After such an emotional roller coaster provided by both rounds in Berlin, what did the drivers have to say about their time at Tempelhof?
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What a weekend! We are still trying to wrap our heads around all the things that happened in Berlin during Rounds 7 & 8 of the ABB Formula E World Championship. The track situated at the old Tempelhof airport definitely provided a lot to talk about, so let’s see all together what the drivers had to say after both of the races in Germany. We decided to include quotes from both Saturday and Sunday, to mix things up in honor of this crazy double-header. Are you ready?
Nick Cassidy, Envision Racing:
Another solid weekend for the Kiwi, including a long-awaited win! From the start of this season Cassidy shown he has what it takes to fight in the front, and after a few p2’s and p3’s he’s finally put it on the highest step of the podium on Sunday. During Saturday’s race, he started in P6 and with the chaos occurring left, right and center, he collected some damage that required him to pit. When he went back on track, he charged through the field from last to P5, adding 10 points to his name. For Sunday, he qualified 8th, and after a much cleaner start of the race he took the lead around lap 25 – and crossed the finish line on P1. His performance in Rounds 7&8 does not only mean he’s currently second in the drivers championship, but he’s only four points short of Pascal Wehrlein who’s the current leader of the standings. This definitely spices things up and it gives us a promise that the remaining half of the season will be riddled with great fights.
As he said after Sunday’s victory:
I knew that I would be in the fight for the win, I’ve been in the fight for the last five races. We had a great opportunity in the first race as well, but I made a mistake, and today we really made it count. The team have given me an opportunity to win pretty much every weekend and as a driver that’s a dream.
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Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing:
After doing it in São Paulo, he’s done it again in Berlin. Saturday’s race seen Evans claim P1 ahead of his teammate Bird and Günther in third, after 43 laps of pure chaos and mayhem. With 23 swaps for the leader’s position during that race, it was the factory teams Kiwi who came victorious over others. Although Sunday didn’t go as great, Evans added another 12 points to his name after bringing it home in P4 and just missing on the podium. Despite a difficult start of the season, Evans collected 62 points in the past three races, putting himself in P5 in the drivers championship. And let’s not forget that thanks to Evans’ and Bird’s performance in the past three rounds, Jaguar is currently P3 in teams championship, just 15 points short of Envision in 2nd.
Evans said after Sunday’s race:
Overall it’s been a really great weekend but I do feel like we missed out on a podium today. The Jaguar I-TYPE 6 has the pace and efficiency but I didn’t get to the front of the pack when I needed to. I’ve collected more solid points for my championship campaign and I’m looking forward to my home race in Monaco.
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Jake Dennis, Avalanche Andretti:
After a few difficult rounds for Dennis, he’s finally back in the points. Although Saturday wasn’t the best for the Brit, Sunday definitely made up for that. In Round 7, he eventually finished P18 after he collected some damage due to a brake lockup while fighting for position that also unintentionally eliminated Da Costa from the race. In Round 8 he managed to keep in the front of the pack for the whole race and eventually brought it home in P2, ending his streak of four consecutive races without points. Dennis dropped from P2 in the drivers championship to P4, but we know he and his Avalanche Andretti team won’t give up without putting a good fight.
Dennis said during press conference after the race of Round 8:
I felt after all the incidents I’ve had over the past couple of months that I got bullied for the first 60% percent or so of the race – it was just a disaster for me and everyone was dive bombing me. It was either turn in as if they weren’t there, or move out of their way, so I just kept going backwards and I ended up back in P10. There just came a point where I couldn’t keep accepting that so it was elbows out and take the risk, which is what I’d normally do. Nevertheless, we were smart with ATTACK MODE and we pushed when we needed to. It was quite costly to use in certain stages of the race but we were still good on energy. Then, Nick (Cassidy) made everybody’s life a lot easier when he hit the front with 12 laps to go. The pace was decent enough not to cause big effects for the guys behind and full credit to Nick – I don’t think any of us had the efficiency to do what he did and that’s why nobody passed him.
Credit: Formula E Media Bank / Sam Bloxham
Dan Ticktum, NIO 333 Racing:
After Saturday’s race, the Brit wasn’t necessarily in the best moods. Contact with Vandoorne eliminated both of them from the race, and caused Ticktum a 5 places grid penalty for Sunday. Despite starting the weekend on a great note, putting the car in P4 in qualifying, he had to be satisfied with taking only 1 point home after Round 7 & 8 combined.
Ticktum believes the decision taken by the stewards in terms of his penalty for Sunday was way too harsh. This is what he said when we’ve asked him about the situation:
The steward’s decision to give me five place grid penalty for that move with Stoffel I think is ridiculous. So there’s times where I just sort of think what’s the point in me even doing the sport? And I’m afraid, I think one of those is this time. But I’ve gotta keep plugging away, because things, you know, if I keep doing a good job, things will get better. You know, I will be in a car that potentially might become more competitive. I might go elsewhere, I’ve just gotta keep doing my job. I can’t give up because that only reflects badly on me.
