Formula E returns to the Principality of Monaco for the third double-header of Season 12. Parc Femme joined Oliver Rowland and Taylor Barnard to discuss their thoughts heading into the second half of the season.

Monaco presents a unique timetable for the Formula E grid, as Free Practice 1 doesn’t take place until Saturday morning. As there is only a small amount of time between FP1 and Qualifying, there is pressure to make no mistakes.

Nissan’s Oliver Rowland had a successful 2025 campaign in Monaco. Having taken a win and a podium in his quest for the World Championship title, he is no stranger to the track’s unforgiving nature. We caught up with the reigning World Champion on what his main goals and concerns are going into Monaco.

“The main goal is qualifying, just keep on improving on my performance and my feeling.” He continued, “I think Berlin was a good step in the right direction over one lap and that has to be the focus here.”

“I know in the race if I start at the front that I can do a good job and finish towards the front.”

With double-headers in Formula E now consisting of a PIT BOOST race and an ATTACK MODE race, the importance of strategy is at an all-time high.

But what difference does it make to the drivers?

“Quite a big difference, to be honest. I think the pit boost race will be quite fixed, the energy is quite high.” Rowland told Parc Femme outside the Nissan Garage. “The pit window will be quite interesting to see if people do attack mode or not.”

He continued, “The second race will be like almost a normal Formula E race. So more saving, a little bit more tactical in terms of attack mode timing and possibly some overtaking in the beginning.

A Change of Scenery for Barnard

Taylor Barnard’s career in Formula E has been far from plain sailing. The announcement that McLaren would be leaving at the end of Season 11 put a dampener on his first full season in the Championship. Despite this, Barnard seems to have taken the change in his stride with his new team DS Penske.

But how was the transition for him?

“It was tough to start with, to be honest, the teams not fully British like McLaren was, so that’s one thing.” Barnard told Parc Femme in the media pen. “The power train was quite a big difference as well. So the systems and everything else are called something different, they do something different.”

He continued, “The way that you extract the pace on the car is a completely different approach and concept. It took a little while, but I was already fighting for pole in Mexico, so it was a pretty quick turnaround.”

With time comes experience, and already Barnard seems to approach racing situations similarly to drivers who have been in the series for longer.

How does he approach races in comparison to his rookie year?

“Obviously, with more experience. My point of view has changed, and the way I approach my racing has changed, but the end goal is still the same.” He continued, “I want to win, I want to score podiums and points. At the minute we are not doing that, so I’m doing everything i can to get the car and the team and myself back on track.”

All eyes on the second half of Season 12

Round 9 officially marks the start of the second half of the season, with everything still to play for in the Championship. An 18-point deficit is all that separates Oliver Rowland from leader Pascal Wehrlein. With Formula E being as unpredictable as it is, we asked Rowland whether a back-to-back Championship is on the cards.

“That’s why I’m here. It wasn’t looking that good before Berlin, but we had a good weekend.” He continue, “18 points is not alot, I know that from last year I had 70 odd at some points and I still felt they were close. We just need to focus race by race, we need to focus on our performance, and the rest should take care of itself. But yeah, I think it’s on the cards.”

Taylor Barnard was also optimistic about the second half of the season, looking back on what has been a tricky series of races so far.

“I don’t think the points really reflect the hard work and effort that we’ve been putting in as a team. We’ve turned up to every weekend able to score pole and score points, and have only 18 and be 9th in the team’s championship.” 

“It doesn’t reflect the hard work that we’re doing. I’m hoping this could be the weekend that we turn things around into something positive.”