How Cassidy surprised himself to storm to Formula E's summit in Saudi

“Historically I’ve struggled here a little bit so I’m not expecting big things.” Nick Cassidy’s pre-event comments did little to offer much encouragement that he would continue his promising start to the 2024 Formula E season in Saudi Arabia. Yet come the end of the Diriyah E-Prix double-header, the Kiwi had not only walked away with his first win for Jaguar but also the lead in the drivers’ standings after two well-measured performances in varying circumstances.

The foundation for Cassidy’s win in the second race was laid down in qualifying as he made it as far as the semi-final duels and a starting position of third. On a street circuit where dust and dirt was prevalent off the racing line, as well as energy management being less critical than at other venues, overtaking was at a premium.

As before in the season-opening Mexico City E-Prix, where Cassidy had finished third on his Jaguar debut, strategic use of the two mandatory Attack Mode activations ultimately proved decisive. After maintaining his starting position, Cassidy began to make progress as early as lap four when polesitter Oliver Rowland, who had dropped to second place off the line, took his first Attack Mode activation and was followed a lap later by leader Robin Frijns.

Both fell behind Cassidy, who began to increase his pace at the head of the field, extending his advantage to 1.6 seconds, which would likely have been enough to retain the lead when taking his first Attack Mode. As it was, he maintained the gap as Frijns took his second activation at the same time on lap seven of 36.

When Cassidy took his final Attack Mode just six tours later, he comfortably retained the lead having this time built a gap of almost 2s to the Envision driver behind. Such had been the intense pace between the leading pair during the early stages that Frijns later admitted they “were almost killing each other” on energy consumption, with the gap to Rowland reaching as much as 6s at one stage.

The Nissan driver, who had taken his first pole since Seoul in 2022, admitted that he “probably didn’t quite have the confidence that I had the [energy] efficiency” to match Cassidy and Frijns, and instead focused on consolidating third. But with a net-race lead and energy at a critical level, Cassidy began to slow his pace and gradually back Frijns up into Rowland and the rest of the chasing pack, which included McLaren’s Jake Hughes, DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne and the second Nissan of Sacha Fenestraz.

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Frijns beat Rowland off the line to snatch the early lead, but couldn't deny Cassidy as the pair went toe-to-toe

Managing his pace over the second half of the race, Cassidy’s lead was never more than a few tenths of a second over the remainder of the contest, yet he never faced a serious test from Frijns or Rowland as the podium places remained unchanged until the chequered flag.

“I didn’t always feel that,” said Cassidy when asked if he had the lead under control in the latter stages. “My energy target was super low, him [Frijns] and I were going at it at the start, but it was nice to be able to drive like that and try and make a difference and I think we did.”

The ex-Envision driver added: “It is the dream start [to life with Jaguar], I hadn’t had a podium here or Mexico before. I think my best result at this track was sixth across the last six races. It’s definitely above expectations. It’s not really been a track for me for whatever reason so I genuinely thought I would struggle. Like every race, though, I work as hard as I can and try to be better.”

Evans was left unhappy with what he deemed to be a “double move” under braking from Vergne. The overshoot allowed Vergne to retain second as Cassidy moved up to third, with Evans also dropping behind Bird to finish fifth

Cassidy had secured another rostrum 24 hours earlier in a recovery drive of sorts after starting seventh, but arguably it should have been his team-mate Mitch Evans who was the one to stand on the podium, and quite possibly the highest step of all.

Jaguar’s other Kiwi had qualified second and took the fight to poleman Jean-Eric Vergne and reigning Formula E champion Jake Dennis in the first half of the 37-lap race. But Evans was left aggrieved with Vergne after the pair made contact on lap four when Evans rejoined from taking his first Attack Mode activation.

“Vergne pushed me into the wall,” said Evans. “The next corner was essentially mine but with that contact, it gave him the momentum, how that wasn’t a penalty I don’t understand.”

Finding himself third once the rest of the Attack Mode activations had played out but with more power than Vergne and Dennis ahead, Evans set about gaining places. He demoted Vergne into Turn 18 for second on lap 12 and attempted the same move on Dennis two laps later.

But having run out of his Attack Mode boost heading onto the starting straight, he was left to make a late lunge up the inside that briefly put him into the lead before he ran wide and dropped to second. The 90-degree right would prove to be Evans’s undoing two more times, the next moment coming on lap 16 when, after going defensive against Vergne, he ran wide once more and dropped to third.

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Evans was aggrieved to end up fifth in race one, when he felt he should have finished second

Cassidy soon moved up to fourth but with both Attack Modes still to take was at risk of losing places over the remaining laps. Despite the Jaguar team suffering from radio problems, they were able to communicate for Evans to let his team-mate ahead who in turn was able to build a big enough margin to eventually come out fourth just in front of McLaren’s Sam Bird.

