Formula E London ePrix I
Cassidy "kicked hard in the nuts" by title-ending misfortune
Formula E championship protagonist Nick Cassidy says he was “just too nice” after a collision with Envision Racing team-mate Sebastien Buemi in the London E-Prix dashed his title hopes.
Stefan Mackley
Edited: Jul 30, 2023, 10:12 AM
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Cassidy entered the first of the weekend’s London E-Prix races 24 points behind Jake Dennis in the championship, with both title protagonists starting on the front row for Saturday’s race.
While Cassidy led from pole, his team-mate Buemi moved ahead of Dennis and acted a rear-gunner which allowed Cassidy to take both Attack Mode activations and remain in the lead.
Cassidy then allowed Buemi ahead in order for his team-mate to lose less time when he took his own Attack Modes, but once the order shook out the pair ran third and fourth with Buemi ahead.
The pair circulated for a full lap in tandem before Buemi went defensive into Turn 1, with Cassidy pulling alongside through the opening turns, before Buemi cut in front at Turn 4.
The resulting contact damaged Cassidy’s front wing which required a pitstop for a replacement, before the New Zealander retired after making contact with Maserati’s Edoardo Mortara as Dennis secured the title.
“I had the race won, I’d done both my attacks,” said Cassidy. “I had a lot of energy. I was leading and I was just too nice.
“I gave up the lead to help him out and try and do my bit for the team. Maybe I need to be a bit selfish.
“I felt these [last] two races I’ve just been kicked in the nuts. We had all the potentially to do it [win the title] as well.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Jake, but I’ve just been kicked hard in the nuts.”
When asked if the incident was an issue to be taken up with the team or Buemi, Cassidy said: “Neither, the championship’s gone. I’m not a guy who wants to fight about something that’s in the past.”
Nick Cassidy, Envision Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6 Sebastien Buemi, Envision Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6, Jake Dennis, Andretti Autosport, Porsche 99 X Electric Gen3
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Buemi eventually finished fourth on-the-road before being promoted to third post-race, earning Envision valuable points in the squad’s quest for the Teams’ title, as they sit tied on points with Jaguar.
Buemi said he had received no radio instructions from the team when Cassidy was behind, and that “we need to understand what went wrong” ahead of the second race at the ExCeL London on Sunday.
“I was at the service of Nick today, I didn’t really mind,” said Buemi. “We clearly need to review everything and see what we did wrong as a team.
“There is no blame to give to anyone, we need to understand what went wrong but it’s very unfortunate because I think we lost a lot of points.
“At that point [of the collision] I didn’t know whether he was trying to defend from someone else and that I was lifting too much or if he was genuinely trying to attack me. “Obviously I saw him in Turn 1 and T2, and I did not expect him to be there in T3.
“We come back stronger tomorrow I can tell you and we’ll make sure we win that one [Teams’ title].”
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Previous article London E-Prix: Dennis crowned champion, Evans wins disrupted race
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