Just over two years ago the Jaguar TCS Racing team left London in the most bitter/sweet scenario possible. On one hand it had taken the teams title via Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans. On the other, those two drivers were highly distressed with the way that both of their chances of the drivers’ title had ended.
Cassidy’s had via the front wing of his ultimate replacement at the Big Cat, Antonio Felix da Costa. While Evans’ volcanic anger was directed firmly at the way he felt that his race had been compromised by over intricate orchestrations with Cassidy and order he claimed not to have been completely aware of.
That is in the reasonably distant past. But do its restless spirits linger?
“It would be naive to think that the ghosts from the past aren’t there,” Jaguar TCs Racing team principal, Ian James, told Formula E Notebook at London Excel this week.
“But at the same time, we’ve got to completely bid for that to bed. I said to them this (Thursday) morning, we’re in such a different position here. On the face of it, the points, the championships and the rest of it, it’s not dissimilar. If you look at the character of the drivers, the character of the team that we’ve got, say the collaborations we’ve had throughout this season, it’s night and day (circumstances).
“So, there’s no reason to expect that things would play out in the same way as they did a few years ago. And I think that we’ve got to go in there with at least that level of confidence to know that if we take the right decisions, if we play it right, then we’ve got as good a chance as any of the other championship contenders here.
“I think, first and foremost, that’s super important. In terms of any other different kind of pep talk or advice, it’s no different from what we’ve had before.”
Then there is the golden rule. Do not hit your teammate. Both Evans and da Costa have not been close to that this season despite a few corners of something brewing in Jarama it never came to pass. The two are more than teammates, they are friends and business partners. But they are also human (competitive).
“The golden rule of not crashing into each other is there and a very sensible one,” said James.
“Whatever everybody else is doing now on the circuit, you can’t plan for and you’ve just got to adapt as situations arise and make sure that, again, through qualifying, through the race itself, we put ourselves in a position which mitigates risk as far as it is possible. It’s mitigating risk on what we know is going to be a very chaotic weekend.”
From da Costa’s side, he does not want to feel the same crushing feeling of affecting a title fight. Yet, he also has a slim chance himself and knows he will be vital for Jaguar attempting to wrest back the teams title from his old team – Porsche.
“I’m an employee of Jaguar VCS Racing and if that is the goal for the house, then that’s my job that day,” da Costa told FEN.
“But equally, compromising my race fully is not a smart thing to do when we’re fighting for the team’s championship. So again, we’re going to have to see where the two portions are, both for teams and obviously Pascal in contention as well for the drivers.
“There’s a couple of other guys, obviously Jake (Dennis) and (Oliver) Rowland, we need to keep an eye on them. I think, again, let’s qualify and the plan will come up on its own almost.”
“Obviously Mitch in a contention for the drivers with being in a much better position than what I am, that will have to be considered, and I have brought myself forward that if the chance is there that I can help, I will.”
Da Costa has been around the Formula E block and back again many times. After Lucas di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi’s exit this weekend, it will be just he and former teammate Jean-Eric Vergne left that raced in the first Formula E year back in 2014.
“I have seen stranger things happening in Formula E, so I think the mindset is clear of what we all want to achieve this weekend, but it’s pointless to think about it right now,” added da Costa.
“Let’s do free practice sessions, let’s do qualifying, let’s see the starting grid, then we can start forming some sort of plans and go from there.”
