Extreme E season-opener delayed to avoid F1 clash

The first-ever Extreme E race has been pushed back by two weeks to avoid a clash with the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Following the postponement of the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix, the Bahrain GP is now set to raise the curtain on the new F1 season, and has resulted in Extreme E moving its own season-opening race to a later date.

Round 1 of the electric series will now take place on April 3-4 instead of the original March 20-21 slot. Saudi Arabia will host the first round of the five-race season with the Desert X Prix.

A spokesperson for Extreme E told Motor Sport that the delay was down to the change in schedule for Formula 1 and was not Covid-related and that the rest of the season would go ahead as scheduled currently.

Extreme E will visit five locations around the world most affected by climate change in efforts to highlight the issue and help promote sustainability efforts.

Rounds in Senegal, Greenland, Brazil and Argentina will form the inaugural season that will end in December. The series will also take part in local sustainability efforts and programmes at each of the locations it visits throughout the season.

Pre-season testing has been ongoing during the build-up to the first event, with the first group test taking place in mid-December last year.

The grid will feature one male and female driver as part of each line-up and includes the likes of WRC and Dakar champion Carlos Sainz, nine-time WRC champion Sebastian Loeb and W Series champion Jamie Chadwick.

2021 Extreme E calendar