Team Blue Rising wins Monaco E1 race as Brady leads tightest championship standings

Port Hercule delivered one of the most dramatic weekends in E1 Series history, as the electric RaceBirds returned to Monaco's famous harbour with championship implications, a high-profile qualifying crash, and a debut victory that has thrown the 2025 title race wide open.

The biggest story of the weekend was Team Blue Rising's first-ever E1 Series win, with pilots John Peeters and Sara Misir producing a commanding performance on the water in front of a crowd packed with sporting royalty. Peeters took home the PIF Pilot of the Race honour, capping off a transformative day for the team backed by cricket icon Virat Kohli. After a difficult start to the season, the timing and the setting could scarcely have been more fitting.

A turning point in the Championship

The win does more than pad Blue Rising's tally. It fundamentally reshapes the 2025 UIM E1 World Championship presented by PIF. Heading into Monaco, Team Rafa had been sitting comfortably at the top of the standings, but a high-speed crash during qualifying upended their weekend and handed the initiative to rivals. When the results were tallied, Team Brady had climbed to the top of the leaderboard on 135 points, just a single point ahead of Team Rafa on 134, with Aoki Racing Team lurking on 125. Blue Rising, now just 21 points off the pace, have positioned themselves as genuine title contenders with two rounds remaining.

The qualifying session on Friday set the tone for the drama to follow. Team Rafa's Tom Chiappe collided with Team Brazil's RaceBird at speed on the tight Port Hercule circuit, causing serious damage to his craft and triggering a red-flagged stoppage, the first time a qualifying session had been red-flagged in E1's history. Chiappe walked away uninjured, but the incident clearly shook the team. Team owner Rafael Nadal watched on from the sidelines, visibly unsettled by the scene.

“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.”

Team Rafa did return to the water for Saturday's racing, but the pace that had made them championship leaders was nowhere to be found. Blue Rising and Brady were simply too strong on the day.

Team Brady, with Sam Coleman and Emma Kimiläinen at the controls, had topped qualifying and carried that momentum through to the final, securing second place on the podium. Their consistency across the full weekend was enough to lift them above Rafa in the overall standings by that slenderest of margins. Third place went to Team Brazil by Claure Group, with Timmy Hansen and Marit Stromoy keeping their heads in the heat of the action and holding off pressure from mid-fleet rivals to complete a solid podium finish.

Star power and sustainability on show

Monaco has always attracted the world's attention, and this E1 round was no different. Team owners LeBron James, Tom Brady, Didier Drogba, Marc Anthony, and Marcel Claure were all present trackside, and fans packed the harbour hoping to catch a glimpse of both the racing and the faces behind the teams. The weekend also coincided with the 20th anniversary of the reign of Prince Albert II, whose long-standing commitment to marine sustainability aligns closely with E1's own mission and who serves as President of the Yacht Club de Monaco.

Clean technology was as much a part of the conversation as the racing itself. Three Monaco-based cleantech start-ups, all incubated through MonacoTech, were invited to present their innovations to the Championship's Ocean Club audience as part of the Blue Impact Dialogues. For a championship built around the idea of accelerating the transition to clean marine mobility, Port Hercule provided an ideal stage.

"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

The E1 calendar now moves on to Lagos, Nigeria in October, where the series will make its first-ever visit to the African continent. The season finale follows in Miami in November, where the Champions of the Water title will ultimately be decided.

The standings could scarcely be tighter. Team Brady hold the narrowest of leads over a Team Rafa side that will be hungry to respond, while Blue Rising have announced themselves as genuine contenders with their Monaco breakthrough. Two races remain, and nothing is settled.

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 before 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