Written by Jacob Awcock, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
Ahead of the Mexico City E-Prix, Nick Cassidy claimed he was “unsure” how competitive he and Jaguar would be in the opening half of this season, despite an impressive drive from teammate Mitch Evans to claim victory, from last on the grid.
Coming into Mexico City, Cassidy remains point-less while teammate Evans tops the driver's championship, providing Jaguar with the 25 points that place them in second place in the Teams Championship, two behind NEOM McLaren.
São Paulo proved a fruitful season opener for the Coventry-based team: Evans claimed victory in a thrilling race that saw the Kiwi climb from last on the grid to the front, beating António Félix da Costa by just three-tenths of a second on the line.
Teammate Cassidy, on the other hand, didn’t have much luck on his side. Having run in a promising third place, the 30-year-old was eliminated on lap 30, following a scary shunt that saw Pascal Wehrlein launch into the barriers at high speeds on his side. Luckily, both escaped unharmed, but Cassidy’s race was ruined.
Heading into Mexico, Jaguar looked like the team to beat, their powertrain looking strong, but Cassidy seemed less than hopeful ahead of the second race of the season, his confidence clearly knocked following the disappointing start to the season.
The Kiwi claimed how the second round of the season “felt like round one, 2025, first race of the year, zero points.”
Yet praise was not flooding in from Cassidy after the team’s round one win, as he argued the team “wasn't as competitive as they would have liked to be in free practice and qualifying but in the race we were okay and we could fight.”
“We’re a little bit behind where we want to be with this car” explained Cassidy, “I’m more hopeful for the second half of the season than I am now, but it’s all okay. I think the team is working really well, really hard and we’ll see how this weekend goes.
“It will be tough both these guys (Oliver Rowland from Nissan and Jean-Éric Vergne
from DS Penske) looked very quick in São Paulo, and I’m sure they’ll be good in the rounds to come.”
Despite this Cassidy, who will compete in his 75th race at Round 12 in Jakarta later this season, remains hopeful for what is to come in the later half of the season. He mentioned:
“We have some really cool and exciting things in the pipeline, we’ve got to wait till the break after Jeddah to see how that comes on though.”
The race is poised to be a thrilling one with rain potentially forecast for both qualifying and the race, meaning predicting the outcome of the race remains an impossible task.
Jaguar will look to capitalise on the chaotic conditions if their car doesn't replicate the pace in São Paulo.
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