"I almost feel sorry for them" - Nick Cassidy snatches the podium from Nico Müller on the final metre

You could already see the ABT Cupra team jumping up from their seats and high-fiving each other. But just before the big cheers, Nick Cassidy overtook Nico Müller in a photo finish on the literal last metre! With a lead of five hundredths of a second, the Jaguar driver returned to the Formula E podium after three races. ABT missed out on the sensation, but is celebrating nonetheless.

Disappointment was briefly written all over the faces of the team managers in the ABT garage, but then the great joy returned. Müller had brought his ABT Cupra to the finish line in fourth place with an actually inferior Mahindra drive - the best result for the team since its return to Formula E a year and a half ago.

"In the end, we were very close to third place, but finished fourth," says Müller after the race. "But the positives clearly outweigh the negatives today. It's the best result for ABT Cupra since its return to Formula E. I'm very happy with the way I was guided through the race by the team, we executed it perfectly."

Even more delighted was third-placed Cassidy, who was once again able to take part in the podium ceremony after a short break. Nevertheless, he has a soft spot for his colleague Müller and would have been delighted for the Kempten-based team if ABT had finished on the podium: "That's a real shame for ABT," said Cassidy at the press conference. "They did an incredibly good job today and Nico drove very well. I almost feel sorry for them."

 

 

 

 

 

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Cassidy from "no mans land" to the podium

Until about halfway through the race, things were not looking so good for the New Zealander. He had activated his second attack mode unlucky before the safety car phase and was therefore unable to use his additional power. When everyone else activated their attack modes after the safety car phase, Cassidy had none left and was relegated to seventh place as he was unable to keep up on the straights.

On the other hand, the Jaguar driver also saved a lot of energy by hardly using the extra power. In the end, he had just as much energy in the battery as Pascal Wehrlein in the Porsche - and more than Müller! In the last six laps, he waited for the team to give him the final go-ahead to use this saved energy. He asked for it several times on the radio, but Jaguar was worried that the car could overheat.

Cassidy: "Everyone had a better car than us today"

In the end, Jaguar gave him the "green light" two laps before the end. After Oliver Rowland and Max Günther retired or had to slow down due to a lack of power, he battled with Jake Dennis and Nico Müller for the podium - and made it. "On the last few metres, guys!" Cassidy radioed with relief after he had brought his car to the finish line ahead of Müller on the final straight.

"It's been a long time and it's nice to be back on the podium," explained Cassidy. He had previously celebrated his last podium in Diriyah. However, he is still annoyed about the missed opportunities in Sao Paulo and Tokyo: "We were strong there - it was really frustrating that we missed out on the points. Today we were in no man's land. Everyone around us - whether ABT, McLaren, Nissan, DS or Porsche - had a better car than us today. The fact that we got a podium is obviously great, but we really need to work on our race trim."

The team from Great Britain has two weeks until the next race in Monaco, but can first of all look forward to having scored important points in Cassidy's championship battle. Incidentally, Jaguar is travelling to Monaco with fond memories, as the "big cat" celebrated a commanding one-two victory there last year.