Formula E: Nick Cassidy wins Saturday’s race in Berlin

The German capital is hosting a Formula E double-header this weekend, with the first race taking place at the old Templehof airport on Saturday.

The concrete surface of the track is very abrasive and in that respect everything remains the same, but the configuration of the 2.343 km ring has changed slightly, requiring the teams and drivers to make extra efforts to adapt.

Mahindra driver Edorado Mortara started from pole position for the first time this season and managed to hold onto first position when the traffic lights went out. Stoffel Vandoorne finished second, but Sergio Sette Camara, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, managed to work his way up to third place. Pascal Wehrlein also gained one position and reached the top five.

However, Mortara was one of the first racers to use the increased power mode, but to activate the attack mode he had to deviate from the main trajectory. As a result, the Swiss lost several positions and Vandoorne took the lead in the race, closely followed by Vergne, his DS Penske teammate, but they were already under full pressure from Antonio Felix da Costa.

When Vergne activated Attack Mode, the order of the top three changed again: Vandoorne remained in the lead, da Costa was second and Vergne was only third. But when Stoffel also used the high-power mode, Jean-Eric took the lead.

After the first ten laps the race was led by the DS Penske duo, with Vergne in the lead and two Porsche drivers in pursuit, but Mortara soon got between them, pushing da Costa into 5th position.

But then the race was neutralized by yellow flags, this happened because the car of Joel Erickson, a rookie for the Envision team, stopped on the track. The electric safety car came out.

But Pascal Wehrlein complained to his team on the radio that he was ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, and he counter-attacked when the yellow flags were already hanging on the track. The stewards began to investigate how everything had really happened. After some time, when the safety car was still on the track, Vandoorne was ordered to give the position back to Wehrlein.

On the 16th lap they restarted and Mortara managed to reach third position, ahead of Vandoorne. However, the Swiss was immediately surpassed by da Costa. Wehrlein activated Attack Mode again, temporarily putting him outside the top three. Surprisingly, Mitch Evans, who started tenth but had already regained many positions, took the lead, albeit not for long.

However, the New Zealand Jaguar driver did not lead the pack for long and soon first Da Costa, then Wehrlein, took the lead. But a very fierce battle continued, causing the riders of the leading group to constantly change positions. On lap 24, Vergne took the lead again, followed by Nissan driver Oliver Rowland, but he was pressured by Wehrlein and da Costa and was soon ahead of him.

On lap 26, Wehrlein attacked before the hairpin and looked like he managed to overtake Vergne, but Jean-Eric still held the first position. But Pascal held on and took the lead on the next lap, leaving Vergna ahead of not only da Costa, but also Evans.

The Jaguar driver then successfully activated Attack mode and, thanks to the increased power mode, left both Porsche drivers behind and became the next leader of the race.

At that point, there were clashes at the other end of the pack, causing Max Gunther, a Maserati driver, to retire from the race and drive Kelvin van der Linde’s noticeably damaged electric car into the pits. By the way, even before that, Lucas di Grassi fell out of contention after a collision with Dan Ticktum, so we have to admit that it was a very bad day for the ABT Cupra team.

When the German Maserati stopped on the track after a hard contact with Jake Hughes’ McLaren, the safety car came out again.

At the restart the top five looked like this: Evans-Wehrlein-Rowland-da Costa-Vergne. But sixth was Jake Dennis, the current world champion, who started from the last row but had already gained ten places.

The wide Berlin circuit not only facilitates overtaking: cars here can take two or even three turns in a row, so the fight at the restart flared up, without exaggeration, fierce, and in this situation Vergne, who led the race, was the best at navigating this situation. Rowland was second, Evans third, but he used the increased power mode and let Wehrlein go ahead, but soon recovered to return to second position. Thanks to its Attack mode, it quickly became the first.

But the electric car of the recently mentioned Dennis took a hit from one of the rivals in the hustle and bustle of the restart, leaving Jake to drag himself slowly towards the Andretti pits, where he remained.

Because the electric safety car remained on the track for a long time, the race management decided to add six laps to the distance. Meanwhile, the battle in the leadership group, more like a jostling, continued, and on the 43rd lap, Evans’ teammate Nick Cassidy unexpectedly found himself ahead of everyone! The New Zealander not only led the race three laps from the finish, but suddenly showed excellent pace and quickly began to extend his lead over Vergne. In the last lap Nick’s lead was already three seconds! Furthermore, the batteries of his Jaguar No. 37 had more energy than those of his rivals, and it became clear that no one could overtake him.

Nick Cassidy started from 9th position, stayed in the shadows for almost the entire race, saving the battery, but at the right time he stepped up and took the race to victory – this became his second achievement since the beginning of the season. Since Wehrlein only finished fifth, today’s victory makes Nick the new leader in the world championship.

Jean-Eric Vergne finished second and this is only his second podium of the season, leaving the two-time Formula E champion still in sixth place in the individual competition. After the finish, he admitted that he did not even see how Cassidy broke into the leading group, because it seemed to him that victory was already close.

Oliver Rowland climbed to the third step of the podium, allowing him to gain a foothold in third place in the individual rankings and close the gap to Pascal Wehrlein. Theoretically he can stay ahead of the German Porsche driver tomorrow, but for this to happen Sunday’s race in Berlin must be successful for him. But given how unpredictable the current phase of the Electric series has been, making predictions is an entirely thankless task.