Evans blames qualifying performance for Formula E title defeat

It’s a painfully familiar story. Mitch Evans heads to the ExCeL Centre in London with a shot at the Formula E championship, only to come up short.

After qualifying third behind the collaborating Porsches on Saturday and ultimately finishing eighth after getting caught out by the timing of a Full Course Yellow which played into the hands of eventual champion Pascal Wehrlein, Evans needed a win on Sunday.

There was hope it could happen. After qualifying fifth, smart energy management and strategic driving from his Jaguar TCS teammate Antonio Felix da Costa had aided Evans’ push, but with the leaders way out ahead, Evans had to settle for fourth. But while both of those things might be what caused Evans to miss out on the championship in London for the second time in three seasons, he points to qualifying performance as being the true catalyst for his failed title tilt.

“I think ultimately, we just unfortunately both days qualified behind the wrong car,” he said at the post-race press conference. “I had a blue and white roadblock for the last two days, and they did all they could to stop me. I managed to get past them in today's race, but ultimately just lost too much ground to the front guys.”

Evans has been in the hunt for much of the year with two wins and a further three podiums, but while he arrived in London with a realistic shot, being just five points off then-leader Jake Dennis, Evans acknowledged a series of might have beens that could have changed the complexion of the season rather than purely what happened in London.

“There's a lot actually this year,” he told RACER. “Yesterday, the tire pressure situation in Tokyo, not starting in Shanghai, getting taken out by Ticktun in Sanya, where we were probably on for a win or a podium at worst.

“Yeah, there's quite a few to be honest. Everyone had it up and down, to be honest, but I felt like there was the odd thing that was way out of our control. You can't really control those things, and that's out of your hands, so yeah, that sucks because if just one of those went right differently, it's a different day.”

But as mentioned, this isn’t the first time Evans has ended a season in this position. And that’s why he says he’s managing the defeat better this time around.

“Yeah, that's probably why I'm taking it a little bit easier than normal,” he said. “I just don't feel like I've done much wrong, apart from not putting a better lap in quali. I tried, so I guess so, but maybe I'm just getting used to it as well.”

This year’s London E-Prix is the last one to take place in the East-End exhibition center, with the race moving to Brands Hatch next season, and while he likes the track itself, with the memories it’s given him, Evans isn’t too sad to see it go.

“I mean the track itself is a real challenge, but just generally, it's been a challenge for me to convert into big results,” he said. “It's a weird one when you feel like it’s track that you're so strong at, but it's returned you very little over the years. So yeah, looking forward to never coming again.”

Another change for next season is for Evans himself. After a decade at Jaguar he’s moving to pastures new, widely expected to be Opel, although no formal announcement has been made yet. And with the new GEN4 cars on the way too, Evans is completely open when it comes to his expectations.

“It's a big change next year,” he said. “It's a whole new car, the pecking order could change quickly. So it's really hard to judge who's going to be dominant, who's going to be coming out of the blocks fast.

“I hope I'll be going somewhere where I feel like I'm going to have a good opportunity to keep fighting for world championships, and I really hope that's the case. But it's just the way that the sport is. It's not purely down to me. There's a lot of factors and variables that have to come together to give yourself a chance.

“But hopefully that does happen and, wherever I end up, we have a strong package, and it allows me to fight for titles.”

It will be unusual seeing Evans race for a team other than Jaguar, with the Kiwi having made all of his 132 race starts in Formula E with the team, but he feels that with the regulations getting a massive overhaul and his contract nearing its conclusion, there was no better time to move on.

“That's a lot of the reason why it's happened,” he said. “It's a fresh start, fresh outlook, and I think both sides needed a change.

“It’s not like we hated each other, but 10 years is a long time, and I think with the ending of my contract and GEN4 coming up, it seemed like a logical choice for us to pursue different directions in our paths.”

He’ll also have to get used to seeing two Jaguars on track next year, not just the one driven by his teammate.

“It’s going to be weird,” he said. “To see the guys that I've been with for 10 years as rivals will be bizarre. It will take a bit to get to adjust to.”