (#23), who will have her second 2026 outing after finishing 11th in the Miami FP0 session. Both are former members of the junior programme of Alpine, which has a strategic alliance with Nissan.

Last year, the French driver finished 11th in his third F2 season with ART Grand Prix after taking a feature race win at Lusail and two further podiums. Also a test driver for the Williams F1 Team, Martins made his FP1 debut with the team at the Spanish Grand Prix, finishing 19th. This year, Martins will compete in the World Endurance Championship in the Hypercar category with Alpine.

Pulling, who will drive car 23 the day after she turns 23, participated in the Berlin rookie test and the Valencia women’s test, finishing 17th in the former and second in the latter. In her debut GB3 season with Rodin Motorsport last year, the British driver took a third-place finish at Brands Hatch on her way to 10th in the standings. 

After completing her two Formula E outings, Pulling will compete in a second season of GB3 this year with Rodin.

Mahindra Racing

Reserve driver Kush Maini (#21) will have his first test outing of 2026 with Mahindra Racing this weekend. He will be joined by F3 driver and 2025 FR World Cup winner Théophile Naël (#48), who will have his debut test in Formula E machinery.

Last year, Maini topped the Jeddah FP0 timesheets and finished third in the Berlin rookie test. In F2 with DAMS, the 25-year-old Indian driver finished 16th in the standings with a sprint win at Monaco.

Now with ART Grand Prix, Maini is currently 17th in the F2 standings after finishing a best of 12th in the Melbourne sprint race.

Naël began his 2025 by competing in the first three rounds of FR Middle East with Saintéloc Racing, clinching seventh in the standings with three podiums. The 18-year-old French driver finished eighth in his debut F3 season with Van Amersfoort Racing, again taking three podiums. In the FR World Cup, he finished third in the qualifying race after starting on pole, then took victory in the Macau Grand Prix.

Now with Campos Racing in F3, Naël is 12th in the standings, having qualified on pole for the Melbourne feature race but only achieved a best result of 10th in the sprint race.

DS Penske 

Penske driver development programme member Nikita Bedrin (#7) will once again partner former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat at the rookie test for DS Penske. The 20-year-old Italian-licenced driver participated in FP0 with the team ahead of the Miami E-Prix back in January, when he finished fifth. 

Bedrin finished 14th in his first rookie test with the team last year. He finished 11th in both FR Middle East and FR Europe with Saintéloc Racing, taking a win and three further podiums in the former and two podiums in the latter. He also competed with AIX Racing in F3’s season opener in Melbourne, where he finished sixth in the sprint and fourth in the feature race.

Bedrin will compete in GB3 this year with VRD Racing.

Andretti Formula E

Reigning FR Europe champion Freddie Slater (#27) will make his Formula E testing debut this weekend with Andretti. He will be joined by Callum Voisin (#28), who finished fifth in last year’s rookie test with Cupra Kiro.

Slater began his 2025 by taking four wins and a second place on his way to a runner-up finish in FR Middle East with Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited. He then won the FR Europe title with Prema after taking eight wins and four further podiums, including winning both races at Le Castellet and Monza. The 17-year-old British driver also competed in three rounds of GB3 with Hillspeed, in which he took three wins and two second places; F3’s Bahrain and Spa rounds with AIX Racing and Hitech, in which he finished second on debut; and the FR World Cup with Theodore Racing, in which he won the qualifying race from second on the grid but crashed out of the Macau Grand Prix in the final laps.

Along with being the first driver officially signed to the Audi Driver Development Programme, Slater is currently third in the F3 standings with Trident after finishing second in the Melbourne feature race.

Voisin, 20, finished 14th in F3 last year with Rodin Motorsport with a second place in Bahrain. The British driver then pivoted to sports car racing and competed in the 2025-26 Asian Le Mans Series’ LMP3 category with High Class Racing, finishing eighth in the standings with a second place at Sepang.

For 2026, Voisin will compete in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain with Century Motorsport and the series’ Italian counterpart with Ombra Racing. 

Envision Racing

McLaren junior Ella Lloyd (#14) will have her second outing with Envision Racing this weekend after participating in last year’s women’s test, in which she finished fifth. The 20-year-old Welsh driver also competed in the Berlin rookie test with McLaren, finishing 18th. She will participate alongside Envision’s simulator driver Zak O’Sullivan.

