Formula E Season 10 Round 2 & 3: Cassidy Takes Control of the Championship with a Win in Diriyah

 

Round two of the Formula E championship kicked off this weekend in Diriyah, a firm favourite on the electric series calendar, and it certainly did not disappoint. Jean-Eric Vergne led the grid away, taking his first pole position in two seasons, ahead of Mitch Evans in P2. There was a bit of wheel bashing at the start with Vergne taking attack mode very early. This caused him to fall down to P3, as Evans was promoted to the race lead with current world champion Jake Dennis in the hunt in second position. However, in a race where stategy seemed to reign, Evans took attack mode, which allowed Dennis to swoop into the lead. However, the excitement for the world current did not last long – he soon lost the position to Vergne when taking his own attack mode on lap 7. Vergne copied Dennis’ actions the following lap, allowing Evans into contention for the win. Dennis was able to build up a lead in order to take his second attack mode and keep the lead. Evans managed to hold onto P2 while overtaking Vergne on the straight to turn 17.  In the dying stages of the race, there was back and fourth battles between the top three – Evans, Vergne and Dennis. Evans tried to take the lead from Dennis but he overestimated the overtake, went deep into turn 17 and Dennis remained in the lead.

Vergne and Evans continued to battle one another, allowing Dennis to continue to pull clear. Title hopeful Nick Cassidy battled Max Gunther for one of the lower points paying positions, only for this late surge to be hindered by collision with Sam Bird’s McLaren.  The Jaguars struggled in the race due to miscommunication with team orders having an adverse effect. On the last lap, Evans tried to overtake Vergne for second place, he overestimated the gap and fell behind Bird. Dennis claimed victory in the desert by over 10 seconds with Vergne P2 and Cassidy taking the final podium position. Bird finished ahead of Evans in P4 and P5 respectively, Norman Nato claimed P6 ahead of Guenther, Wehrlein claimed P8 whilst Sergio Sette Camara and Robin Frijns rounded out the top ten.

Jake Dennis, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3 Image Credit: Formula E Media Bank

Round 3:

Round three saw an unexected pole position from the returning Oliver Rowland at Nissan ahead of Robin Frijns in P2 and Nick Cassidy in P3. Frijns managed to take the lead away from Rowland at the start with Ticktum having to pit with front wing damage, this eventually caused the Brit to retire. Cassidy maintained P3 at the start with a huge train of cars following each other, but as the attack modes began to be taken, the Kiwi found himself at the front. And from there, he controlled the entire race, buiding up a gap to allow himself to remain in P1 when attack mode had been completed.  However, despite this, Frijns was able to stay within about two seconds of Cassidy for the entire race, a constant threat lurking at the back of the Kiwi’s Jaguar. Sam Bird, who was having a quiet race, managed to make a move on Sette Camara for P9. In a tactical move by drivers, many did not take any attack mode so they could use it at the end of the race – however, this did not apply to the top five.

Rowland managed to get within a second of Frijns, who in turn was closing in on Cassidy.  Bird attempted a  a move on Sacha Fenestraz but he misjudged it, falling behind Wehrlein and eventually, the McLaren man was forced to retire. Jehan Daruvala had an issue with his brakes and was forced to stop at turn 18, causing a yellow flag. Cassidy began to worry about his consumption of energy in the latter part of the race. As the time ticked down, it emerged that Dennis, Evans, Da Costa, Nato and Sette Camara were all under investigation for overtaking under yellow flags. However, this didn’t stop Nick Cassidy from taking his first win at Jaguar. He held off Frijns who finished P2 in his return to Envision Racing ahead of Rowland who managed to secure a podium. Hughes finished just outside of the podium positions, ahead of Vandoorne. Fenestraz claimed P6 ahead of Wehrlein in P7, Vergne clinched P8 with Gunther taking P9 and Dennis taking the final point. The current world champion also took the fastest lap, however, after investigation, Dennis received a five second time penalty promoting Evans to P10 and Cassidy took the point for fastest lap, alongside the championship lead.

Formula E will return in March.

Formula E Diriyah Qualifying and EPrix-Horror for Maserati and Victory for Wehrlein

Qualifying

Qualifying for the first race in the Gen 3 era of Formula E in Saudi Arabia got off to a less-than-ideal start for Maserati as Maximilian Guenther crashed early on in the Group A session.  He was uninjured after the collision with the barrier.

Ticktum and Rowland went head to head in the first quarter final with Ticktum taking the victory.

Di Grassi and Hughes went head to head for the second quarter final and Hughes taking  the victory in that one.

It was Evans against Buemi in the third quarter final and Buemi took the victory.

Rast and Bird went head to head for the final quarter final with Rast losing out to Bird by 2 tenths.

In the first semi final, Hughes took victory over Ticktum which saw Hughes go through to the final.

The second semi final saw Buemi take victory over Bird by less than a tenth.

The final saw an epic battle from Buemi and Hughes. Buemi just took pole over Hughes.

Sebastian Buemi with his Pole Trophy in ahead of the Diriyah E-Prix.
Credit: Formula E

Race

Before the race began, it was announced that Sergio Sette Camara would have a 3 place penalty for impeding Pascal Wehrlein in qualifying.

Maximilian Guenther’s crash in qualifying resulted in him not starting the race.

The 39 lap event  started with contact between Rowland and Da Costa which resulted in them both pitting early on. This led to the safety car being brought out for less than a lap. Evans hit Rene Rast on lap 1 turn 1 as well. It was a calm safety car restart but then Sam Bird got Jake Hughes who started in P2. However, Bird was not done yet. He then started to hunt Buemi down and he eventually got him.

Fast track to Lap 7 where Bird took the lead over from Buemi after his hunt. Onto lap 11, Evans tried to get past Rast but locked up and lost a few places as a result. Lap 15 saw Muller pit and eventually retire from the EPrix.

Lap 25 saw an epic battle between Pascal Wehrlein and Sam Bird. Wehrlein had more energy and an extra attack more compared to Bird. He managed to stay with him but going into turn 18, he locked up and lost the place he gained for a few seconds. Further down, Cassidy was trying to get past the Andretti of Jake Dennis but instead, Dennis and Cassidy got the McLaren of Jake Hughes when Hughes had to get his attack mode.

Enter the final stages of the race and Wehrlein was still on Sam Bird’s tail. Onto lap 30 and turn 18, Wehrlein gets past Bird and maintains it.  Buemi had to get his last attack mode which put Dennis up into 3rd place after starting 11th.

Lap 33 comes around and Dennis was on a charge. Dennis takes Bird on lap 34 just as Wehrlein gets his second attack mode. Wehrlein came out just ahead of Dennis but it saw a battle to the end which saw Wehrlein take his second victory in Formula E.

Further down the field, Maserati’s last remaining car of Eduardo Mortara had to retire on lap 33. He joined Muller as the second retirement of the race.  Muller’s teammate Kevin Van Der Linde only managed P16 on his debut for the injured Robin Frijns.  Da Costa and Rowland also managed to make it to the end of the race but finishing in the bottom 2 positions due to their collisions on lap 1. Despite obtaining P4 in qualifying, Dan Ticktum dropped down to P14 by the end of the race with his teammate Sergio Sette Camara behind him in 15th.

Di Grassi, Nato and Vandoorne finished off the non points scorers with Evans Lotterer, Hughes, Vergne and Cassidy making up from P10 top 6 respectfully. Rene Rast for McLaren managed P5 with the fastest lap and Buemi finishing P4 to round off the non podium positions.

Wehrlein took the win ahead of Dennis in P2 and Bird in P3.

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