It may only be three races and just over two months ago, but Nick Cassidy and Citroen’s fabulous start to the 2025-26 season already feels a bit dated.
That is mostly because two of the last three races have been tempered and neutered by a mix of poor judgement calls and confused strategies, something not normally associated with N.Cassidy.
It has meant that the Kiwi, in his first season as a Stellantis contracted driver after two successful but also frustrating seasons at Jaguar, has slipped from leading the points standings to now being fourth, 20 points off leader Pascal Wehrlein.
For Citroen Racing team principal, Cyril Blais, there is a strong sense of improvement since a difficult season last time around as Maserati MSG. Still, the rock-solid engineer come TP has outlined to Formula E Notebook his thoughts on a mixed season to date.
“We’ve made progress this year, but it’s not a two months turnaround,” said Blais.
“So even though the start of the season for Nick has been nothing short of exceptional, unfortunately I’m very much aware it won’t be normal to be fighting for podium and win every race weekend, even though it’s what the everybody, the team and is working and thriving towards to.
“The reality is that there’s still a gap in performance between us and the top teams and manufacturers. So, until we bridge some of that, there’s a learning curve.”
That was very evident at the second of the two races in Jeddah when Cassidy got stuck in the midfield and was rendered somewhat inert after a call on his attack modes was delayed too long.”
While Miami saw Citroen caught out by the weather, an error several of its competitors made, Jeddah was more worrying and probably more disappointing as a consequence. The team had been quick on the Corniche in 2025, with Jake Hughes claiming a podium. This time around, after solid points on the Friday event, Saturday promised a great deal but delivered nothing.
Blais describes the last race as “totally disappointing” and “we were struggling with Nick.”
“On Saturday, we had both cars in in the duels, which we have to say that over the weekend, if you look, I think only DS Penske and ourselves were able to do.
Come the race however it was clear Citroen didn’t have anywhere near the pace of Mahindra, Jaguar, Nissan (Rowland) or Porsche cars.
“We were lacking a little bit of performance,” acknowledges Blais.
“In the race here, we tried to fight at the front, but you have to have everything perfect but there’s still a gap compared to the top guys.
“I think Nick is very good, reading the race. But in in Jeddah we were surprised how the race developed, and we were not expecting that. The team didn’t react, but the driver didn’t react as well.”
Cassidy fumed in the cockpit and the frustration brewed up in the pit garage. Blais and his troops held a detailed debrief as to what went wrong.
“We’re very honest with the drivers. We don’t expect the drivers to do the job, but at the same time, they can’t expect the team to do the whole job. Now, all the teams and drivers have learned the pattern of these races, and what they think will happen at the front and what will happen at the back.
“And everybody tries to plan and optimise that, planning on what they think will happen. Because we know, if you do a saving plan and you stay at the back and try to build two or a three percent delta of battery and attack the last 10 laps, from P11 to P20, everybody will do that. So, then it doesn’t work anymore.”
That is when teams and drivers have to get creative and react. Citroen and Cassidy didn’t.
“We didn’t make the right call, but this is where we expect the drivers to make the right call, because they see a lot of things that we don’t see. I just see that as a whole driver and team included, I don’t think we optimised what we had, and strategically we paid a bit the price, but at the same time, you have to look at the bigger picture.”
That bigger picture is that Citroen are just a few tenths off 300kW pace right now, which in turn makes their strategy calls all the more sensitive and in the case of Jeddah occasionally difficult.
“If you are constantly to be at the front and then fighting at the front, and ultimately, you need to be perfect on every aspect, but you need also the pace,” summarises Blais.
It’s a very fair appraisal because while Cassidy hit the headlines in Sao Paulo and Mexico City, the team not once fed off the glory. The feet stayed firmly on the ground knowing that away from the strategic excellence was a car that needed a bit more flair.
The big question now is, in the final knockings of the Gen3 rules set are those final few tenths achievable? As the European leg kicks in this weekend at Jarama and then stretches out to Monaco in mid-May, we’re about to find out.”
