Nissan Keeps Bird and Pulling for Formula E’s GEN4 Era

Published October 29, 2026

Nissan Formula E Team will keep Sam Bird as reserve and development driver and Abbi Pulling as rookie and simulator driver for the 2026/27 season, completing its four-driver roster for Formula E’s first GEN4 campaign. They will support race drivers Oliver Rowland and Zane Maloney as Nissan prepares for the championship’s largest technical change yet.

Nissan announced the retained support-driver lineup on October 29, 2026. The distinction matters: Bird and Pulling have not been named to the two full-time race seats. Their work is centered on simulator development, testing and providing continuity as the team adapts its powertrain and setup tools to the new car.

Nissan Formula E Season 13 driver roster

Oliver Rowland: race driver
Zane Maloney: race driver
Sam Bird: reserve and development driver
Abbi Pulling: rookie and simulator driver

Bird joined Nissan in his current role in November 2025. He has raced in Formula E since the series’ inaugural 2014 event and has 27 podium finishes, including 12 victories. Nissan says he is one of the few drivers to win in all three previous car generations. His most recent victory came at São Paulo in Season 10 while driving for a Nissan customer team.

Pulling has served as Nissan’s rookie and simulator driver since June 2025. The 2024 F1 Academy champion participated in Formula E’s all-women’s test, Miami Rookie Free Practice and the Madrid Rookie Test during the 2025/26 campaign. Nissan also highlighted her 2026 GB3 victory at Spa and two Donington Park podiums.

Why the simulator roles matter for GEN4

Formula E’s GEN4 car raises standard race power to 450 kW—about 600 horsepower—and allows up to 600 kW, or roughly 800 horsepower, in Attack Mode. The official specification also calls for active all-wheel drive, as much as 700 kW of regenerative braking, up to 55 kWh of race energy and a projected top speed above 208 mph.

Those changes increase the importance of correlation between the simulator and the physical car. Nissan team principal Tommaso Volpe said Bird and Pulling’s familiarity with the team’s simulator, powertrain and working methods should help the squad prepare for the new generation. That is the team’s stated expectation, not proof of a performance advantage; the competitive effect will only become clear once testing and racing begin.

Bird said the development group has spent significant time configuring the simulator to represent the GEN4 car’s new features accurately for Rowland and Maloney. Pulling is expected to participate in test days and continue support work before and during race weekends.

The next checkpoint is Jarama

All four drivers are scheduled to continue working together ahead of pre-season testing at Circuito del Jarama in Spain from November 16 through November 20. Nissan has not claimed that retaining Bird and Pulling changes its race-driver hierarchy; the announcement is about continuity behind the two confirmed starters.

The decision also reinforces how manufacturers use electric racing as both competition and development work. Nissan’s road-car and show-car activity follows a separate track—Chiefs Review recently covered its 300-hp Sentra Spec-V SEMA concept and Z projects—while the Formula E program focuses on high-output electric powertrain and energy-management systems.

For a broader look at how racing organizations are building talent pipelines around the sport, see our report on Formula 1’s renewed engineering scholarship.

Sources

Featured image: Nissan Formula E Team’s official Season 13 roster graphic. Credit: Nissan/NISMO. Source and editorial-use context.