Pascal Wehrlein defeated Mitch Evans to win the first race of Formula E's London finale and take the points lead as Nick Cassidy suffered a horrific day that dropped him from first to third in the points.
Cassidy headed into London as the championship leader with a 12-point gap over his Jaguar team-mate Evans and Porsche driver Wehrlein - the two most realistic challengers of the six who could mathematically stop him.
But that gap was down to nine points and looked in crisis after qualifying as Evans took the three bonus points for pole, while Cassidy slumped to 17th on the grid and was initially furious with Jaguar's management of his session.
WHAT A RACE 🫨
— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) July 20, 2024
Wehrlein takes his THIRD win of the season and soars to the top of the Drivers' Standings in the penultimate race!@Hankook_Sport #LondonEPrix pic.twitter.com/yxOptCPyGa
Things went from bad to worse in the race for Cassidy too. He missed the attack mode activation zone on three different occasions despite "taking the same line" he had all weekend and was victim to two separate collisions.
While trying to recover Cassidy was barged into by outgoing defending champion Jake Dennis, who was uncharacteristically ultra-aggressive throughout much of the race.
"What the f*** was that by Dennis man? Please report that. He crashed straight into me, my steering is all bent. But my steering has gone. What am I meant to do?" Cassidy fumed to his engineer.
Cassidy was furious with Dennis throughout the race, even saying at the chequered flag "that's probably the most unsporting thing I've seen a world champion do" in reference to their incident and his theory that a penalised Dennis then held up the pack to stop Cassidy from having the clean air to go to the fastest lap bonus points.
"How much are Porsche [supplier to Dennis's Andretti team] paying this guy? Just race me fairly, he's a great f***ing champion," he'd said earlier in the race.
After his clash with Dennis, Cassidy was then tipped into the wall by outgoing DS Penske driver Stoffel Vandoorne, further compounding Cassidy's miserable day.
But such was the chaos elsewhere, along with Cassidy's Jaguar surviving all the incidents, he managed to salvage six points for a seventh place finish.
That still wasn't enough to stop Wehrlein and Evans from overhauling him in the championship ahead of tomorrow's final race but it keeps him in the fight for Sunday - as seven mathematical drivers' contenders become three.
Evans had led the early laps of the race before Sebastien Buemi - going in search of a first FE race win in five years - passed him on lap nine for the lead.
Evans kept in touch with him but both of them were usurped by Wehrlein whose Porsche power proved to be the most efficient over the race distance.
Wehrlein was able to take both attack modes and emerge just ahead of Evans to scoop his third victory of the season and the championship lead.
Evans had to settle for second but he did benefit from Max Guenther's misfortune. He got his Maserati ahead of Evans, only for a technical issue in the closing laps to rob him of second place. Evans also took the fastest lap bonus point on the last lap to limit the damage to Wehrlein.
The top three was completed by Buemi who earned his first podium since the season-opener. Nyck de Vries picked up the best result of his post-Formula 1 comeback in fourth place for Mahindra.
His team-mate Edoardo Mortara was fifth ahead of Nico Mueller, Cassidy, Sam Bird, Vandoorne and Norman Nato.
Nato's in the wall! 💥
— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) July 20, 2024
He's escorted into the barriers by Fenestraz, bringing out the @PorscheRaces Safety Car.@Hankook_Sport #LondonEPrix pic.twitter.com/rjSXyuLoRx
Antonio Felix da Costa's slim title chances - boosted by a remarkable run of four race wins in five prior to London - were fully extinguished by a final corner clash with Oliver Rowland. "Such a sore loser this guy" was da Costa's instant verdict while Rowland disagreed: "I can't steer without the steering wheel in my hands".
The stewards deemed Rowland was to blame and handed him a five-second time penalty that left him 15th, behind Sacha Fenestraz who lost a points finish to a pair of incidents.
Envision's Robin Frijns is going to the hospital for medical checks after a scary shunt into the wall after contact with Dennis on the opening lap. That also compromised Bird, though Bird still recovered to the points - such was the level of chaos.
Title fight championship standings
Pascal Wehrlein 180 points
Mitch Evans 177 points
Nick Cassidy 173 points
