Mitch Evans and Jaguar got slapped in the face with a huge wet, unpleasant slice of motorsport misfortune in London on Saturday.
If ever there was a moment when the racing God’s perhaps finally decided that Evans would not be a Formula E world champion with Jaguar, it was when Lucas di Grassi buried his Lola in to the barriers and triggered the second full course yellow of the afternoon, enabling Pascal Wehrlein to pit and make a considerable amount of hay.
Evans was probably never going to win on Saturday in London but he could have got second place. That would have left him well in the fight today. Instead, he’s 21 points off Wehrlein, and in reality probably needs the three points for pole and a win to claim a long awaited crown.
Stranger things have happened in the upside down world of Formula E, so never say never, especially when the two ahead of you in the points table are old foes and occasional carbon crunching playmates Jake Dennis and Pascal Wehrlein.
Evans and Jaguar have to hope this old rivalry flares up again and that Porsche and Andretti’s final race together is as eventful as the first race at London Excel in 2023. That was when Dennis felt antipathy not empathy from Wehrlein while going for the title. It triggered Michael Andretti to memorably storm in to the adjacent Porsche pit and remonstrate with management and even a board member!
Evans was irked by the strength in numbers that Porsche had on him in London on Saturday. Dan Ticktum was an ever present threat, but it was really Nico Mueller that got a bit under his skin with what the Kiwi thought were overly aggressive defensive moves.
“It’s just inconsistent,” Evans told FEN. “Guys in Tokyo got penalties for way less severe things than that. He (Mueller) was slowing us up so much. A couple of times, I felt like he brake-checked me, and then there was a few occasions where I tried to have a little look, and he moved under braking.
“In some races, they (stewards) have been so strict with that. Antonio’s got penalties for that, and then all of a sudden it’s like they just don’t exist anymore.
“There’s just no consistency between stewards’ race by race. You’re always going to get different views on things. I feel like what he did in another race, they’re going to at least get a black and white flag, or a five-second. But if they didn’t think it was bad enough, then I’ve got to understand it, I guess.”
What also got Evans’ goat was the manner in which Porsche used CUPRA Kiro and Dan Ticktum as a ‘spoiler’ too, in addition to Mueller.
“That’s just ridiculous,” Evans told Formula E Notebook when asked about some of the tactics at play on Saturday.
“The guy’s (Wehrlein) got his team mate plus two Kiro’s to support him. So, it’s like you just get gifted it,” added Evans.
“Obviously they’re still doing a good job. Like, they put it on the front row, one, two, Nico beat me in the semis. But It’s what it is. The way that we work with Envision is not quite like that, but Porsche are renowned for doing that and they’ve got a lot of control over their customer teams, which is quite obvious.”
Porsche and CUPRA Kiro have consistently denied that there is out and out collusion in sporting matters on track. But in London it was laid out for all to see. It is allowed this season but it won’t be next as the FIA looks to stamp out overt orchestrations.
