Formula E

"He is doing well under the circumstances" - Wehrlein in hospital for further examinations after crash

Timo Pape

Timo Pape

It was the shock moment at the Formula E season opener in Sao Paulo: Five laps before the end, Nick Cassidy (Jaguar) and Pascal Wehrlein made contact in turn 6, causing the German's Porsche to rise up, crash heavily with the "roof" against the fence and finally come to rest upside down. Wehrlein was examined at the track immediately after the accident. The world champion does not appear to have suffered any serious injuries.

"He is doing well under the circumstances," explained Porsche team principal Florian Modlinger to our colleagues at ServusTV shortly after the end of the race. "He was initially at the medical centre, the checks were fine. We are now also sending him to the hospital to have him thoroughly checked to ensure that everything is really 1,000 per cent checked. But the most important message: he's okay."

Wehrlein had already given the all-clear over the team radio shortly after the impact that he was fine. Nevertheless, he had to remain upside down in the car for several minutes until a truck finally put the Porsche the right way up on the track. With the help of security staff, the 30-year-old climbed out of the car and was immediately taken to the medical centre.

"I'm obviously very happy that Pascal is okay," said team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa, who finished the race in second place, shortly after the E-Prix. "I haven't been able to speak to him yet. It's a reminder for all of us that what we're doing here is dangerous. It's been an eye-opener for all of us - we all need to drive with the necessary respect for each other." Taylor Barnard also said at the press conference: "I saw it right next to me - that was a really scary accident!"

Cassidy: "A sickening feeling"

The Wehrlein accident was the culmination of a chain reaction that he himself had initiated: on the approach to turn 5, he squeezed alongside Cassidy on the inside lane, who in turn already had Max Günther next to him on the other side. Cassidy had no choice but to push Günther into the wall, damaging his own steering in the process. In the following right-hand turn 6, Wehrlein was next to him on the left, but Cassidy was no longer able to steer correctly.

As the corner tightened, Wehrlein's Porsche touched Cassidy's left front wheel and took off. The top of the car flew against the fence, then the car landed on the top and skidded a few metres further, spraying sparks.

Cassidy watched the spectacle from the cockpit and also rolled out first. After the race, he described the situation at Motorsport.com: "I don't really feel like I hit anyone, I had two cars come from behind me to in front of me and both kind of sandwiched me. I don't know what I was meant to do there. It's kind of a sickening feeling whenever you see a car upside down so just very glad he's okay."

The reason for the contact with Wehrlein was a broken front right suspension on the Jaguar. "I don’t know what was bent or broken, we had to repair a lot to be able to get back out." That's what Cassidy finally did, but he had to give up a little later. "When I was out we had some other stuff going on. We had some kind of energy issue, there was something wrong in our software for the last few laps," explains Cassidy.

So, despite high hopes for victory, the "Kiwi" came away empty-handed. But at least team mate Mitch Evans saved the day for Jaguar by winning the season opener.

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