How Porsche's underdog outfoxed Jaguar to steal Formula E glory

Formula E is no stranger to championship-deciding final rounds, but last weekend’s title showdown in London might have been the most dramatic in the all-electric championship’s 10-year history. Pascal Wehrlein defied the odds and the best efforts of Jaguar drivers Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans to claim the crown.

On paper, Wehrlein was always the underdog heading into the final two races of the season, not only because he was 12 points behind Cassidy at the head of the table. The tight, twisty confines of the London ExCeL circuit, with its unique indoor/outdoor configuration, has always favoured Jaguar’s powertrain as evidenced by both Cassidy – then with customer outfit Envision – and Evans taking a win apiece last season.

Unlike last term, though, Porsche’s vastly improved pace over one lap offered the German manufacturer hope at a venue where track position would be key. On a track where overtaking is so difficult, Wehrlein duly secured pivotal second row starting positions for both races.

Third soon became fourth, though, in Saturday’s scheduled 37-lap race. He conceded the position to Norman Nato as the pair headed into the tight left/right chicane of Turns 6/7 on the opening lap. But by the end of lap six, Wehrlein was back ahead.

The race had been neutralised briefly by a safety car after a crash for Robin Frijns, who injured his left hand in a clash with Jake Dennis at the Turn 10/11 chicane. The Envision driver was eventually given the all-clear to race in Sunday’s sequel, despite suffering from pain.

The Dutchman's team-mate, Sebastien Buemi, was now directly in front of Wehrlein. The 2015-16 champion, who had only taken one podium prior to London at the season-opening Mexico City round after a disastrous season, pressured polesitter Evans for the lead and finally moved ahead of the Jaguar driver up the inside into Turn 1 on lap nine.

Buemi and Evans exchanged the lead in the early phases of race one, while Wehrlein cunningly saved energy he later deployed to good effect

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

He remained there until lap 16. As he took his first Attack Mode, Buemi rejoined just in front of Wehrlein, before Evans took his first activation the following tour and cycled back into second. Despite still being in third and having not taken either of his Attack Modes, Wehrlein had been gradually saving energy and had more than 2% extra in reserve than Evans ahead.

Crucially, when Evans moved back in front of Buemi through the final sequence of corners on lap 20, Wehrlein followed through and began mounting pressure on the new leader. Just two laps later, the breakthrough came.

Evans only half defended into Turn 1 as he lifted and coasted to save energy. With enough of a gap on the inside, Wehrlein took the lead and pulled the pin. His first Attack Mode came on lap 23 as he rejoined in the lead, with Evans struggling to match the pace of his title rival. But on Wehrlein’s second activation four laps later, he rejoined alongside Evans, who attempted to hang it out around the outside of Turn 17 before backing out.

Evans immediately moved into second off the line, at the expense of front-row starter Guenther, to create a Jaguar 1-2 at the head of the field. Aware of the significance of this, Wehrlein made a crucial pass on Guenther on lap six

Rather than challenge Wehrlein over the remainder of the race, Evans’s attention was drawn to Maximilian Guenther behind. The Maserati MSG driver had started 11th, but steadily progressed up the order and began to close up rapidly. Evans was helpless as Guenther went ahead on the inside into Turn 10 on lap 30.

But with debris scattered around the circuit after Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz helped Nato into the Turn 1 barrier, another safety car was soon called. It evaporated the healthy lead Wehrlein had built up, however any threat from Guenther quickly disappeared as the German came to a crawl on the restart with a broken gearbox.

Guenther’s stricken machine instigated another brief safety car. But thereafter, and with the race extended by two laps due to the cautions, Wehrlein was never headed en route to his third win of the season and the lead in the drivers’ standings for the first time since heading to Berlin in May.

Wehrlein’s impressive victory gave him a three-point margin over Evans heading into the final race of the season. The pair found themselves together on the second row – Evans ahead of Wehrlein. With Cassidy on pole and now just four points back from Wehrlein, it set up an enthralling winner-takes-all scenario.

Wehrlein crucially overtook Evans to secure victory in race one and put himself in the points lead for the final round

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Evans immediately moved into second off the line, at the expense of front-row starter Guenther, to create a Jaguar 1-2 at the head of the field. Aware of the significance of this, Wehrlein made a crucial pass on Guenther on lap six, moving to the outside for the right of Turn 19, which then gave him the inside line into the final turn.

Cassidy took his first Attack Mode on lap 10 and remained in the lead, Evans having been told over the radio to momentarily back the pack up in order for his team-mate to rejoin ahead. An unhappy Evans proclaimed over the radio that “the gloves are off” and, when Cassidy took his second Attack Mode at the behest of his team on lap 13, he found himself now back in third behind Evans and Wehrlein.

As in the previous day’s race, Wehrlein began to increase the pressure on Evans, the Jaguar driver bleeding energy compared with his title rivals. But this time Wehrlein was unable to force a way through, although came close as the pair made small contact at Turn 1 on lap 20, with Evans handed a black-and-white flag for moving under braking.

With both of his Attack Modes already completed, Cassidy was seemingly in prime position as he bided his time and waited for the two drivers ahead to take their activations. But Cassidy’s title aspirations were shattered when the second Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa hit the Jaguar driver into Turn 16 on lap 28, causing a puncture.

