Tempelhof Airport, one of the world's earliest commercial airports and a symbol of Berlin's 20th-century history, closed to aviation in 2008 and the site was subsequently converted into a public park and event space. Formula E identified the vast runways and apron areas as suitable for a street circuit, and the original 2.469 km anti-clockwise layout was designed by Rodrigo Nunes. It featured 17 turns packed into a compact distance, creating a dense sequence of corners with minimal respite. The course ran underneath the historic terminal's canopy roof between Turns 13 and 14, and again at Turn 17, giving Tempelhof one of the most architecturally distinctive backdrops in international motorsport.
Venturi driver Nick Heidfeld described the original layout's character ahead of its debut: the closely sequenced corners offered little opportunity for conventional overtaking but increased the probability of driver error under pressure, while the two longer straights provided the clearest passing zones.
The circuit hosted its first Formula E race on 23 May 2015. Lucas di Grassi initially took victory, but post-race technical checks discovered a regulation infringement on his car. He was disqualified and the win was awarded to Jérôme d'Ambrosio of Dragon Racing.
The Berlin ePrix was absent from Tempelhof in 2016 because the airport terminal building was in use as temporary accommodation for refugees arriving in Germany during the European migration crisis. Formula E moved the race to an alternative Berlin Street Circuit laid out along Karl-Marx-Allee near Alexanderplatz. Although the 2016–17 season calendar listed Berlin without specifying the venue, it was confirmed in January 2017 that the race would return to Tempelhof.
When the event returned in June 2017, the circuit layout had been completely redesigned. The revamped track hosted a doubleheader after the Brussels ePrix was cancelled. Felix Rosenqvist won the first race for Mahindra in his maiden Formula E victory, and Sébastien Buemi took the second for Renault e.dams.
Tempelhof played a unique role in the COVID-19-affected 2019–20 season. After multiple rounds were cancelled due to the pandemic, the FIA arranged for the season to conclude with three consecutive double-header events at Tempelhof in early August 2020, using a different circuit configuration for each pair of races. The six-race finale used a reverse-direction configuration for races one and two, the standard layout for races three and four, and an extended version with additional turns for the final pair, providing variety within a bio-secure bubble at a single venue.
The Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit is one of Formula E's most distinctive venues, combining industrial heritage, civic history, and motorsport in a setting available at no other circuit in the world. The track's evolving layouts — anti-clockwise, reversed, extended — have demonstrated the flexibility of the airport site, while its architectural signature moment running beneath the terminal canopy remains one of the most recognisable images in Formula E's visual identity.
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