NEOM McLaren announces Hughes departure

NEOM McLaren has announced the departure of Jake Hughes.
Hughes made his competitive debut in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in the 2023/24 campaign with the team.

He went on to score 96 points, four Julius Baer Pole Positions and a second-placed podium finish at the 2024 Shanghai E-Prix.

In his first Formula E race, the 2023 Mexico City E-Prix, Jake qualified third, finishing the race in a promising fifth. He then went on to secure the team’s first pole at only his third race weekend in Diriyah, before clinching a second at the 2023 Monaco E-Prix.

In 2024, Hughes notched another pair of poles and achieved a career best P2 finish, his first podium in the championship.

The team says Hughes has been crucial in its success for a long spell, going back as far as 2020, in which he started out as Reserve and Development driver for the Mercedes-EQ the team that laid the foundations of what is NEOM McLaren today.

Leaving the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team will feel very strange for me in the coming weeks, based on the fact this team has been my home for the last four-and-a-half years. I have a lot of thanks to give to so many different people within the team for what they have given me, and how they have prepared me and allowed me to grow into the racing driver I am today. Everything I am in Formula E is down to this team, and for that I am extremely grateful. I wish the team all the best, and I have no doubt that we’ll have some good times racing on track against each other in the future.
Hughes on leaving the team.

Jake has made a significant contribution to this team over the years, both on and off the track, and we are incredibly grateful for his input and dedication throughout. During this time, he has flourished into a proven talent in Formula E; particular highlights being his four pole positions – of which one came in only his third ever event in Formula E – and his P2 finish in Shanghai this year. On a personal note, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Jake. Alongside his natural talent as a driver, he is a consummate professional and yet has an easy sense of humour which has endeared him to all in the Formula E paddock.
Ian James, Managing Director and Team Principal.