Cassidy’s crippled car caused a concertina effect into the final corner, Guenther losing his front wing in the melee and debris bringing out a second safety car. Pivotally, the caution was deployed mere fractions of a second before Evans and Wehrlein had gone through the Attack Mode activation as both dropped behind Oliver Rowland. The Nissan driver had climbed up from ninth but, once full racing resumed, conceded the lead having been put under investigation for possibly passing as the caution period was deployed.

With time running out for Evans and Wehrlein to use all of their six minutes of Attack Mode before the chequered flag, both drivers registered the first on lap 31 and went for the second on lap 33 out of 37. Incredibly, Evans missed the activation, which meant having to run wide again on the next lap. That dropped him behind Wehrlein, enough for the German to claim the title with second place.

“It started after Portland saying we had a chance to win this, the odds are not with us, but I always believed in this,” said Wehrlein. “I always said to myself multiple times a day, you can do this. Manifesting that win and really believing in that even though the last couple of races I was not so happy with my car, with the balance, struggled, the races didn’t go our way.

After contact in the opening race eliminated him from title contention, Rowland was the man celebrating victory on Sunday

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

“Coming here, I said I wanted to win both races, we almost did. Today was super intense again having both Jaguars in front of us the first couple of laps. We executed this weekend perfectly. For me, I’m happier for the team than myself because I know how much it means, how much work they put into it. I never stopped believing in it until crossing the line.”

Evans, who entered the weekend tied on points with Wehrlein, had been disgruntled by Jaguar’s strategy on Saturday. He believed even if he had got ahead of Wehrlein during the second Attack Mode phase, it was “game over” as he struggled for energy. Come Sunday, the Kiwi was furious with how the team’s tactics had played out and being forced to back up the pack for Cassidy to take his first Attack Mode.

“I feel a bit blindsided to be honest, compared to what was discussed before the race over the last few days and to what was voiced to me was really surprising and disappointing,” said Evans about the strategy calls.

"I feel like my own team were working against me at one point, so that’s not nice"
Mitch Evans

“I was told we could race freely, but that was clearly not the case and that’s what’s cost me the world championship today. Obviously I didn’t want to do that, but I was forced to which was never part of any plan. So you can imagine what was going through my head. There’ll be discussions.”

London marked the fourth season in a row Evans had entered the final round with a shot at the Formula E title, but he missed out on a maiden crown yet again by just seven points.

“This one was the most realistic and it was mine for a bit,” he said. “I feel like my own team were working against me at one point, so that’s not nice.”

Through the championship drama and almost entirely overshadowed, Rowland took victory on home soil having missed the two previous races in Portland due to illness. Along with da Costa, Jean-Eric Vergne and reigning champion Jake Dennis, all four still had mathematical if unlikely chances for the title.

A collision between Rowland and da Costa at the final turn in the opening race – the latter branding Rowland a “sore loser”, with the Briton handed a five-second penalty – and a collision between Dennis and Vergne ended all their respective hopes.

Evans was frustrated to miss out on the title once again

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

By contrast, Cassidy at the head of the standings was the favourite heading into the weekend - but under a cloud having suffered a nightmare round in Portland with two non-scores. Memories of spinning from the lead on the penultimate lap of the opener, with one hand on the drivers’ title, were still haunting the Kiwi.

Things didn’t improve on Saturday as Cassidy failed to improve with his final effort in the opening qualifying group due to overheating tyres, which left him a disastrous 17th on the grid. That he was able to salvage seventh, after two hefty moments of contact while also missing Attack Mode on two occasions, was something of a miracle and kept him in title contention.

The first incident came with Dennis, recovering from his collision with Vergne, damaged Cassidy’s steering before he was biffed into the barrier through Turns 6/7 by the second DS Penske of Stoffel Vandoorne on lap 19. Eventually able to finish ninth on the road, penalties for Dennis and Fenestraz ahead promoted Cassidy up to seventh which left him seven points behind Wehrlein.

Remarkably, that deficit was reduced to just four points ahead of Sunday’s race as Cassidy put in the “best lap of my life” to claim pole – his first this season – for the final race of the year having only turned one lap in FP3 earlier that day. This was after his car suffered a brake-by-wire warning issue and a visibly furious Cassidy was left to throw his gloves at the back of the garage.

Just three hours later, he was in a jubilant mood after qualifying. But, in a rollercoaster of a season, Cassidy’s reality was brought crashing down following his contact with da Costa. Although able to pit for a new tyre and stay on the lead lap, any hopes of a first Formula E title, which at times had seemed destined to be his, were dashed.

“He’s [da Costa] a great friend, he’s a world champion, I’m not,” said Cassidy. “We just cried together. He’s cost me a world championship but it wasn’t intentional, I know that, it’s just a mistake on his behalf. Big consequences for me.”

Da Costa was handed a 5s penalty for the collision, dropping the Portuguese driver from fifth down to 13th in the final classification, which had a significant bearing on the new-for-2024 manufacturers’ championship. Jaguar took the accolade over Porsche by four points, having easily secured the teams’ championship by the healthier margin of 36 points.

But while securing a maiden teams’ title had been the main priority heading into the weekend for Jaguar, it was Wehrlein who handled the pressure best. His reward was to claim a well-deserved and first Formula E drivers’ world championship.

There was heartache for Jaguar, but joy for Porsche as Wehrlein snatched the title

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images