The first stage of Extreme H took place in Saudi Arabia.

      Back in 2021, when the electric off‑road series Extreme E launched, there was no shortage of press noise, which is perfectly understandable. Back then the field included teams owned or co‑owned by motorsport stars such as Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button and Carlos Sainz Sr.

      Button and Sainz drove their teams’ cars, Rosberg attended almost every race, and all of this kept public interest high for quite some time. It was so intense that McLaren made its debut in the series in the second season, but the buzz gradually died down.

      Then, when the promoters of Extreme E changed course and announced a shift to hydrogen technologies, a whole string of changes followed, including the departure of almost all the well‑known teams from the championship. And the result: this weekend in Saudi Arabia saw the inaugural round of the new Extreme H series, yet the attention of the global motorsport press to the event was decidedly modest.

      And that was despite the cutting‑edge technologies that, apparently, have been successfully implemented in the Pioneer 25 cars. Part of the information shortfall can be explained by the fact that the hydrogen series’ start was postponed several times and the homologation process dragged on — apparently everyone simply got tired of waiting.

      Moreover, Extreme E is no longer associated with any big celebrity names, and among the teams only JBX hints at the fact that Jenson Button was once involved with it. But all that remains is the abbreviation, and even that has been somewhat altered.

      In any case, this past weekend saw the series’ debut round won by the experienced pairing of Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor, who had raced in Extreme E for Veloce Racing, a team once associated with Adrian Newey.

      But that was a long time ago, and now Hansen and Taylor are driving for the Saudi team Jameel Motorsport. There are eight teams in Extreme H in total, including the Swedish Kristoffersson Motorport (KMS), for which Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Olin‑Kottulinsky — who won a lot in the days of Extreme E — compete. It’s enough to say that Johan twice became champion of that earlier series, yet this weekend he and his teammate were only third.

      Still, this is only the beginning. We’ll see what comes next.