Nick Cassidy has revealed his position on Jaguar’s team strategy in the closing stages of Sunday’s London E-Prix.
In the closing stages of Sunday’s London E-Prix, Nick Cassidy was preparing to sign off his final race for Jaguar with a win.
Having controlled the race and pace from lights out, the New Zealander stretched his advantage in the closing stages following Oliver Rowland’s crash. Cassidy’s victory margin of three tenths of a second was just three tenths away from the all-time record of one second held by Lucas Di Grassi.
But behind the victory, controversy bubbled away, as another disagreement with team-mate Mitch Evans over team instructions.
Speaking in the post-race press conference, Nick Cassidy said he felt comfortable throughout the entire race. When asked, he said he could not state if this victory was his favourite with Jaguar.
“Difficult to answer. You know today was probably I feel like my most dominant or biggest win in Formula E that I’ve had. I could be up on energy leading the race which around here I wasn’t expecting.
“Even though it is a tight small circuit there is an advantage to be second third and looking at last year’s races and I think you know as an example the race one last year that Pascal won was really impressive from I think second or third on the grid .
“Being up on energy making the pace, and that was kind of my fear for today that the guys starting second third would be do that on me but my car really was super and I was able to control it quite well so it’s probably the most relaxed I’ve been in a racing car in a long long time.I felt very very good with it and it went perfectly.
Reflecting on a ‘rollercoaster’ season
Victory in Sunday’s E-Prix for Nick Cassidy marked his fourth win in six races. He reflected on a season of mixed performance, but praised his rivals.
“No cheers I mean yeah it’s definitely a roller coaster. I’ve been very open when talking about performance but as a driver you’ve got to look at yourself as well so of course there are races that I can do a better job maybe we didn’t have the performance but there were sometimes some points on the table that we didn’t take.
“For me the story of the season is that Oliver’s been dominant and it’s nothing about the start of my season.He’s been the better driver and I think that I’ve had the better car and team this year so it’s fully deserved the victory.
“Also I must say Pascal and Porsche’s pace this year has been really really impressive and we’ve been able to secure great results in these last few races that have brought us back in the championship but on pure performance across the season we for sure had a lot of work to do and we weren’t as good as the two guys next to us so I think we can be proud of at least how we executed the second half of the season.”
Team-mate teamwork or disharmony?
Mitch Evans dramatically slowed down in qualifying to ensure Cassidy progressed to the Qualifying final. As a result, Cassidy beat Evans in their duel despite Cassidy running wide. When asked, he revealed surprise at how events unfolded.
“I must say I was surprised to have that situation in qualifying it wasn’t spoken about before qualifying it was only when Pascal was knocked out of the duels that we looked at the first duel lap times and thought okay that you know pole could be possible for me.
” I wasn’t as fast on one lap today I went backwards a little bit today I didn’t actually change the car I feel like I probably should have for the different conditions and wasn’t as comfortable wasn’t as quick on one lap and then yeah between Mitch and the team they they supported me.
Cassidy admitted his qualifying laps were below his expectations and revealed his disappointment that Evans’ race unravelled.
“I actually felt really disappointed that the the last two duels laps were probably the worst duels laps I’ve done in this building.I had a lot of confidence and I just didn’t didn’t drive well enough so I felt bad for the team considering they they put me forward to try get those three points but tried to do my best to make it up for them in the race and I mean you know Mitch and I would finish one two on track.“
” I was always trying to trying to support him and then keep him second behind me. It’s not easy with these animals down his neck but yeah unfortunately it didn’t quite work out for him.”
Nick Cassidy clarifies team order situation
In the closing stages of Sunday’s London E-Prix, Evans radioed his team, frustrated after his Pit Boost strategy sent him tumbling down the order, with a spin adding to his woes.
The Australian requested that Cassidy slow down to give him a tow, but instead, the gap between the two cars grew. Cassidy said Jaguar did not communicate the unfolding situation behind him.
“He was definitely allowed to go past me that was clear but it’s a bit hard to go past me when I’m 13 seconds up the road.”
“The big thing is that there was not a single message to me which was a bit disappointing I guess. I of course would do anything it was pretty obvious through the race I was doing my best to to keep him in second but I was not given any information.“
Cassidy departed Jaguar after the London E-Prix, with his destination for Season 12 as yet unknown.
