What are the most important talking points from the final double header in London? Let’s find out.
Photo credit: Formula E Media Bank / Simon Galloway
What a crazy weekend and a crazy two races it’s been! We’ll take some time to have a proper look at everything that has happened another time, but today, let’s talk about the most important points of the double header in London. Without further-a-do, here’s our lessons from the London E-Prix!
1. Crowned Champion on home soil
After a staggering race on Saturday, Jake Dennis becomes the first British Formula E champion, and he’s done in it in his home race. After Nick Cassidy was taken out by his teammate it seemed like a done deal for Dennis, but with Evans running in first there was still a threat of not securing the title in the penultimate race of the season. Because of Da Costa’s three minutes penalty, Dennis was promoted to 2nd, which was enough for him to take the trophy home.
The Title is a testament to his consistent performance throughout the season. The Brit missed on points on only four occasions, and besides one P4 he finished every other race on the podium, collecting 213 points across 15 Rounds. The partnership between Andretti and Porsche paid off for Dennis, who already came close to winning the title in his rookie season a few years back. Although it can also be said about Cassidy and Evans, the relentless work put week in and week out means Dennis fully deserved the World Champion status. And to do it in front of his home crowd, friends and family makes it even more special.
2. Bad luck for Cassidy
We’re absolutely gutted for Cassidy. The incident from Rome and incident with Buemi in London pushed him back into P3 in the Championship standings, and meant his title chase was over. The Kiwi seems to be plagued by fours this season – missed on points on four occasions this season, won four races, stood on the podium in four other races and still collected points in four others.
The two incidents that happened recently will probably leave a sour taste in his mouth – although the clash with Evans in Rome was just an accident on the behalf of the other Auckland-born driver, the situation from London with Buemi was fully avoidable, especially in such a crucial moment for the championship. We’re still not really sure how it’s possible that something like this could happen between teammates in the penultimate race especially when the Constructors Championship is still up for grabs (and it compromised Envisions position in there too), but most likely we will never really get an answer to that.
Not to mention, that the day after the drama, Cassidy won Round 16 in the pouring rain. That one must’ve hurt even more.
3. Evans misses on title….again
It seems that Mitch Evans just loves finishing the championship not in the first place every year (it’s a joke, obviously). The Kiwi came close to the championship title for the past three or four years at this point, and every time he misses on the trophy by a small margin.
With four wins this year, Evans’ had a slow start into Season 9 where he collected only 14 points in the first few races. From Sao Paulo onwards he’s been in full chase for the top spot of the Championship podium, and if not Dennis’ P2 in London Round 15, the fight could’ve been prolonged to the last race of the season. It was all down to the wire until the last moment, and all three title contenders were on top of their game. Evans has to once again look at the trophy from the distance of P3, but maybe next year he’ll be able to take it home?
4. Penalties, penalties, penalties
Just as you could find crashes and incidents left, right and centre during Round 15, you could also find penalties thrown around like there was no tomorrow. We get it, obviously, most of them were related to the actual incidents happening on track, but throughout the race, they’ve accumulated quite a bit. Lotterer, Rast, Gunther and Nato were all given a five seconds penalty due to causing a collision. Rast fed Wehrlein into the wall and Nato was given a penalty for contact with Buemi after the first red flag (which brought the second one on). Mehri received a 10 seconds penalty for causing a collision. The biggest one was awarded to Antonio Felix Da Costa, who received three minutes (yes, three minutes) penalty for a technical infraction. The reason for that was the fact that there was not enough hair in his tyre. Da Costa was absolutely fuming after the race, questioning the integrity of FIA’s decisions especially because he suffered a puncture caused by another driver. Tough day in the office for the Portuguese, who throughout the race was able to recover from P17 into P2. Additionally, Sette Camara was disqualified after the race for technical infringement. Wowzers.
5. Red flags, Safety Cars and Pouring Rain
Although Saturday was absolutely packed in terms of tension, adrenaline and action, Sunday wasn’t shy of its own shenanigans. Shortly before the race, the sky decided to open and we’ve had an absolute downpour of rain that caused approximately 090 minutes of delay for the race that would decide the Constructors Championship of Season 9. Two red flags and a couple of laps behind a safety car later the race finally started, where Cassidy had full control of it starting from pole position. We’re sure his experience from driving in Japan helped him to dominate the race with his pace, as he kept putting fastest lap times lap after lap. The delay and unique situation with an indoor-outdoor track at London ExCeL opened up the conversation about wet tyres in FE and potential solutions to an issue like the weather. Lucas Di Grassi suggested a comeback of wheel covers, that could help with dispersing the rain, which seems like a sensible thing to do.
Will we see them back with Gen 3.5? Guess time will tell.
6. Beef at Envision
Well, it’s hard to close your eyes on the…unpleasant situation that unraveled inside of Envision racing throughout the two rounds in London. Well come back to you soon with a more detailed analysis of what exactly happened and who said what in various moments across the weekend, but if the rumors of Cassidy going to Jaguar TCS Racing for Season 10 are true, we could see why London could have an implication on this decision. And we mean it in the sense that despite only positive words said by Cassidy about the team, we can understand why it will be “easy” to move on after what happened. As we mentioned in another point on this list, a crash with Buemi was absolutely avoidable, especially with a faster decision from the team to swap the drivers again, when Cassidy was still in real contention for the Season 9 Title.
There have been some interesting quotes from that weekend from both of the Envision drivers, so make sure to come back here in few days for full analysis.
7. Silly season in full force
We’ll come back to you when more information will start to surface, but with the end of Season 9, the silly season for Season 10 is absolutely swinging at the moment.
As it stands (although nothing is officially confirmed yet) we’ve got Nick Cassidy going from Envision racing to Jaguar, to replace the (officially) departing Sam Bird. Robin Frijns, who officially left ABT Cupra, will most likely make a comeback to Envision, now that Cassidy’s seat will potentially be free. There are rumors circulating about another comeback, namely Nick De Vries who after unsuccessful adventure in Formula 1 might be having another go at Formula E where he won the first official World Championship title. We might potentially see a swap in Nissan, where its rumored we’ll see Oliver Rowland have seat, after departing from Formula E and Mahindra Racing midway through Season 9. Will Sam Bird remain in Formula E after leaving Jaguar? Will McLaren retain their driver lineup?
There’s so much to unpack here, and we’re very curious about the further developments in terms of the grid line up for next season, even though we’ve only wrapped up this year. And it’s actually very exciting, so we’ll keep you posted on that.
8. Porsche gets Driver, Jaguar gets Constructors
Last but not least, a moment of acknowledgement for the crowned Champions of Season 9. The battle of two titans came to an end, and technically speaking it’ 1:1 between Porsche and Jaguar. Why?
Jake Dennis of Avalanche Andretti grabbed the Drivers Title on Saturday, ahead of Cassidy and Evans. Avalanche Andretti is obviously a customer team of Porsche, who supplies them with powetrains, giving 1 point to the German manufacturer. The Constructors Championship trophy went to Envision Racing, who’s a customer team of Jaguar, giving them 1 point. Those two powertrains manufactures have been going head to head to season, so in a way it’s almost fair they both won something this season. It’s been fantastic to witness such a close battle on a level like this, and it gives us even higher hopes for the fight in Season 10.
This almost wraps the coverage we prepared for you from the corners of London ExCeL and the Season Finale, but we’ll be back with one more and obviously we’ll have lots of talking points when we do our own wrap up of Season 9. We’re glad we’ve got the chance to report for you live, so make sure you keep checking Pitdebrief for more. Until then, don’t forget: enjoy the race, wherever you are ✨
