Formula E

Formula E in Portland: Cassidy loses certain victory to Felix da Costa after dramatic mistake

Timo Pape

Timo Pape

Jake Osborne / Spacesuit Media

Antonio Felix da Costa won Saturday's Formula E race in Portland. The Porsche driver benefited from a serious mistake by Nick Cassidy, who was supposed to be a certain winner, two laps before the end and from a time penalty against his Jaguar team-mate Mitch Evans. The podium was completed by Robin Frijns and Jean-Eric Vergne.

There were initially no incidents at the start. Pole-sitter Mitch Evans defended his lead until the first corner, when Jake Hughes overtook him. Pascal Wehrlein moved up from tenth to third place - all within the first lap! The two Porsche drivers followed behind the leading duo. Sebastien Buemi suffered damage and had to come into the pits. On the second lap, the two Andretti drivers were already in front, with Norman Nato in the lead. The overtaking spectacle in Portland began...

After two laps, the first riders had already picked up their first attack modes, including Nato in first place and Hughes behind him. Robin Frijns was third at this point. Both ABT drivers and Dan Ticktum completed the top 10 in this early phase. On lap 5, there was a momentous contact between Evans and Hughes, who subsequently took a spin on the grass and dropped back to 14th place. The situation was initially investigated by the stewards for several minutes...

After ten laps, Evans once again took the lead and had the most energy reserves of the leading group at this point. Müller also still had a comparable amount of energy in his battery, was actually in second place after eleven laps and even took the race lead on lap 14. Then came the bad news for Jaguar: Evans received a 5-second time penalty for the early collision with Hughes! The end of his title hopes?

Jaguar terrific - until the Cassidy debacle

Things went better for his team-mate: After 16 of 27 laps, Nick Cassidy led the field ahead of Felix da Costa and Frijns. Nissan newcomer Caio Collet, who had stepped in for Oliver Rowland who was ill, missed the chicane and dropped to the back of the field. Meanwhile, Jean-Eric Vergne and Edo Mortara worked their way into the leading group. Cassidy had worked out an energy advantage and was still in the lead.

While Felix da Costa briefly took the lead on lap 21, it seemed as if Porsche team-mate Wehrlein in tenth place had missed the right moment to establish himself at the front - even though he had less energy than Cassidy and Co. Four laps before the end, Evans overtook second-placed Felix da Costa, directly following his team-mate Cassidy. Frijns was fourth at this point, ahead of Vergne.

On the final laps, it was full power for all drivers. As a result, there were not as many position changes as before. On lap 26 - the penultimate lap - drama ensued: Cassidy made a rare driving error, hit the grass and spun! The championship leader dropped back a long way and missed a great opportunity to win the title!

Instead, team-mate Evans crossed the line first, but dropped back to eighth place due to his time penalty. As a result, Felix da Costa surprisingly won the Portland E-Prix on Saturday - his third victory in the last four races!

Despite his mistake, Cassidy remains in the lead of the drivers' championship, as his closest rivals all made mistakes. Wehrlein is still second ahead of Evans, who got a little closer to the two leaders. In the team standings, Jaguar still has a lead of more than 50 points over Porsche, with DS Penske in third. The next race will take place in less than 24 hours. Formula E will then start again at 11pm (CEST) in Portland.

Results & lap times

Championship standings (drivers & teams)

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