Discover more

analysis season 11

Cassidy recovery seals ABB Engineered to Outrun in Mexico City

Analysis 16 Jan 2025 4 Mins

Jaguar TCS Racing drivers are now two-for-two in starting last and winning the ABB Engineered to Outrun award at the start of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season after Nick Cassidy and engineer Geoff Lenfant earned the honour in the Hankook Mexico City E-Prix.

Discover more

analysis season 11

^{Words: Scott Mitchell}

There was to be no repeat of Mitch Evans’ last-to-first charge in the Brazil season opener, though. In fact, despite gaining 10 places in Mexico, further progress proved tough to come by with 13th ultimately the maximum Cassidy could take from a race that sorely tested his patience.

HIGHLIGHTS: Round 1, Sao Paulo and Evans' last-to-first charge

This was a race in which drivers can push for the majority, which presented less opportunity to save energy then charge at the end, or to push more than others in the early stages then either try to hang on or hope that a strategic interference like a safety car helps the cause late on. In addition, exciting side-by-side action is common but pulling a pass off is actually extremely difficult.

The best chance was to save any extra energy compared to others as possible – which is why Cassidy was visibly much slower than the field ahead of him approaching Turn 1 at the start on an opening lap that was 10km/h slower than the eventual fastest tour – and hope that a race interruption would bunch the field late up with ATTACK MODE still to be deployed.

This combination of the 50kW power boost with all-wheel drive, and the energy advantage to actually fully utilise it, may then facilitate a sharp rise. However, it required the stars to align. And while some did, the timing was not quite right for Cassidy.

He passed the two Envisions on the opening lap as they went for even more gentle getaways than Cassidy, but maximum energy saving was clearly the order of the day: all three used just 2.9% of their battery on the opening tour, compared to 3.7% for the power-hungry Nico Mueller and a 3.4% grid median.

Aside from Dan Ticktum being turned around the stadium section, Cassidy mostly held station. He ran 19^th until Edoardo Mortara had to pit, and circulated between 18^th and 20^th depending on when those around him activated ATTACK MODE. But the pace of the race and the energy usage meant that pinching more than 0.1-0.2% extra energy a lap was all that was achievable

So, Cassidy waited. And waited. He waited all the way until lap 27 to arm ATTACK MODE for the first time, giving himself six minutes and just over eight laps to get as far up the order from 20^th position as possible with around 2.5% more energy than the median (but less than that compared to the cars immediately around him because they were on a similar strategy).

Then the Safety Car was deployed. The race, and any advantage Cassidy had mustered, was neutralised within a minute. By the time the E-Prix resumed Cassidy was 16^th and even with the safety car period being short, he had but a few seconds of his original ATTACK MODE deployment left.

A couple of places were gained by attrition as Mortara and Evans dropped out, promoting Cassidy to 14^th before another safety car chipped away at the timing remaining to use the modest sub-2% energy advantage he and the group he was in had built over the cars lingering around the top 10.

With three laps to go, Cassidy and others armed ATTACK MODE for the final time. A significant energy advantage meant he cleared Zane Maloney with ease and he fought with his race-long companions the Envisions in the closing stages.

But having tried and failed to clear Robin Frijns, Cassidy was then vulnerable to Sebastien Buemi, who had more ATTACK MODE for the finish but didn’t use all the time allocated so picked up a penalty - as did Taylor Barnard for going off-track and gaining an advantage, which boosted Cassidy to 12^th.

On the surface it was a valiant late charge to gain so many places all in ATTACK MODE. But ultimately Cassidy’s plan to outrun the opposition could have potentially yielded a points finish were the timing of a race-changing late incident just a little more favourable for him.

SCHEDULE: Where, when and how to watch or stream the 2025 Jeddah E-Prix Rounds 3 and 4

A staple on the calendar since Season 5, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, gets set to host another pair of races taking place on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 February 2025. It's our first visit to Jeddah, and will be a our first double-header event of the GEN3 Evo era.

View the full schedule in your time zone and check the broadcaster listings or tap the Ways to Watch button above to find out where to watch all the racing action where you live.