How Cassidy made his claim for the Formula E crown

The Berlin E-Prix double-header marked the start of the second half of the 2024 campaign and, while previously the destination of the championship had remained wide open given the unpredictable nature of Formula E, Nick Cassidy put down a marker for the title last weekend. The Jaguar driver enjoyed almost the perfect event in Germany, taking victory and a further podium, as well as the points for both fastest laps, which allowed him to come away with a relatively healthy lead in the standings having last occupied top spot nearly two months ago.

What made Cassidy’s performances so impressive was the manner in which he claimed those results, as a victory could not have looked further away midway through the opening race at the Tempelhof Airport circuit, which for the 2024 edition featured a new 15-turn layout.

Having initially lost a few places from his starting position of ninth, Cassidy “took it upon myself to maybe go towards” a different strategy, which meant dropping to the very back of the field in a bid to conserve considerable amounts of energy that he could use in the final stages.

It was a strategy filled with risk, though, as numerous drivers throughout the pack were forced into pitstops to either replace broken front wings or punctured tyres as both Berlin races produced the now typical chaotic and frenetic style of Formula E racing.

Cassidy himself was all too aware of such threats, having been eliminated by an errant front wing in Sao Paulo earlier this year – it had become lodged under his car and sent him into the wall. Contact in the opening Misano race and more broken bodywork had meant another non-score, his only two from the campaign so far.

Once racing resumed on lap 17 after the first of two safety cars, deployed to recover the stricken Envision entry of Joel Eriksson, Cassidy found himself last of the 21 runners. He had only climbed up another four places by the halfway point of the 46-lap contest – extended by six laps due to the cautions.

Cassidy's strategy is in the Berlin opener was high risk but ended in high reward

Photo by: Andreas Beil

But his under-the-radar performance was nothing short of incredible as he slowly and methodically began to scythe through the order, only appearing inside the top 10 for the first time with 10 laps remaining.

Fifth at the 41st time of asking, Cassidy passed team-mate Mitch Evans, Pascal Wehrlein and Oliver Rowland in the space of a lap. Now behind race leader Jean-Eric Vergne but with considerably more energy in reserve, Cassidy sailed ahead on the run into the Turn 6/7 hairpin and over the final four laps proceeded to pull out a margin of 4.7 seconds.

It was a performance that highlighted his prowess for looking at the bigger picture during a race that had been demonstrated at other points this season, but not quite to the same devastating level as in Berlin. “It was like the Daytona 500 out there,” said Cassidy, whose second win of the season vaulted him back to the top of the standings after entering the weekend seven points behind Wehrlein.

In stark contrast to his opening race strategy, Cassidy was in the mix from the outset in the sequel

That deficit had been flipped into a nine-point lead, which Cassidy nearly doubled just 24 hours later as he reached the podium once more, although this time on the second step having failed by just 0.7s in making it back-to-back wins.

In stark contrast to his opening race strategy, Cassidy was in the mix from the outset in the sequel, having qualified second, and he took the lead immediately into the opening turn.

He took the first of his two Attack Mode activations at the start of lap three, the total time of extra power having been reduced for the Berlin event as a precaution, with the FIA and battery supplier WAE concerned about the ageing health of the batteries. It meant instead of the usual eight, only six minutes were available in the opening race and just four for the second to be used across two activations. The double activation proved to be a contributing factor in the outcome of the race, with Evans the only leading runner not to have taken both Attack Modes in the first half of proceedings.

The second Berlin race had a more familiar pattern, while battles between Evans, Rowland and Cassidy allowed da Costa critical time to escape at the front

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

On the back foot strategically compared with those around him, the Jaguar driver had moved to the front on lap 31 out of 41 in a bid to pull a gap to the pack behind, which was headed by Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa, Cassidy and Rowland.

Over the following three laps Evans was unable to pull away and approaching the Turn 6/7 hairpin he ran deep into the corner, allowing da Costa to move ahead. More crucially, though, Evans inadvertently slowed Cassidy on the exit of the corner, which allowed Rowland to move up to third into the next hairpin for what was a race-defining moment.

Evans briefly moved back into the lead at the start of lap 36, where he immediately took his second Attack Mode and fell back behind da Costa and Rowland, rejoining alongside Cassidy. The team-mates battled through the following corners, with Evans using the extra power to blast Cassidy along the back straight. Next time around Evans tried to get in front of Rowland, but the Briton began to defend heavily, giving da Costa the chance to pull a gap of more than one second as the race entered its final stages.

With the extra power afforded to him by Attack Mode expunged, Evans’s attentions switched from attacking Rowland to defending from Cassidy behind. Approaching Turn 6/7, the championship leader moved to the outside, which gave him the inside line for the next left-hand hairpin moments later. Cassidy then set off after Rowland, sweeping past the Nissan driver into Turn 6/7 on the penultimate lap.

The gap to da Costa in front stood at 1.3s, and although Cassidy was able to nearly halve that margin, it was too little too late. For da Costa, it was his second on-the-road win this season, having had his victory in Misano stripped after his car was found to be in breach of technical regulations, although Porsche’s appeal is due to be heard next month.

The Portuguese driver had led 23 of the 41 laps in a race, which while still chaotic, had some semblance of order with energy targets not as high as the previous day with the scheduled race distance two laps shorter than Saturday’s opener.

Da Costa picked up a popular home win for Porsche but its main championship fighter Wehrlein lost ground in the title race

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

While da Costa was able to secure Porsche a popular victory on home soil, team-mate Wehrlein endured a trying race on his run to fourth, having damaged his steering after being edged into the wall on the opening lap. In the second half of the race, the German also found himself going wheel-to-wheel with Jake Dennis, with the pair making contact on more than one occasion. “Between Porsche [powered] cars, this should not happen – it’s been discussed many times, it’s still not working,” said Wehrlein, who had taken fifth in the opener.

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Dennis had claimed pole for the second race following a remarkable turnaround from the previous day, after he and Andretti team-mate Norman Nato qualified on the back row. Like Cassidy, reigning champion Dennis had conserved large amounts of energy in race one and was pushing towards the front when a puncture caused by contact forced him to pit, before reporting vibrations and retiring.

Both Wehrlein and Dennis were able to move up a position each on Sunday at the expense of Evans, but only when the Kiwi ran wide again at Turn 6/7 on the penultimate lap, which left him sixth at the flag to go with his fourth in the opener.

"We can’t keep qualifying on the eighth row and expect to keep getting podiums, I know it keeps happening but if you want to win the championship, that can’t happen" Oliver Rowland

While Cassidy grabbed the headlines and championship lead in Germany, Rowland once again showcased himself as this year’s dark horse for the title after claiming a brace of third place finishes – taking his podium total this season to six. The feat was even more impressive as he started 15th and 16th across the weekend, underlining the Nissan package’s strength in the race but a weakness in qualifying, which Rowland admitted needs to be addressed. “We can’t keep qualifying on the eighth row and expect to keep getting podiums, I know it keeps happening but if you want to win the championship, that can’t happen,” said Rowland, who now sits just 22 points behind Cassidy in the standings.

His charge in the opener was halted by Vergne, with the DS Penske driver putting in a stoic defence for the final laps having led for 18 tours in total as he was left satisfied with second, having only been beaten by Cassidy’s ultra-aggressive strategy.

Cassidy is the driver to catch with three rounds and six races to go

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images