Team Tom Brady triumphs for second E1 Series Championship

Team Brady, the E1 electric speedboat racing team owned by retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady, remain ‘Champions of the Water’ as it triumphed again last weekend in Miami to capture its second title in an exciting conclusion to the circuit’s second season.

The 18 pilots in the nine teams of the Series started Year Two in January in the waters off Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and flew through the checkered flag in Miami having rung up a series of firsts and milestones in the seven events held over ten months on four continents.

Three points separating top three teams

Coming into the final weekend, there were only 3 points separating the top two teams – only 20 separating the top four – and things were so close that at one point halfway through the weekend the eventual winning team of Pilots Sam Coleman and Emma Kimilainen was in real danger of not making it to the Finals race at all.

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There is a full outline of the E1 Rules below, but for a beginner’s overview, each team consists of a female and male piloting one-design foiling electric boats (SeaBirds) powered by a 150 kiloWatt (200 horse power) electric motor.  The teams do qualifying time trials on the first day of each event, the placement there decides pole placements for the next day, and Day Two has a series of five races over three rounds.

By the end of it all three teams get a bye into the Final, three others compete in a Race Off for the other two spots, and 4 teams race in the consolation Place Race. Points are awarded on a sort of logarithmic scale with the first place finisher getting 38 points, 2nd place getting 30 points, then fewer points awarded for each succeeding place down to a mere 7 points for the last place team. 

The nine teams are owned by high profile personalities from the worlds of sport, entertainment and business. After the six earlier events – the latest being held in Lagos Nigeria – the top five teams were: Team Brady, Team Rafa (owned by tennis legend Rafael Nadal), Team Blue Rising (Indian cricketing hero Virat Kohli), Team Aoki (DJ/Producer Steve Aoki), and actor Will Smith’s Westbrook Racing.

A single point is awarded to the team coming out on top after Qualifying Day. In Miami, when Team Rafa’s Cris Lazarraga and Tim Chiappe grabbed that important point along with pole position for the Group Races on Saturday, it meant they were behind Brady by only two.

Their good fortune was stalled, though, when Will Smith’s Team Westwood grabbed a convincing win in the first Group Race next morning. In the second race Rafa received a time penalty but was able to get a bye into the Finals partly due to Blue Rising losing power on the last lap and limping over the finish line in second.

With Rafa in the Finals the pressure was on Team Brady in their second race. If they had a bad race and were delegated to the consolation Place Race later in the day, the best they could do for the season Championship would be second place – even if Rafa was fifth out of five in the Finals.

In that second race on the other half of the draw Team Miami (owned by singer Marc Anthony) looked like they were going to have a huge lead at the starting line, but had to slow down at the last second to prevent a false start penalty.

Ei Series Championship comes down to the Final

The other four teams – Brady, Team Brazil (owned by entrepreneur Marcelo Claure), Aoki and Team AluLa (LeBron James) hit the line at full speed almost simultaneously and came speeding into the first turn with AluLa trying to sneak through between the others but then flying into the air and crashing onto the rear of Aoki. Brady took the lead coming out of that mishap and never let go of it, with Aoki some distance behind but still taking second place despite damage to the Seabird’s rear foil.

By the time the water had settled after the Race Off, the teams in the Finals of the second year were the four top season finishers – Brady, Rafa, Blue Rising and Westbrook.

There are two Finals races in the E1, in order for both of the pilots to compete. (As a note, there is not a ‘male Finals’ and a ‘female Finals’. The teams decide which pilot they would like to be at the helm in the first race of the weekend, then alternate throughout the rest of the races).

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t have pressure now,” said Team Rafa’s Tom Chiappe before the first Finals race.. “It’s full of pressure until the end. Team Brady made a good result, we did also. So now we will try to make it a fair race and to be as competitive as we can.”

It was clear the battle for the championship was going to be between Team Brady and Team Rafa, and in the first Final, it was Team Brady that got the initial advantage. Pilot Emma Kimilainen flew off the line, stormed into the lead and never looked back. “I’m so proud of the team, the calls, the strategies, everything went super-well today,” she said immediately after climbing out of the cockpit.

If it had not been clear earlier it was clear before the ‘final Final’ that everything would come down to the teams owned by two of the most dominant athletes of this century: Brady and Nadal. 

Nadal’s Cris Lazzarraga put herself in a hole from the start, crossing the start line as the fifth of the five RaceBirds. However, she strategically used the rules of E1 to gain some time and actually get into the lead.

In an E1 Series Final each boat is required to complete four laps of regular length along with one short lap and one long lap. Lazzarage decided to do the short lap as her second while the others did regular and long laps. That allowed her to find some wake-free water and increase her speed.

Team Brady remains undefeated Champions of the Water 

All seemed good until Lap 4 when Team Brady’s Sam Coleman and Blue Rising’s Tom Peeters took advantage of their short circuits. Lazarraga was able to fend off Peeters, but was unable to catch Coleman as Team Brady took the checkered flag for both the Miami leg and their second Championship title.

While Brady was dominant in Miami – the first time the E1 Series had come to US shores – it had not been completely smooth sailing since their victory in the inaugural year. Brady finished in fifth place in the first two races of Season 2 and did not find their way to the top three podium until the third race, in Dubrovnik.

After the Championship presentation, Coleman said “It was great to show that we’ve learned from our mistakes earlier in the season and we’ve been able to apply it as we’ve gone forwards. Every time we’ve gone on the water we’ve learned something and we got better. So look out Season 3.”

Look out indeed. This season saw the Series have their first races in Africa and North America and expand their viewing global viewing audience to a potential 1 billion people. LeBron James and the AluLa team were added this year and Monaco will have a team next year. Although Brady won the overall Chamionship again there were five separate winners of individual races: Rafa, Aoki, Blue Rising, Team Brazil and Brady.

Student programme to advance electric mobility

It should also bee noted that an important part of the E1 mission is not just to bring exciting racing to cities around the world but also to showcase exciting new non-fossil-fuel technologies and help protect costal waters.

In Dubrovnik, for instance, the E1-coordinated Blue Natural Capital Summit brought together global thought leaders, innovators, and policymakers to explore the future of clean marine technologies, sustainable coastal development, blue carbon markets, and eco-tourism to drive growth and resilience.

In Miami, E1 Presenting Partner PIF hosted its Driving Force STEM programme to advance electric mobility and inspire students to pursue careers in technology. The initiative has already reached more than 60,000 students across 660 schools, bringing the excitement of electric racing directly into classrooms around the world.

Rodi Basso, Founder and CEO of E1, said “This Miami finale captured everything that makes E1 so special: speed, spectacle, and purpose. Massive congratulations to Team Brady who fought hard all season to retain their Champions of the Water crown. The fans watching here and around the world were treated to E1 at its best and a final worthy of an incredible year of racing. After a break, teams new and old will be back vying for race wins and the title in 2026.”

E1 Series website

2025 E1 Championship: Final Standing