During this phase, Vergne in second had pulled a small gap but the DS Penske driver was forced to critically save energy, allowing Evans the opportunity to make a move on the final lap. Diving up the inside again into Turn 18, Evans overshot the corner and was left unhappy with what he deemed to be a “double move” under braking from Vergne. The error allowed Vergne to retain second as Cassidy moved up to third, with Evans also dropping behind Bird as he finished fifth.

Things went from bad to worse the next day for Evans, as he failed to make it through the qualifying group stage ahead of the second race after “finger problems” with his car. Ultimately, it meant he could only climb to 10th in the final classification such was the difficulty in overtaking and now trails new team-mate Cassidy by 36 points after just three races.

Evans’s misfortune in the opening race and Vergne’s drastic energy saving in the closing stages meant Andretti driver Dennis took a comprehensive win by more than 13s, the second-largest winning margin in the all-electric championship’s history.

Dennis had started third on the grid but made a sluggish getaway and initially dropped behind Sergio Sette Camara, the ERT driver having been the star of qualifying to take fourth. The Brazilian launched up the inside of Evans as the pair just avoided contact but a slight loss of momentum allowed Dennis to regain the position and clear off into the distance with Vergne and Evans.

The pivotal moment that “won us the race”, according to Dennis, was when he ignored his team’s radio call to take his first Attack Mode on lap five while leading, instead deciding to run a lap longer. This was in a bid to rejoin ahead of Evans and possibly Vergne who had already done one Attack Mode each.

“That’s one of the good things with the team is they sort of allow me to do my own race and have faith in my decisions behind the wheel,” said Dennis.

The strategy worked as Dennis found himself in second, and when the second Attack Modes were completed on lap eight, Dennis kept the net-race lead. Only headed again when Evans briefly took the lead after misjudging his braking at Turn 18, Dennis was left to take his first win of his title defence, as well as the fastest lap on the penultimate tour.

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Dennis took a crushing first win of his title defence in the opening race, but struggled in the second race and failed to add more points

But just 24 hours after his crushing victory Dennis endured a torrid race, claiming he was “shocked why we were so bad today” after failing to score any points in race two. He could only start 14th on the grid after failing to progress beyond his qualifying group, with his final effort scuppered by a red flag.

But the Briton lamented a lack of one-lap pace, stating “the red flag didn’t ruin our weekend to be honest, we weren’t making the duels even if I finished that lap. Just pure pace over one lap was nowhere, but we proved in the race that we were quick again.”

Although he finished 10th on the road and in the final points-scoring position, as well as another point for fastest lap, he was handed a five-second penalty post-race for overtaking under yellow flags. This occurred after Evans took his Attack Mode activation on the exit of Turn 18, where yellow flags were present. Dennis, along with team-mate Norman Nato and Sette Camara were all found guilty of the same offence, with the penalty dropping Dennis out of the points.

Cassidy’s pessimism ahead of the event stemmed from the fact he had failed to stand on the podium in either Mexico City or Diriyah in three years of Formula E, yet he heads to the next round in Sao Paulo having scored a hat-trick of rostrums

“Mitch took Attack Mode and instead of stopping and waiting for him I just continued on my normal racing line,” said Dennis, who also lost his point for fastest lap as a result of being outside the top 10.

“It’s difficult for the officials to judge, it’s difficult for me to judge. Thankfully I had no one behind so I could have stopped but if it happened to the guys in front who were battling, it would have been an absolute disaster because they would have had to stop, which would have caused a big incident.”

Championship leader heading into the event after his season-opening Mexico City E-Prix victory, Pascal Wehrlein finished both Diriyah races in the points but failed to feature in the lead battles. The Porsche driver started sixth for the opener, but a poor launch meant he finished the first lap down in ninth and he could only recover to eighth.

For the sequel, Wehrlein failed to progress beyond the group stages and started 10th, but he made steady progress, demoting Bird on the exit of Turn 18 after the McLaren driver had tried to pass Vergne ahead. Wehrlein soon made short work of the double champion, sweeping ahead into Turn 1 for seventh, which is where he finished as he now sits second in the standings, 19 points behind new championship leader Cassidy.

Cassidy’s pessimism ahead of the event stemmed from the fact he had failed to stand on the podium in either Mexico City or Diriyah in three years of Formula E, yet he heads to the next round in Sao Paulo having scored a hat-trick of rostrums. Post-victory he admitted that he “was due a bad day” and his rivals will be hoping that it comes sooner rather than later given his impressive start to life with Jaguar in 2024.

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Cassidy believes he's due a bad day, but has enjoyed a storming start to life at Jaguar with three straight podiums