Former Sauber, Ferrari and Williams Formula One driver Felipe Massa made his Formula E debut with Venturi.[25] Massa replaced Maro Engel; Tom Dillmann moved to NIO Formula E Team to replace Luca Filippi.[44] Nico Prost left the e.dams team at the end of the 2017–18 season.[45] Alexander Sims made his race debut with BMW i Andretti Motorsport alongside regular driver António Félix da Costa.[36] Felix Rosenqvist left Mahindra Racing to join Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series. He was replaced by former Manor and Sauber Formula One driver and 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Pascal Wehrlein.[46] On 15 November 2018, it was announced that Rosenqvist will drive the opening round for Mahindra in place of Wehrlein.[39] Nick Heidfeld was replaced in the other Mahindra car by Jérôme d'Ambrosio, who moved to the team from Dragon Racing.[47] Jerome d'Ambrosio in turn was replaced at Dragon by former FIA Formula 2 Championship driver Maximilian Günther.[8] Robin Frijns returned to Formula E as a Virgin Racing driver, replacing Alex Lynn.[11] Former McLaren Formula One driver and 2015 GP2 Series Champion Stoffel Vandoorne and 2018 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Gary Paffett made their race debut with HWA Racelab.[15][16] FIA Formula 2 Championship driver Alexander Albon was originally due to drive for Nissan e.dams but was released from his contract less than 3 weeks before the start of the season to instead drive in the 2019 Formula One World Championship for Toro Rosso.[48] Oliver Rowland, who drove one race in the 2015-16 Formula E championship will replace Albon.[13]