One year on, Cassidy's London heartbreak turns into nervous success

A year ago Nick Cassidy’s visit to London ended in tears after a disastrous weekend derailed what looked to be a near-certain championship crowning.

This time around, with the championship already clinched by Oliver Rowland, Cassidy didn’t have the same kind of pressure. He didn’t have the same kind of result either, with a strategic masterstroke and solid pace delivering his second consecutive win, his third from the last five races, and Jaguar's third in a row.

“Honestly, coming into this building this weekend, I thought everything was fine,” said the Jaguar TCS Racing driver. “But today I haven't eaten, I felt anxious, I felt weird. I’ve been probably the grumpiest guy inside my team, and I just felt [like] London always kicks me in the nuts somehow, and I was kind of expecting it.”

That kicking didn’t come. After pitting early to execute an undercut on the race leaders and saving his two Attack Modes for after his Pit Boost stop, he powered through to win by over a second and a half, and described his car in the race as “the best it’s been all year.”

It might be a third race victory of the season, but it was the first time outside factors hadn’t played the biggest part.

“[I’m] super-relieved that I finally had a race here that's gone to plan, and we can show the performance we had, because the car that I had in free practice, in qualifying and in the race was really unbelievable,” Cassidy said. “That's a credit to the team. Super, super proud to have a race win and a race this season that we win on pace.

“There's no doubting that Berlin was all about strategy, the difference in style of race. Shanghai was in the wet, but today was about being efficient and fast before the end of the season, and coming to the end of our chapter, it’s super nice to be able to tick that box.”

Cassidy, with Attack Mode in play, powered past Nyck de Vries at the start of lap 28. With the additional power at his disposal, it would seem like the pass was a foregone conclusion before it happened, but de Vries is regarded as one of Formula E’s toughest defenders.

“Honestly, it wasn't easy,” Cassidy insisted. “Nyck's a very hard guy to pass; he races hard. I think the difference today was the first stage of the race, but also the pace that we could have in the pit stop window. 

“I was very, very worried that we were undercut by one lap, two guys that were only three or four positions behind us, and I actually in the pit stop, was sitting there and not happy on the radio that we were going to be able to cut because it would kind of destroy our race with the energy mileage that we had. 

“Today was all about needing to find that clean air to have speed. The key for me, in all honesty, was when I came out of the pit stop I just jumped Stoffel [Vandoorne] as he took Attack, but he had 3m50s of Attack on me, and we had the speed in that pit stop window to keep up with Nyck and Pascal, but I could keep the position on Stoffel. As soon as his Attack ran out, then I knew it was game on and we're in a good position.”

Cassidy and Jaguar’s recent form has left many wondering “what if?” As one of last year’s teams to beat (along with TAG Heuer Porsche), many expected a similar story this year to last. While that hasn’t been the case, Cassidy isn’t getting bogged down by the missed opportunity.

“I wouldn't say [it’s] frustrating,” he said. “Of course, it wasn't ideal to go through a rough start, but honestly, when I look at Oliver Rowland, he's been the benchmark this year. I feel like he should have more points than he does. 

“He dominated Sao Paulo, and then didn't get the 25 there. And Miami, something else was the same, so everyone's got their story, everyone's got their races where they miss something big, and I'm just more grateful than anything that we've ended up getting our things together come the end of the season, and then be in a position to fight these guys.”

There’s still another race to go on Sunday – the season finale and Cassidy’s last race for Jaguar before an anticipated move to the Stellantis stable next season – and with Saturday’s strong performance, the New Zealander says, “I already feel better,” about the venue that brought so much heartache a year ago.

“I probably talk about it too much, but I feel okay talking about it,” he said. “The thing is, it's one of my favorite tracks. I think qualifying-wise, I've got easily my best qualifying average here. I feel very, very strong on one lap here. I really enjoy coming to this track, and I think qualifying here is probably one of the best moments of the year for me.”