Written By Katie Jeromson
As we came into the final weekend of the Formula E World Championship there were seven drivers in contention, a day later and we’re down to just three, separated by just seven points. An electrifying Saturday led to Pascal Wehrlein shooting up the standings, taking the championship lead from Nick Cassidy, who dropped to third place.
Sunday did not start well for Cassidy though, as the 30 minute practice session got going and he went out on track, the dash came up with a brake system error, seeing him come back to the pits. With 20 minutes of the session left, Jaguar TCS Racing sent him back out on track, only for a frustrated Cassidy to come straight back in, still plagued by those brake issues.
Elsewhere Nyck De Vries stopped out on track, less than three minutes into the session, but after a brief yellow flag he was able to get going once more. The Mahindra team hoping to capitalise on yesterday’s first double points finish.
With less than ten minutes to go Cassidy still hadn’t managed a full lap of the track, understandably fuming when getting out the car, throwing his steering wheel out and gloves on the floor. More happily, Robin Frijns (who was cleared by medical staff to race today,) was finding himself second fastest, with Jean-Eric Vergne topping the time sheet.
The other two championship contenders, Pascal Wehrlein and Mitch Evans, flew fairly under the radar, times for both sitting around the midfield for the majority of the session.
Then as we entered the final few minutes, Wehrlein moved up to second, 0.011 seconds off the fastest time set by Oliver Rowland at 1:10.127. Interestingly Evans was quicker than Wehrlein in the first two sectors, but unable to put a full lap together he finished practice in 17th, complaining about the balance of the car.
One thing was certain, we were in store for a nail biting qualifying!
Group A got underway for their qualifying session, with championship contenders Cassidy and Wehrline both in the group. Cassidy with the woes of yesterday’s qualifying to put behind him and no practice in the morning session.
From the garage Evans was looking on, surely looking for anything he can learn to take through to Group B.
Cassidy got out nice and early, taking all the opportunity to get to grips with the car and track today. It wasn’t long before he was on the radio, to ensure the next set of tyres had been cooled down, ready to attack his later push laps.
Elsewhere, Wehrlein was looking confident, consistently putting in good laps and Oliver Rowland was going for broke, getting frighteningly close to the wall.
With two and a half minutes to go Cassidy went fastest, 0.272 seconds clear of Wehrlein. He was then unable to improve on his final push lap, leaving the Kiwi with a very nervous wait.
It was redemption for Cassidy and the Jaguar Team though, Wehrlein did improve but was still 0.145 seconds adrift. Sam Bird and Robin Frijns followed the duo into the duels, meaning we lost Oliver Rowland, Jehan Daruvala, Dan Ticktum, Jake Hughes, Sebastien Buemi, Sasha Fenestraz and Jake Dennis. The reigning champion shocking fans by finishing bottom of the group.
Group B then got underway and it was a rinse and repeat for the Jaguar team, Mitch Evans also went fastest with just over two minutes to go, not managing to improve on the final push lap.
However, there were some key differences in this session, the biggest being that Antonio Felix Da Costa failed to make it through for Porsche, a potentially huge blow for the constructors championship. It also wasn’t Jaguar topping the time sheets for Group B, as Evans had to settle for second, behind the Maserati of Max Gunther.
At the end of the session joining Gunther and Evans in the top four was Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne. Losing out: Da Costa, Norman Nato, Lucas Di Grassi, Nico Muller, Sergio Sette Camara, Edoardo Mortara and De Vries.
The quarter final duels went generally as expected but certainly the way the top teams wanted it! Wehrlein won out against Bird with a 0.382 second margin, meaning the pressure was on for Cassidy against Frijns, who with a slightly scrappy lap won out by 0.106 seconds.
Despite going deep in a few corners, Evans won by a 0.234 second margin from Vandoorne, meaning both Jaguars in the top four minimum, earning a fit pump from James Barclay. Finally Gunther and Vergne lined up but with the Maserati of Gunther winning out by 0.074 seconds.
This meant that two of the main championship contenders were head to head, Wehrlein vs Cassidy! Interestingly on the prep lap Cassidy was still getting information about his brakes, were they going to hold out for this all important battle? Well they absolutely did, with Cassidy beating Wehrlein by a 0.163 second margin.
It wasn’t all smiles for Jaguar though, as both drivers were neck and neck, trading off the lead several times throughout the lap. Then it was Max Gunther that emerged victorious, by a tiny margin of 0.046 seconds, a soothing balm for yesterday’s DNF.
So it was Cassidy vs Gunther with three all important championship points on the line, a small but much needed lifeline for the Jaguar driver. Once again Maserati against Jaguar and once again the lead was swapped back and forth, keeping the crowd on their toes.
It was Cassidy that emerged victorious, a lap time of 1:09.871 with Gunther 0.169 seconds behind. Only 24 hours before Cassidy lined up 17th on the grid, now with three points in his pocket, starting on pole position. Speaking after the session an emotional Cassidy called the performance one of the proudest of his career.
Now after qualifying we are left with just four points across the top three drivers and 34 laps left to decide the 2024 Formula E World Champion.
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