Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy might still hold a 24 points lead of the Drivers’ Championship with three races remaining of Season 10, but Round 13 in Portland showed us just how nothing is guaranteed in Formula E.
After a brilliant climb up the grid from 10th, Cassidy looked in control during the final moments of the race. He had his teammate Mitch Evans behind him, with the instruction that the two could race, but Evans had been hit with a five-second time penalty for an earlier offence. The win seemed almost a done deal, despite Antonio Felix da Costa nipping at their heels in third.
However, in a rare unforced error from the seven-time race winner, he missed the apex on the corner and found himself in the grass runoff. It’s not the first time a driver has done this over the weekend, but this time it definitely had the most consequence.
“I don't know how I am feeling yet,” Cassidy said about the incident after the race. He would eventfully finish in 19th, but can have some peace of mind as his biggest championship rival Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche) suffered damage and could only finish 10th.
“Incredibly disappointed,” he continued. “It was a chain of events, but that is motorsport. I hope I am the king of the comeback. The championship we still have a lead of, and when I look at today I think I executed 25 perfect laps and I was really happy with my race and then one huge mistake.
“I have got to turn a page tomorrow and luckily the race is one lap shorter so that might help me,” he jested.
Cassidy looked to repeat history as he started from 10th and fought his way into the lead, an exact replica of what he did at the Portland race in Season 9, but will hope he can be back to his winning ways on Sunday.