MONACO, Monte-Carlo – The streets of the Principality have a habit of rewriting fortunes in the blink of a braking zone, and Nissan Formula E Team experienced both sides of that volatile coin across a dramatic Monaco double-header in the 2025/26 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. After a bruising Saturday, Oliver Rowland returned on Sunday with precision, patience, and perfectly timed aggression to secure a commanding victory in Round 10, delivering Nissan’s first win of the season in spectacular fashion.
Saturday’s Round 9 had set the tone for frustration. Both Rowland and teammate Norman Nato started deep in the field, lining up 12th and 14th respectively, and immediately found themselves wrestling with Monaco’s unforgiving street circuit. Rowland initially managed his energy effectively, climbing into the top ten with measured pace, but his progress was abruptly halted by a puncture that forced an unscheduled pit stop. A subsequent Pit Boost stop compounded the setback, leaving him too far adrift to recover, eventually finishing 15th despite encouraging pace in clean air.
Nato’s race proved equally unforgiving. A drive-through penalty for a tyre pressure infringement disrupted his strategy early on, and although he fought diligently through the order, the Frenchman was unable to recover meaningful positions, ultimately crossing the line in 14th. The result left Nissan with unanswered questions but also clear evidence that underlying race pace remained competitive.
Sunday, however, told a very different story.
Qualifying for Round 10 brought a visible shift in momentum. Rowland advanced into the Duels, ultimately securing eighth on the grid, while Nato missed out by the narrowest of margins, just 0.017 seconds shy, lining up ninth. It was the kind of fine line that Monaco is known for, where millimetres in qualifying can dictate the rhythm of an entire race.
From the outset of the E-Prix, Rowland executed a controlled and disciplined opening phase, carefully managing energy while remaining within striking distance of the leaders. The race began to tilt decisively on Lap 20, when he deployed his final six minutes of Attack Mode. What followed was a surge of calculated aggression, as Nissan’s strategy call aligned perfectly with track position and energy delta. Within just three laps of activation, Rowland had carved his way into the lead, transforming a well-timed gamble into full control of the race.
From there, the Brit demonstrated composure rather than chaos. With rivals pushing hard behind, he managed the remaining laps with clinical efficiency, maintaining track position and defending cleanly while conserving enough performance to secure an additional point for fastest lap. It was a complete performance built on timing, awareness, and execution, delivering both driver and team their first victory of the season.
For Nato, Sunday brought early promise but cruel misfortune. Running inside the top ten and showing strong pace in the opening laps, his race was abruptly compromised at the end of Lap 5 when contact at the final corner sent him into the barrier. The resulting damage forced immediate retirement, cutting short what had been a competitive start and leaving him with no opportunity to capitalise on his pace or strategy.
Despite the contrasting outcomes, the underlying narrative for Nissan was one of resilience and recovery. The turnaround from Saturday’s difficulties to Sunday’s victory highlighted both strategic sharpness and growing confidence within the team’s operational execution.
Tommaso Volpe, managing director and team principal of Nissan Formula E Team, reflected on the weekend as a microcosm of the season so far, acknowledging the setbacks of Saturday while praising the collective response that enabled Sunday’s triumph. The victory, he noted, was not only a reward for performance but a potential catalyst for unlocking greater consistency in the second half of the campaign.
Rowland echoed that sentiment, emphasising discipline, timing, and team communication as decisive factors in his Monaco win. Nato, meanwhile, remained focused on the positives in pace and strategy despite his early exit, underlining belief in the team’s ability to convert performance into results in upcoming rounds.
Formula E now turns its attention to China for Rounds 11 and 12 on 19–20 June, returning to Sanya for the first time since 2019. For Nissan, Monaco has delivered both a reset and a statement: when execution aligns with opportunity, victory is firmly within reach.
