The electric foils of the E1 Series lit up the Monaco waterfront over the weekend in a high-octane return to Port Hercule, where drama, celebrity, and technology combined in one of the most unpredictable races of the 2025 season.
Racing just metres from the harbour wall, the all-electric RaceBirds delivered a breathtaking spectacle as cricket legend Virat Kohli’s Team Blue Rising stormed to their maiden E1 Series victory — vaulting them into title contention with just two races left on the calendar.
A turning point in the Championship
The result marks a pivotal moment in the 2025 UIM E1 World Championship presented by PIF. Pre-race leaders Team Rafa suffered a catastrophic qualifying crash, opening the door for Team Brady, piloted by Sam Coleman and Emma Kimiläinen, to top the qualifying session and finish second in the race. With the dust settled, Team Brady now holds a razor-thin one-point lead over Rafa, 135 to 134, with Aoki Racing Team close behind on 125 points.
Team Blue Rising’s win not only tightens the title race, but shakes up the mid-table standings as well. Their pilots, John Peeters—named PIF Pilot of the Race—and Sara Misir, put on a confident display in difficult conditions, holding off both Team Brady and Team Brazil by Claure Group, who rounded out the podium in third.
High-speed crash halts qualifying
Monaco’s glamour couldn’t hide the danger that came with racing on the narrow Port Hercule course. During Friday’s qualifying, Team Rafa’s Tom Chiappe collided with Team Brazil’s RaceBird at high speed, resulting in extensive damage to his craft and a red-flagged session—the first in E1’s history. Chiappe escaped injury, but the crash rattled the team, with team owner Rafael Nadal visibly concerned from the sidelines.
“It was scary,” Nadal said. “Seeing it in real-time, I was worried for Tom. The main thing is he’s okay. Everything else doesn’t matter when you go through something like this.”
Despite the setback, Team Rafa returned to the water Saturday, but couldn’t match the pace of Blue Rising or Brady in the Finals.
Star power and sustainability on show
The Monaco race wasn’t just a clash of raceboats—it was a who’s-who of global sport and tech. Team owners LeBron James, Tom Brady, Didier Drogba, Marc Anthony, and Marcel Claure all turned up to support their teams, with fans lining the harbour to catch a glimpse of both racing and royalty. The weekend coincided with the 20th anniversary of the reign of Prince Albert II, a long-time advocate for marine sustainability and President of the Yacht Club de Monaco.
With E1’s mission to promote clean marine mobility, Monaco was the perfect setting to showcase innovation. As part of the Blue Impact Dialogues, three Monaco-based cleantech start-ups—incubated by MonacoTech—were invited to present their work to the Championship’s Ocean Club audience.
“Monaco embodies the spirit of E1,” said E1 CEO Rodi Basso>. “With its passion for racing and ocean preservation, this city is the ideal place to show what the future of electric racing looks like.”
The Championship race to Miami
With Monaco now in the rear-view mirror, the E1 Championship heads south to Lagos, Nigeria in October for the series’ first-ever African stop. The season will conclude in Miami this November, where the title of Champions of the Water will be decided.
As it stands, the leaderboard is tighter than ever. Team Brady leads by a single point, Team Rafa will be seeking redemption, and Blue Rising—now just 21 points off the top—could emerge as the season’s biggest disruptor.
E1 Monaco Podium – 19 July 2025
In Monaco, it was Team Blue Rising who stole the spotlight, with John Peeters and>Sara Misir claiming their first-ever E1 Series victory in sensational style. After a rocky start to the season, the win couldn’t have come at a better time—and what a place to do it, racing in front of Port Hercule’s iconic harbour wall and a crowd packed with sporting royalty.
Team Brady, driven by the ever-consistent Sam Coleman and Emma Kimiläinen>, took second place on race day. Their performance started strong with a top qualifying result and continued with solid pace through the finals, enough to push them just one point ahead of Team Rafa in the overall standings.
Meanwhile, Team Brazil by Claure Group, with Timmy Hansen and Marit Stromoy> at the helm, rounded out the podium with a strong third-place finish, holding off pressure from mid-fleet rivals and capitalising on the drama ahead of them.
It was a day where tactics, clean lines, and cool heads paid off—and for Team Blue Rising, it’s a day that might just change their season.
2025 E1 Series – Current Championship Standings
| Position | Team | Pilots | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team Brady | Sam Coleman / Emma Kimiläinen | 135 |
| 2 | Team Rafa | Cris Lazarraga / Tom Chiappe | 134 |
| 3 | Aoki Racing | Dani Clos / Mashael Alobaidan | 125 |
| 4 | Team Blue Rising | John Peeters / Sara Misir | 114 |
| 5 | Westbrook Racing | Lucas Ordóñez / Sara Price | 81 |
| 6 | Team AlUla | Catie Munnings / Rusty Wyatt | 79 |
| 7 | Team Drogba | Micah Wilkinson / Oban Duncan | 66 |
| 8 | Team Brazil | Timmy Hansen / Marit Stromoy | 48 |
| 9 | Team Miami | Erik Stark / Anna Glennon | 32 |
