How Formula E's Big Apple crunch led to Cassidy joy and heartache

During the pre-weekend Jakarta press conference early last month, Nick Cassidy’s sense of irony was the only thing that remained dry amid the typically humid climate in Indonesia. “It’s actually my first press conference this year, which says something about my season,” he quipped, unaware that his season was going to become even more fraught that weekend and at the following race in Marrakech.

As a team, Envision’s lean period had begun with mixed fortunes the previous time out in Berlin. So the British squad, usually so competitive in New York City, needed to tap into that form for a confidence boost at Formula E’s outing in Brooklyn.

Owing to the pandemic and a busy racing schedule, Kiwi Cassidy had hardly seen his parents during the past three years. Mr and Mrs C therefore jetted to New York to spend some of the week with their son, taking in the sights together. But they weren’t prepared for the spectacle that he treated them to on Saturday afternoon, when a “wall” of water contrived to throw the race into chaos.

Although the brutality of a sudden downpour had its part to play in the race, a lighter peppering of precipitation added more variation to a Formula E grid order that’s arguably starting to settle under the new duels format. The rain waited for Group B to emerge, with Group A interrupted by a red flag instigated by Sergio Sette Camara, who strayed onto the wrong side of the limit and threw his Dragon Penske into the Turn 14 exit wall.

By the end, Edoardo Mortara was on the wrong side of the cut-off after getting dumped into fifth by a late effort from Sebastien Buemi. Cassidy and his team-mate Robin Frijns both progressed, as did Stoffel Vandoorne.

To sweeten the pill for Mortara, title rivals Jean-Eric Vergne and Mitch Evans were caught out by the rain and this resulted in lowly grid slots for the pair of them. But Venturi, Mortara’s team, at least had one horse in the pole race in the form of Lucas di Grassi, joined from Group B by Pascal Wehrlein, Sam Bird and Alexander Sims.

But the true duel for pole proved to be a battle between two picks from Group A – Cassidy beat Bird and Wehrlein respectively to pass to the final, while the Mercedes of Vandoorne cleared Sims and di Grassi. And while Vandoorne was close to overturning the 0.152-second advantage Cassidy’s Envision Audi built in sector one, the New Zealander claimed the spoils – and a start on the advantageous side of the grid.

Cassidy was peerless in qualifying in New York, claiming pole for both races and comfortably leading di Grassi in the dry phase of race one

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

The cleaner track surface on the odd-numbered grid slots helped Cassidy get a far better launch into Turn 1 than Vandoorne, who lost positions to both di Grassi (starting third) and Buemi (fifth) at the start. Although Cassidy pointed his car in anticipation of cutting across Vandoorne’s bow, he could simply scamper off into the lead and start gapping di Grassi. When he picked up attack mode on lap seven, Cassidy allowed the Brazilian to take the lead for a lap, but di Grassi responded a lap later to restore the status quo.

Di Grassi described the early phases of the race as “non-eventful” as Cassidy looked to be controlling the lead with consummate ease. Their second attack mode activations effectively played out the same – Cassidy took his final dose on lap 18, di Grassi on lap 19, and thus preserved their positions. In fact, the Envision driver was able to extend his lead when both were on 250kW power, but di Grassi trimmed it back after Cassidy hit the end of his four minutes.

Then, di Grassi launched an assault with his fanboost activation, but Cassidy closed him off, perhaps in defiance against one of Formula E’s more controversial gimmicks. But that handed an opportunity to the chasing Vandoorne, who had made up for his early descent with his own well-judged attack modes. The Belgian also had fanboost to burn and stuffed his Mercedes past di Grassi to reclaim the runner-up spot on lap 24.

"I’ve had some weekends in this championship where I’m very competitive, and it’s not really worked out. And today’s quite the opposite. I’m pretty thankful" Nick Cassidy

Three tours later, the drizzle entered from stage left. At around the same time, Vandoorne got mobbed at Turn 1 by di Grassi and Frijns; the 2016-17 champion opened the door into the corner, and Frijns walked right through it to get two Envision machines within the podium places. And it proved to be at the right time.

Rolling clouds from Manhattan drifted southwards across the East River, dumping rain all over Brooklyn’s Red Hook district. The circuit immediately teemed with puddles; although the Formula E cars sport the customary all-weather tyres, wear had rendered them relatively ineffective at dealing with standing water. Cassidy had been in cruise control, but then aquaplaned into the Turn 6 barrier and sustained heavy damage. Di Grassi followed him in, as did Vandoorne, but Frijns hit the brakes sooner to make it through the corner.

“When we were heading to Turn 6 we basically saw a wall of rain, and I think everybody braked early,” Frijns explained. “But as soon as Lucas in front of me drove into that rain wall, I didn’t see anything anymore because of the spray that was coming out of his car. So I braked really early.”

