Former Red Bull-backed driver Tim Tramnitz is being evaluated as a potential key part of Opel’s entry into Formula E next season, with a race seat believed to be up for grabs for the 21-year-old German.

The Race has learned that Tramnitz tested the Stellantis Gen4 development car last week and is being appraised by the company via its bespoke young driver programme. 

Tramnitz tested for the Abt Cupra team in 2023 and 2024 at both Berlin and Misano, and is said to have impressed.

He was fourth in Formula 3 last year in his second season in the category and had planned to graduate to Formula 2 but couldn't find a seat. Tramnitz and fellow German junior driver Oliver Goethe then split with Red Bull in early January.

Tim Tramnitz motorsport CV

2025: 4th in Formula 3
2024: 9th in Formula 3
2023: 3rd in European Formula Regional
2022: 15th in European Formula Regional
2021: 2nd in ADAC and Italian Formula 4 championships
2020: 4th in ADAC Formula 4

The bigger picture of Tramntiz’s test last week and planned further runs is to see if he can be considered for one of the seats at what is expected to be an all-new team under the Stellantis umbrella, run with Opel Motorsport, for the 2026-27 season onwards. 

Opel is yet to make its plans public but is understood to be building up to making an announcement in the coming months of what will essentially be a 12th team on the Formula E grid and the second completely new one in addition to Porsche’s second factory-run outfit. 

Its motorsport boss Joerg Schrott visited the Mexico City E-Prix earlier this month and held meetings with key Stellantis figures.

Tramnitz and official Stellantis junior driver Theo Pourchaire, who was also testing last week in Almeria, might be seen as potential team-mates at Opel next season, although a lot may depend on how Pourchaire beds in to Peugeot's World Endurance Championship programme alongside his team-mates Loic Duval and Malthe Jakobsen.

The move for Opel to enter Formula E will follow an anticipated split between Stellantis and DS Penske for Gen4, with the possibility of Penske introducing its own powertrain or becoming a customer of either Mahindra or Lola for its slot on the Gen4 grid.

The future of the DS brand within Formula E is unknown, although the possibility of it living on in some capacity is understood to be not completely out of the question, although this won’t be with Penske. 

The dawn of a new generation

Stellantis’ interest in Tramnitz will take many paddock insiders by surprise, but the reality is that Formula E is preparing itself for what could be its biggest generational change in drivers since its inception in 2014. 

Several senior manufacturer personnel told The Race off record last week that the first two Gen4 tests have told them two key points about where the driver market may go from next season onwards. 

One is that the pack-racing that has featured in Gen3 will not continue in the same vein for Gen4. The racing has to change and will change, meaning that more traditional single-seater skills will come to the forefront again. 

The temptation for tactical contact in races will also be less due to the higher speed nature of Gen4. This means that some of the old guard of drivers will see their general stock in this experience fall in the marketplace. So, good news for Dan Ticktum after his "petulant children" Mexico frustration - driving standards will have to improve.

This change in discipline for Formula E drivers will inevitably mean younger drivers getting chances in race seats and it appears that Stellantis, through Opel, will be one of the pioneers, along with Cupra Kiro with 2025-26 signing Pepe Marti. 

The other clear benefit for teams is that with the increased costs of Gen4 and the championship being under a cost cap structure, rookie drivers are doubly attractive because they will be cheap. The highest earners in Formula E are presently Nick Cassidy, Oliver Rowland, Jean-Eric Vergne, Mitch Evans and Antonio Felix da Costa. Although their remuneration isn’t publicly known, it’s widely rumoured that a salary between €1.5m and €1.9m is an accurate ballpark and that won’t include bonus payments either.

Although the driver salaries sit outside of the financial regulations, if a manufacturer believes they can find a new star for half of that figure, then reallocation to boost other resources might be taken. 

Stellantis though also has recent experience of the opposite argument in that it made Cassidy a double programme offer he couldn’t refuse at Citroen and join Peugeot's WEC team, and that won out over several other offers he had too, including to stay at Jaguar.

Boil that down and the standout from the acquisition so far is that it committed to a driver who has won five of the last seven Formula E races, and taken Citroen’s first podium and victory in his opening two races with Stellantis.

In reality though, the backdrop to the driver market for next season is reasonably static in one sense, that the bigger players such as Cassidy, Vergne, da Costa, Pascal Wehrlein, Rowland and Taylor Barnard are all under contract. With Porsche offering two extra seats and Opel essentially doing the same and probably other seats becoming available, at least the start of a new junior movement will get going this summer.