Pascal Wehrlein and Porsche earned a first Formula E title in a thrilling London E-Prix as a missed attack mode cost Mitch Evans and Jaguar dearly.
The three title contenders - Wehrlein and the Jaguars of Evans and Nick Cassidy - occupied the top three places for the majority of the race, setting up a tense end to the 2024 season.
But things went dramatically wrong for Jaguar in the final laps with both its contenders knocked out of contention.
How Cassidy lost
First Cassidy, while running third behind Evans and Wehrlein but with both drivers ahead yet to lose time to taking both their attack modes, picked up a puncture and was hit by the Maserati of Maximilian Guenther.
It was Wehrlein's Porsche team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa who gave him that puncture with very slight contact. He apologised to Cassidy after the race for the title extinguishing contact and the stewards handed him a five-second time penalty after the race.
Cassidy went straight into the pits and launched into an extraordinary rant to his Jaguar team as his title dream crumbled: "You’re really making me play the team game? After everything that’s happened, you will make me play the team game? Maybe I told you so? Or an apology from someone? I did everything for this team…"
Having been told it was Guenther rather than Antonio Felix da Costa who hit him, Cassidy added: "I don’t care who hit me, I should have been leading the race.
"I trusted your call. Otherwise, I stay and I drive flat out to the end at the front. It was simple mate. Simple. I did the attack [mode activation] to help you, not help myself."
Cassidy's frustration was primarily with the early-race call to sacrifice his lead to take both his attack modes in quick succession and allow Evans and Wehrlein to lead the race instead. That ultimately dropped him into the fast-approaching group led by Oliver Rowland.
How Evans lost
Cassidy's downturn should have been a delight for Evans, who spent the majority of the race aggressively fending off Wehrlein - even earning a black and white flag for moving more than once under braking.
Evans and Wehrlein headed for attack mode when the safety car was deployed for an incident in the wake of Cassidy's dramas, cancelling their ability to take it despite the fact both were in the activation zone.
That left little time for both to take and deploy the full extent of their attack mode before the end of the race - you can't take attack mode under the safety car and you must deploy all of the attack mode or you'll be penalised.
Both tried to take it when the race resumed but critically Evans missed the chevrons needed to activate it and that cost him greatly.
It meant he had to retake the attack mode and that cost him the place to Wehrlein - who like Evans had been jumped by Rowland - and meant he didn't have enough time in the race to finish his attack mode.
That meant Evans had to back off from Rowland and Wehrlein and settle for third place - effectively conceding the championship as he had to finish ahead of points leader Wehrlein to beat him.
How Wehrlein (and Rowland) won it
Second place behind Rowland, who took his second win of a brilliant first season back with Nissan, was enough for Wehrlein to claim his and Porsche's first Formula E title.
Wehrlein had the energy advantage over Evans but just couldn't find a way past the Jaguar. And the late safety car for Cassidy's incident threatened to take away Wehrlein's advantage but Evans missing the attack mode opened the door which Wehrlein stormed through.
Second for Wehrlein and a fifth turned 13th place finish for da Costa after his penalty, wasn't enough to stop Jaguar from winning the teams' championship. And that da Costa penalty meant Jaguar clinches the first edition of the new manufacturers' crown.
Sebastien Buemi was fourth for Envision from 17th on the grid ahead of da Costa, Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske), Nico Mueller (Abt), Robin Frijns (Envision), Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske) and Lucas di Grassi (Abt) took the final point.
What else happened
Outgoing champion Jake Dennis's incident-filled weekend continued as his attempted charge from last place on the grid was quickly curtailed when he came together with Edoardo Mortara's Mahindra at Turn 3.
While being pushed aside by Buemi, Dennis inadvertently put Mortara into the wall who then couldn't turn while down the inside of Dennis, sending them both into the wall and out of the race.
"I got shunted into the wall by this crazy guy. The front suspension caused me to go straight," Mortara fumed to his engineer. "What a genius. He made me hit the wall so hard on Turn 2 so f***ing hard. I think I’ve broken my hand."
The stewards handed Dennis a five-second penalty for causing a collision while his stricken Andretti-Porsche machine was out of the race.
The safety car was required for a second time on lap seven when Sam Bird collided with Jehan Daruvala's Maserati while he was overtaking him for 10th place.
That left nowhere to go for Norman Nato and Dan Ticktum, who took to the escape road and had to turn their cars around to get back on track, dropping them to the back of the pack. Bird's first season with McLaren was prematurely ended by the incident, so too Daruvala's rookie FE season.