It’s not like I’ve massively misjudged something or locked up or hit someone like I did in São Paulo. I understand I deserved a penalty for that, because I messed up. But you know, such difficult cars to drive, awkward tracks, like I said, people on completely different strategies all over the place. It’s just chaos, you know? And I can’t, I can’t… well, I’ve got a car I’ve just hit in front, I’m focused on him. I can’t be looking in my mirrors halfway through a corner, when I’ve just made contact with a car in front. So, you know, I just think it’s incredibly harsh. I like to think that people don’t have things against me. I think a lot of people do potentially because of my past, a lot of them I don’t care about, but I think the stewards have potentially got that one wrong.
Credit: Formula E Media Bank / Simon Galloway
Jake Hughes, NEOM McLaren:
This weekend wasn’t the easiest for the McLaren drivers, especially Jake Hughes. On Saturday, he was caught in the wipe out aftermath of the contact between Ticktum and Vandoorne in the late stages of the race. On Sunday, he finished the race in P18, leaving the Brit without any points scored in Berlin. Despite that, he’s still holding on to P10 in the drivers championship, but the lack of points in Rounds 7&8 puts him into an uncomfortable position of not scoring two races in a row. Just ask Jake Dennis how it feels.
After the race on Saturday, we’ve asked Hughes if he was hopeful for Sunday’s race and what could’ve been possible for him if not the collision caused by Ticktum. To that, he responded:
I’ll just take it as it comes. In terms of the race, I think I was managing quite well, to be honest. Sometimes I gained positions, sometimes I lost positions. But overall, I think I never really spent too much energy. So I think I was going to be in a good position, the four or five laps I had after the safety car. Before the crash I was saving a lot. If I had another 10 laps like that, and I stayed wherever I was, even if it’s P11, P12, but I had 10 laps of saving that amount of energy, I would’ve had a good last 10 laps of the race. Unfortunately, we never got that far. So I think considering that how chaotic the race was, I think we managed it well. It was just taken out of our control.
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Stoffel Vandoorne, DS Penske:
Berlin was definitely a source of mixed feelings for the Belgian, and we can’t blame him for that. Contact with Ticktum in the race of Round 7 meant a DNF for the DS Penske driver, with a small redemption during Round 8 where he crossed the finish line in P8 and added four points to his account. But for a reigning champion of Formula E, this season is definitely not panning out as it should. Vandoorne is currently 11th in the driver’s championship, 6 points short of Hughes in P10. As we can imagine, it’s not what the DS Penske driver expected from Season 9 – especially considering his teammate is currently running 3rd in the championship and can challenge the front-running Wehrlein and Cassidy for the title.
Here’s what Stoffel had to say after Round 8:
Another difficult race. First of all, a wet qualifying which was not easy with the tyres and what to do. Qualified P9 which was not ideal, but still a reasonable position to go racing. The race was dry so I kind of knew that it was going to be a chaotic one again and similar to yesterday where no one wanted to lead. It turned out that way, however I think the car felt a little bit less competitive than yesterday. I struggled a little bit more to be efficient and to get an energy advantage. I kind of knew it wasn’t my race, let’s say, so I’m just tried to stay out of trouble. P8 in the end.
Credit: Formula E Media Bank / Simon Galloway
Antonio Felix Da Costa, TAG Heuer Porsche:
Just like for Vandoorne, we can imagine that the Portuguese driver is still not entirely sure what to make out of this weekend. A DNF in the race in Round 7 broke his points scoring streak, but Berlin redeemed itself (at least a little bit) during Round 8 where Da Costa scored ten points and finished P5, while keeping up with the very front of the pack. Halfway through the season the TAG Heuer Porsche driver is P6 in the drivers standings, with 68 points on his name. That is 8 points short of Evans in P5 and just 6 points ahead of another Jaguar driver Sam Bird. We know Da Costa has the talent to challenge for the title, so if he still wants to turn his fate, it’s about time.
As Antonio summarized his performance on Sunday after the race:
That was a great race for us as a team. We made big progress and at times led the field with both cars. In the last ten or twelve laps, we made some unfortunate decisions which cost us positions. Even though we had more energy than our rivals, at some point it was simply too late to attack again. It’s a bit disappointing but we showed how good we are in the race. Now we need to improve a little more in qualifying and then we’ll be where we want to be.
Credit: Formula E Media Bank / Sam Bagnall
This rounds up our coverage from Berlin. We’ve had a fantastic time on track and we genuinely can’t wait to be back in the Formula E paddock later this season. In 12 days we have the Monaco E-Prix coming up, so until then don’t forget: enjoy the race, wherever you are ✨
