How Kiwis stormed Berlin to put Porsche under pressure

New Zealand took Formula E by storm at last weekend's Berlin E-Prix double-header, as Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy propelled themselves firmly into a title battle which is finely poised heading into the second half of the 16-race season.

While the all Jaguar-powered podium in Brazil last month might have appeared a one-off to some during a season largely dominated by Porsche, the narrative firmly shifted in favour of the Big Cats with the double-header in Germany.

The British marque locked out the front row for the opener courtesy of Sebastien Buemi’s Envision Racing machine, his 16th Formula E pole a new championship record, with Sam Bird alongside. But Bird’s Jaguar team-mate Evans, who won last time out in Sao Paulo, could only manage ninth having missed out on a spot in the qualifying duels. Not that it mattered to the 2021-2022 series runner-up, who predicted that “if you start in the top 10 you’re still within shot of a good result as we’ve seen in the past few races”.

As had been the case in Sao Paulo, the opening salvo at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit turned into something resembling a stage of the Tour de France as drivers led before dropping back into the peloton so as not to punch a hole in the air for the cars behind and allowing them to save energy.

This style of racing generated eight different leaders via 23 changes for the lead and, come the end of the race, 190 overtakes in total. It meant that as early as lap 17 Evans found himself at the front of the pack before falling back. Approaching the final segment of the race, it became clear that the Jaguar power units were once again the ones to have as Buemi led from Bird and Evans.

The pivotal moment came on lap 39 out of 43 – the race distance extended by three laps following two earlier safety car periods – as Bird began to pressure Buemi for the lead. The Briton looked to the inside of the Turn 9 right-hand hairpin, which the 2015-2016 Formula E champion covered off. But moving to the inside allowed Evans a clear run on the outside line.

Buemi couldn't hold off Jaguar team-mates Bird and Evans, then lost out to Gunther on the final lap

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Pulling alongside Bird into the braking zone, the pair ran side-by-side through the corner before Evans completed the pass on the run to the final turn. Sensing this was the key moment of the race, Evans then immediately pounced on Buemi into Turn 1 with a late dive down the inside to secure back-to-back wins.

“I knew it was going to be chaos but that was on another level,” said Evans after his victory. “To navigate yourself through some of the slow [cars], people backing up in front of you. That concertina effect, and then people not taking you out as well, people trying to overtake you where they’re not really meaning or wanting to and you’re doing the same as well. It was a bit extreme.”

It was a day to remember for the Jaguar outfit, Bird finishing alongside his team-mate on the podium to secure the team’s maiden 1-2 in the championship with a final lap pass on Buemi. The Swiss driver was once again forced to defend, this time into the Turn 6 left-hand hairpin, but Bird sent it around the outside with a late-braking manoeuvre as he just kept on-line through the exit of the corner.

"Maybe the not wanting to lead thing is a bit overhyped" Nick Cassidy

Buemi’s day went from bad to worse as approaching the final bend Maximilian Guenther made a similar move to Bird's, the Maserati MSG driver having shadowed the leading trio during the final stages of the race after starting one place above Evans in eighth.

Guenther moved over to cover the inside line into the final bend after sweeping ahead, but he clipped and damaged Buemi’s front wing as both ran wide through the turn, with Guenther getting the final podium position after a drag race to the line for his first points of the season.

While Buemi was left fuming with his performance, having felt victory was on the cards, his Envision team-mate Cassidy was also left to rue what might have been having put in an incredible recovery drive. The 28-year-old had been among the leading pack during the opening half of the race but damaged his front wing (through Turn 9), which he replaced under the second safety car period at the midway point of proceedings.

The caution had been deployed after NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum and DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne came together on the exit of Turn 3. The McLarens of Jake Hughes and Rene Rast also involved, with only the German able to continue of that quartet. Ticktum’s race had come to an end after an impressive showing as the Briton jumped from fourth on the grid to lead at the start after running around the outside of Buemi into Turn 1, before the inside line for the following sequence of corners handed him the position.

Ticktum's race came to an end after early promise, resulting in a safety car that allowed Cassidy to replace his damaged wing

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Despite dropping to the back of the field after his visit to the pits, Cassidy unleashed the true potential of the Jaguar powertrain over the second half of the race with a meteoric rise that meant he was classified fifth. It served as something of warning to the rest of the field ahead of Sunday’s race in which Cassidy took his first victory of the season. And it was a commanding performance that has brought him within reach of the championship lead.

Not that it was easy after there was controversy earlier in the day as Cassidy once again lost out to team-mate Buemi in their quarter-final qualifying duel, despite posting the quicker time in a wet session. He was stripped of his lap time due to an improper use of the 350kw mode after Cassidy activated it during the opening sector of his qualifying lap as drivers tried to find better grip in the tricky conditions with lower power settings.

