Even the Abu Dhabi Auto Racing League
Jaguar's win in Mitch Evans' Formula E championship opener in Shanghai was affected by team tactics that left championship leader Nick Cassidy clearly disgruntled and 13 points behind Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein.
Evans, who finished fifth in the championship, 43 points behind his team-mate, was Jaguar's runner-up throughout, having qualified third while Cassidy only started 10th.
But while Evans was at the front primarily battling the Porsches during a cautious first three quarters of another 'peloton' style race of cars running side-by-side to conserve energy, Cassidy stayed in the midfield until the closing stages and had 1-2% more Usable energy left over from the other front runners by the time he made his way into the lead group.
When Cassidy got into third with four laps remaining, Evans was challenging Wehrlein for the lead.
Having felt that Porsche had previously fallen behind for too long in similar races, Wehrlein this time bemoaned the amount of time his team was willing to spend in an energy-efficient race leader position, meaning it had to conserve more than its Jaguars before the shutdown. . Rolls.
Frustrated, Cassidy asked, “Can someone talk to me?” on the team radio as he loomed behind his teammate as Evans repeatedly attacked the Wehrlein defense to take the lead to no avail. One particular incident at the final turn in which Wehrlein clipped the grass frustrated Jaguar more than anything else.
“We're still standing,” was engineer Phil Ingram's instructions to Cassidy regarding Evans' attack a second time.
“So I support him [Evans] Until the end of the race?” Cassidy asked.
The response came: “These are the instructions at the moment.”
Jaguar's strategy appears to be that both cars have enough of a power advantage to pass Weherlein and secure a 1-2 on the final lap. But this did not take into account how fiercely Wehrlein defended his position.
Evans finally made it through Turn 1 on the outside to start the final lap, with Wehrlein having to pull back earlier than he wanted as his power condition activated.
He then felt that Evans deliberately slowed him down to try to allow Cassidy to pass him as well – something which Feherlein strongly resisted.
As Evans headed towards the checkered flag, contact at the final turn left Wehrlein in second place, with Cassidy, the bodywork flying from his car, overtaking Oliver Rowland's Nissan for third.
The duel until the end 🫨@mitchevans_ He takes victory in Shanghai as Wehrlein takes second place from Cassidy in the final corner!#Shanghai Race pic.twitter.com/AJ81OFoQ5c
— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) May 25, 2024
While Cassidy described Wehrlein's driving as “pretty sloppy” on the slow lap, his brief post-race interview was more about the frustration he felt in his team for being asked to drop behind Evans when in a better energy position.
A stern-faced Cassidy answered all of interviewer Radzi Chinyanganya's questions with minimal words, first saying “It's nice to get 1-2… 1-3” before saying “I had the energy to win, for sure.” When asked to clarify his feelings, he simply said, “It was not my decision.”
Jaguar has made no secret of its desire to give its drivers a title shot for as long as possible or its strong interest in capturing the teams' championship (which it comfortably leads). Team principal James Barclay noted that Evans was his first driver for most of the race meaning Jaguar wanted to prioritize a victory shot but was open to allowing Cassidy to pass him if he felt Evans could not pass Weherlein.
“There's definitely an argument to say we can move him early, for sure,” Barkley said of Cassidy.
“But we also had to give Mitch a chance to fight for that style. He was out there racing the whole race, qualifying third.
“So just a case of judging it and then saying if we don't think we can get past Wehrlein with Mitch, we'll let Nick go. Just trying to play the overall team game.
“The priority is to get the most points for the team and not risk a potential problem. We stood our ground in the end and I think it went well.”
The result may change after the race.
Winner Evans and fifth-place finisher Antonio Felix da Costa are both under investigation for “leaving the track and gaining advantage”, while Wehrlein's contact with Cassidy on the final lap is also being investigated.
Champion Jake Dennis and polesitter Jean-Eric Vergne were among the other race champions, but they finished sixth and seventh in the final shuffle.
Nyck de Vries also managed to take the lead in the best race ever during his return to Formula E. His eventual eighth-place finish still “feels like a victory” as it awarded Mahindra points for the first time.