In her main 2025 campaign of F1 Academy with Rodin Motorsport, she finished fourth in the standings with a win at Jeddah and four further podiums, including a sweep of second places in the three Montreal races. She also finished runner-up in her British F4 Challenge Cup campaign with the team and 14th overall with a podium at Zandvoort. 

Again racing with Rodin in F1 Academy this year, Lloyd is currently sixth in the standings having taken a best finish of fifth in race two in Shanghai last weekend.

Citroën Racing

Melbourne F2 sprint race winner Joshua Dürksen (#37) will test Formula E machinery for the first time this weekend, partnering 2023 F2 champion Théo Pourchaire at Citroën Racing. 

Driving with Invicta Racing, the 22-year-old Paraguayan driver is currently seventh in the standings after also finishing 10th in the feature race. Ahead of the season opener, he was also signed as a development driver for the Mercedes F1 Team. 

Last year, Dürksen finished ninth in the standings with AIX Racing with two wins and six further podiums.

Kiro Race Co

Development driver Bianca Bustamante (#33) will have her third outing with the team, which competes as Cupra Kiro, this weekend. It is her second appearance as part of a rookie test. Alongside her, F2 driver Cian Shields (#3) will make his Formula E test debut.

Bustamante finished 22nd in last year’s rookie test and third in the women’s test. In GB3 with Elite Motorsport, the 21-year-old Filipina driver finished 22nd in the standings with three best results of 13th.

She recently competed with Palou Motorsport in the Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship, which she finished 25th in the standings with a best result of 13th at Portimão. She will continue with the team for the main season.

Now in his second full F2 season with AIX Racing, Shields is currently 22nd in the standings after finishing 19th in both races in Melbourne. The 21-year-old Scottish driver finished 24th in the standings last year with a best result of 11th at Imola. He also made his FP1 debut with Aston Martin at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, finishing 20th and last.

Lola Yamaha ABT

Test and simulator driver Hugh Barter (#11) will have another rookie outing with Lola Yamaha ABT this year after finishing ninth in the Miami FP0. He will be joined by Dutch driver Richard Verschoor (#22), who will have his first experience in Formula E machinery.

Barter, 20, finished seventh in last year’s rookie test. The Australian driver’s main campaign was with Winfield Racing in the Ultimate Cup European Series’ Hoosier Formula Cup, in which he finished fourth in the standings with nine wins and two further podiums despite missing two rounds.

His 2026 plans outside of his Formula E commitments are currently unknown.

Verschoor took four victories and two further podiums on his way to third in F2 last year with MP Motorsport. Ahead of the final round, the 25-year-old Dutch driver was also inducted into the McLaren Driver Development Programme. 

He is set to compete in the European Le Mans Series’ LMP2 category with Duqueine Team.

Full list of junior single-seater drivers (2025 or 2026) in the rookie test

Team	#	Driver	Championship (2025)
Nissan Formula E Team	1	Victor Martins	F2, P11
	23	Abbi Pulling	GB3, P10
Kiro Race Co (Cupra Kiro)	3	Cian Shields	F2, P24
	33	Bianca Bustamante	GB3, P22
DS Penske	7	Nikita Bedrin	FR Middle East, P11; FR Europe, P11
Lola Yamaha ABT	11	Hugh Barter	Hoosier Formula Cup, P4
	22	Richard Verschoor	F2, P3
Jaguar Racing	13	Bryce Aron	Indy NXT, P11
Envision Racing	14	Ella Lloyd	F1 Academy, P4; British F4, P14
Mahindra Racing	21	Kush Maini	F2, P16
	48	Théophile Naël	F3, P18
Andretti Formula E	27	Freddie Slater	FR Europe, P1; FR Middle East, P2; GB3, P12*; F3, P27*
	28	Callum Voisin	F3, P14
Citroën Racing	37	Joshua Dürksen	F2, P9
Porsche Formula E Team	51	Elia Weiss	Italian F4, P35; E4, P20; FWS, P28*

*Partial season

Want more content from the Formula E rookie test? Follow our editor Seb on X for updates from the test. You can also catch our most recent episode of Feeder Focus, a Feeder Series podcast, for a look at what’s coming up on Sunday.

Header photo credit: Malcolm Griffiths / LAT Images