Incidents then ensued between Buemi, Wehrlein, Bird and Jake Dennis, prompting a red flag, with Frijns in the lead. But race control made the call not to restart the race, cycling the order back to the end of lap 29, and granting the Dutchman’s team-mate Cassidy his first FE win.

“It feels really good – it’s not quite the way that we would have liked, but I’m definitely going to take it,” Cassidy reflected. “I’ve had some weekends in this championship where I’m very competitive, and it’s not really worked out. And today’s quite the opposite. I’m pretty thankful.”

Cassidy's heavily damaged car needed a new battery, which meant he had a 30-place grid penalty after claiming pole for race two

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

It was a bittersweet scenario for the Envision mechanics, however, as they then had to produce extensive rebuilds with a new tub for Cassidy to race on the second day. But the work paid off; Cassidy collected a second successive pole after seeing off DS Techeetah driver Antonio Felix da Costa in Sunday’s final duel and was ready to contend for a second win on the trot.

But in preparing a new car for race two, Cassidy had to take a new battery pack – and therefore, he was slapped with a 30-place grid penalty by the FIA. He didn’t know about the penalty until he was told live on TV after qualifying… Da Costa was therefore shuffled up to pole, with Sims enjoying a terrific qualifying in his Mahindra to join the Portuguese on the front row.

Da Costa, who had only secured his first podium of the year last time out in Marrakech, was itching for his first win since Monaco 2021. He promised that he’d have champagne on Sunday – and he lived up to that promise.

The 2019-20 champion kept the lead from Sims at the start, and built enough of a buffer to ensure that the Briton couldn’t try a move during the opening half of the race. Sims then came under heavy pressure from Vandoorne, and the Mercedes driver made the pass on lap 22 to shuffle up to second. The Belgian proved to be much more of a threat to da Costa breaking his lean spell, closing up but with few opportunities for a move.

“I had one eye forwards, one eye backwards, which sucks!” da Costa reflected. “These guys were on my tail the whole way and that just takes so much out of you. My car was good but hard to drive. It was super-pointy on the front and I just had to be so focused to not lose the rear on entry. And when it’s like that, it was physical. I don’t know if I’m getting old or what! I trained a lot, but it still felt like it was hard.”

Vandoorne threw everything but the kitchen sink at da Costa, including an attempted move with fanboost, but the DS Techeetah driver saw him coming and was able to stay out of arm’s reach. And, crossing the line with 0.0% left on the energy meter, da Costa concluded an expertly judged race with victory in his pocket. Although he’s faced a difficult year, da Costa admitted that he’d enjoyed the struggle to try to turn his results around.

“I’m just super-happy with that,” he grinned. “We’ve had a very, very difficult start to the year. It’s been a struggle. But I do love it. I love the struggle. I love coming out of difficult moments. I love bringing my team up with me and to have them all on the podium today. It’s an awesome feeling.”

With Cassidy out of the way, Da Costa controlled proceedings out front ahead of Sims early on

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Vandoorne’s second place lifted him back into the lead of the championship by 11 points over Mortara – the Venturi Mercedes driver was unable to set a qualifying time owing to a brake-by-wire issue, and had to recover from 21st on the grid. He made it into 10th, perhaps helped by a late Turn 6 skirmish between di Grassi and a below-par Vergne ahead, to lessen the damage.

Evans completed the top three, denying Sims a first trip to the podium of the year, but the Jaguar driver reckoned he’d had the pace to secure victory had he not been caught up in a volatile battle with Nyck de Vries’s Mercedes earlier in the race.

If it’s the last time we meet Brooklyn in a racing capacity, the two races were a fitting swansong for the championship’s stay in the Big Apple

Evans was unimpressed by reigning champion de Vries’s “stupid” dive down the inside into Turn 10, which resulted in contact with Evans and Sims, and in trying to recover the position the Jag ran over a bump on the run to Turn 6. The bump completely unsettled the Aucklander’s car, forcing him to pull out a save worthy of a World Cup penalty shootout.

“I think we could have won today – I never say that lightly, we had a good car today,” Evans remarked. “I hit the pothole on the back straight on the braking zone – unlucky to hit it, but to get away with it was very lucky. I shat myself, had huge flat spots, tried to gather it up and lost a lot of time, and it took at least a few laps for everything to settle down again.”

With New York City looking doubtful for next season – renovation works are expected at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal – Formula E is searching for a new US venue. If it’s the last time we meet Brooklyn in a racing capacity, the two races were a fitting swansong for the championship’s stay in the Big Apple. Only London and Seoul remain, with two races apiece, and the title battle is as spicy as it ever was. Vandoorne has the whip hand for now – but that could all change once more in a thrilling exhibition at the ExCeL.

Da Costa took a long-overdue first win of the year, but race two runner-up Vandoorne still leads the points

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images