This was in breach of the regulations, though, which stated it could only be activated on the last sector of the out-lap, thus consigning him to eighth spot on the grid. This had come in the wake of a bizarre radio message during FP3 from Cassidy, where he criticised Buemi for holding him up by imitating his team-mate as tensions between the pair noticeably increased over the weekend.

While Cassidy endured a frustrating qualifying, there was jubilation in the Abt garage as drivers Robin Frijns and Nico Muller claimed a shock front-row lockout after the slippery and treacherous conditions negated their performance deficit. On its return to the series as a Mahindra customer squad, the former Audi factory outfit had never previously managed to qualify higher than the 13th mustered by Muller in Brazil and had yet to register any points ahead of its home race. But any chance of a strong race result evaporated, along with any water on the track surface, as blue skies and bright sunshine were above for the start of the race.

This turned into a delayed start by several minutes after protestors from German climate change group Letzte Generation (Last Generation) gained access to the circuit before they were swiftly removed by security. With proceedings eventually under way, the usual race dynamic of drivers not wanting to lead reared its ugly head again, with all leading runners using both Attack Mode activations in the first half of the race.

On lap 24 out of 40 Cassidy hit the front and, remarkably, stayed there for the duration of the race as the Envision driver was able to maintain his position at the head of the field while saving enough energy despite not running in another car’s slipstream.

“I thought I was leading too early, I was hoping someone would pass me and I was thinking I was really going to struggle on energy but luckily I held on,” admitted Cassidy, who is now just four points off the top of the championship standings. “It shows that maybe the not wanting to lead thing is a bit overhyped.”

Cassidy controlled the second race from the front

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Cassidy’s cause had been aided somewhat by Jake Dennis in second, the Andretti Autosport driver apprehensive about making a move having not scored a point since January following a run of incidents. The latest had come on Saturday when the Briton attempted to pass Guenther into Turn 6 but lost control – which he later blamed on a rear brake issue – before collecting an innocent Antonio Felix da Costa running ahead in fourth after starting down in 19th.

Not wanting to be involved in further incidents, Dennis was initially shuffled back in Sunday’s race but moved into second when Cassidy hit the front. After the problems earlier in the season, the Briton admitted that second “felt like a win” as he also marginally reduced his deficit to championship leader Pascal Wehrlein.

Jean-Eric Vergne battled back to third having been demoted briefly by da Costa and Evans in quick succession, but admitted that his DS Penske squad “need to wake up” to the performance advantage of both Jaguar and Porsche. Despite his rallying call, the Frenchman sits third in the championship standings having finished seventh in the opening Berlin race despite facing the wrong way at one stage. This was after he was tapped into a spin at the final turn by Andretti’s Andre Lotterer, who finished fifth but was knocked back due to eighth by a five-second penalty for the incident.

"By saving so much energy the race gets quite energy unlimited and then that’s the point where you can slowly start to increase pace and start to move forwards, and clearly we did that too late" Pascal Wehrlein

Porsche’s home event proved a difficult one, with championship leader Wehrlein’s lead slashed by 20 points over the course of the weekend. The German suffered another difficult qualifying session – Porsche’s one-lap pace Achilles’ heel on display again – but he was able to make steady progress from 15th to claim sixth at the flag.

Perhaps of greater disappointment, though, was his performance in the second race, when he took seventh despite having started one place higher. He was unable to make any headway to the cars in front, finishing behind Evans, team-mate da Costa and Guenther as the final segment of the race surprisingly featured little in the way of overtaking.

“By saving so much energy the race gets quite energy unlimited and then that’s the point where you can slowly start to increase pace and start to move forwards, and clearly we did that too late,” said Wehrlein.

Guenther put in the performance of the race, climbing from 21st after he and Maserati MSG team-mate Edoardo Mortara had a disastrous qualifying in the wet session.

Wehrlein struggled to make progress in race two and slipped back from his grid position to seventh

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Main benefactors of the tricky qualifying conditions Abt struggled as expected, although both drivers did lead for various points in the early running. Frijns slipped to 17th, but Muller was able to hold on and finish ninth for his first points of the season behind Vandoorne, as Ticktum completed the top 10 – the Briton having been given a five-place grid penalty for his collision with Vandoorne in race one.

The two biggest losers from the second race, though, were Bird and Buemi, both of whom finished outside the points as they pitted to replace damaged front wings.

The season enters its second phase with the championship battle finely poised ahead of the trip to Monaco next month, with the top five contenders covered by 24 points. But based on their Berlin performances, it would be a brave person to bet against either Evans or Cassidy figuring at the front come the end of the season.

Evans followed up his race one victory by finishing fourth in race two, moving him up to fifth in the standings after a tough start to the year

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images