It was really hard to choose only five drivers, but here’s what some of them had to say after the Season Finale London E-Prix.
Photo credit: Formula E Media Bank / LAT Images
What an absolutely thrilling season finale it was in London! The entire Season 9 was packed with adrenaline, tension and excitement, and soon we’ll reflect all together on all the highs and lows of this year. For now, let’s focus on what a few of the drivers had to say about the London E-Prix!
It was very hard to pick up just a few, so here’s our choice: obviously we’ve had to include the three protagonists of the London double-header, with additional two who had a solid point.
Jake Dennis, Avalanche Andretti:
The man that clenched the title on Saturday Jake Dennis couldn’t have wished for a better finale of the season. With one race spare, he had enough points to get the trophy for the Drivers Championship, making it a real testament to his consistent performance this year. As we already showed you what he had to say on Saturday, we thought we’d include his words from the Sunday’s press conference, after he finished in P3. Once again, massive congratulations to Jake and his Team.
I really didn’t think I would care about where I finished, where it was, front or back. But honestly, when it came down to qualifying or just free practice, we struggled. The balance was nowhere. And then the qualifying, when I made it into the groups, I was honestly so happy.
I was like, even though it meant nothing, it meant so much to be able to fight against these guys (Cassidy and Evans), and I still wanted to be at the front, when I really didn’t think I would be that bothered, And then to beat Buemi was impressive, and coming up against these guys, I didn’t really stand a chance, it was the missing half a second again. Come to the race, the conditions made it difficult to enjoy, I was just so focused not to crash at every single corner, so it was difficult to soak it in and enjoy it as it would have been if it was dry.
But I mean, another podium, just to be sat up here with these boys…wet, dry, mixed – it’s just us three out front and I don’t want to blow our own trumpets, but we have literally just wiped the floor with everyone this year and it’s been a pleasure to have these guys pushing me so hard and I push them in different ways as well.
Photo credit: Formula E Media Bank / Sam Bagnall
Nick Cassidy, Envision Racing:
The second driver in the Championship Nick Cassidy, as opposed to Jake Dennis, had a finish from hell this season, even though that’s normal in motorsports. Coming into the last weekend of the season with real chance of winning the title, a collision with his own teammate made him DNF and wiped out the chance for winning the season. He even dropped to P3 after Evans’ won on Saturday, but he was able to outscore his fellow Kiwi and friend thanks to his fantastic drive in the wet and victory on Sunday. We’ll reflect soon on everything that has been said during the final round of this season, but here’s what Cassidy had to say after his win in the last race of Season 9:
It definitely helps. It’s no secret that I haven’t been the happiest of guys, but I’m really happy for the team because they put an enormous amount into it. I know we all say that, and I know every team does, but I’m just am really, really fond of the group of people that I work with. And it’s been the same guys for three years.
They’re a really, really top group of guys and girls, and I’m glad that we could repay them in that way. You know, I wasn’t the happiest, but as I said this morning: the best comeback is to try and get a pole and a win today. And unbelievable that we could do that.
Photo credit: Formula E Media Bank / Andrew Ferraro
Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing:
Finishing on the last spot on the podium in the championship, but winning on Saturday and being P2 on Sunday we have Mitch Evans from Jaguar. Despite a slow start into the season, he steadily climbed the leaderboard to eventually finished in P3 this year, missing to Dennis and Cassidy. His phenomenal drive on Saturday earned him a victory that day, but on Sunday, he had to surrender to his best mate Cassidy, who absolutely dominated the track during the wet race. Since we already caught you up on what he said after his win, we thought we’d share with you what he said after the season finale.
I think we were strong in different parts of the race.
Nick was strong, obviously, throughout. There was a phase where I thought I was maybe quicker than him. I was starting to catch up a little bit, but then he could respond. So it was just very even. But I think he just had the edge on me. And then he had a little bit more energy as well, which helped the last few laps.
It was only going to take a mistake from him for me to capitalize on that, because I just didn’t have it on pure pace. I think generally compared to the others, we were obviously extremely strong. But it was just too even for me to make any ground on him. It was a really tough race.
It was really, really slippery outside. So I’m surprised that actually no one actually had a shunt. I mean, maybe they did, but we didn’t see it and no one really, well, between Nick and I, we didn’t really make any massive mistakes, so. I was obviously hoping for more, but not this year.
Photo credit: Formula E Media Bank / LAT Images
Antonio Felix Da Costa, TAG Heuer Porsche:
We thought we’d include Antonio Felix da Costa on this one, because of what he had to say after Saturday’s race. Da Costa finished the race in P2, but he was demoted back due to a penalty of three minutes (yes, three minutes) due to a technical infringement. Basically what happened, was that the tyre pressure in his rear tyre didn’t meet the standards. Da Costa suffered a slow puncture due to the amount of debris on track (after all, we’ve had two red flags that day), so the penalty seemed like an unfair response from the FIA, which the TAG Heuer Porsche team wants to appeal.
Here’s what he had to say about the whole situation in the post-race media pen:
I’m all for keeping the rules and making the rules strict for people to follow them but my front-right tyre today is under pressure because I have a slow puncture. I don’t have much air in my tyre, I’m nursing the car home. You have Rene Rast driving around with a broken front wing for four laps, hitting every kerb, putting debris all over the track with pieces of carbon. I’ve been driven into a couple of times, people hit my wheels. The puncture is coming from that type of stuff and they [give me the penalty] because they’re saying I’m under pressure.
We need some common sense in this sport. I do a race like this and I get a penalty for being under pressure and people think we’re cheating now. I don’t cheat, we don’t cheat. We did an amazing race and they’re taking the result away from us. I spoke with the FIA technical delegate face-to-face when I was in the car [during a red flag], I said the car is safe, let me race. He said, yes you can race.
And now we want to have a discussion with them saying, look we’re not playing with tyre pressures.There is no performance here, there is half the air on the right front than I have on my other three tyres.
Photo credit: Formula E Media Bank / Sam Bloxham
Sébastien Buemi, Envision Racing:
Last but not least, we thought we’d shed some light on what Sebastien Buemi had to say after he crashed with his teammate on Saturday, an incident that eventually cost Cassidy his chance to win the title, and as it stands from Sunday, possibly getting a double due to Envision winning the Constructors Championship. Here’s what he himself had to say about the incident:
We still need to review [the incident] but I was willing to, to help him out. That was the whole idea of the day. But, you know, you have people under consuming massively in front of you.
It’s really difficult to keep your nose clean and then of course to let someone by between turn two and five, it’s really difficult and it’s very narrow. If they would have told me to let him by, I would have done so, but in a safe place, not like that. You don’t want to lose an extra position by letting someone by. So, we need to review that and come back tomorrow. I think we have a great car. Jaguar has done a great job and the team as well. So, I guess we’ll have a good opportunity tomorrow to fight again. The team’s championship battle with the powertrain manufacturer, Jaguar, is still very, very much on.
Photo credit: Formula E Media Bank / Simon Galloway
We know it is massively underwhelming to show you only five perspectives across the whole weekend, but after such an intense season’s finale, we thought we’d give you the most interesting ones followed by a short breather. This basically concludes our coverage of the London E-Prix, and we’d like to thank you for tuning in here to follow the intricacies of the double header that unraveled in front of all of us. We’d be back shortly with season’s wrap up and more content related to Season 9, but until then: enjoy the race, wherever you are ✨
